[grido]

Hi folks,

As per this thread below, I'm working on restoring a (very old) plane that was given to me.

https://www.rccanada.ca/rccforum/showthread.php?t=129511

I have a few questions for you.

1- The covering is made of some tissue material. I never worked with such thing. There are some holes in wings, could I patch these with "sig Koverall"? Any other suggestion on how to do so?

2- plane weight 50 pounds, 10 foot wide. Someone is suggesting a 80cc gas engine. Do you guys think it's a fair size for such plane? I just don't want to buy something and figure out after it wasn't the right size

3- Wings are holding together with wires. I need to replace them, and since the current one are permanently installed, I can't remove wings easily!! I'd like to find a way to easily remove those wires to move the plane. Any suggestion for easy hock/remove those wires? maybe some "fishing" stuff like this? (http://www.jarviswalker.com.au/media...terlock_11.jpg)

4- while this plane won't go fast, it is still quite big. what size of servos do you folks thing I need?

I ain't an expert in giant, scale nor restoration! I guess you already figured this one out by now!

thank you for your help!

[Cougar429]

Wow, looked at the pics on the other post. That's sure a bigun'!

Never worked with anything close to that large, so may be able to help with only question #1.

If it is silk/dope I finished a couple of planes that way back in the 80's. Unfortunately neither aged well and the covering dried out and became brittle, ie. easy to crack or poke through. I would assume any strength would have been compromised, as well.

Due to that I spent a lot of effort in removing the covering from one of the planes. Was quite difficult and the wood needed filler where some damage occured. In the end, as this was an amphib I resealed the wood, then covered it with UltraCote. Along with it becoming airworthy again, the resulting process also removed over 1 1/2 lbs. With a plane of only 8-9lbs AOW, this was considerable.

The second plane was sold to someone intending to recover anyway.

Perhaps as incentive here is a pic of the final result. I imagine with a bit of work, (and it sounds like a bit more covering than mine) anything is possible.

NOTE: You get a glossy covering job from this type. There are fabric based materials that are similarly heat bonded and shrunk. One I used years ago was Solartex. Don't believe it is still available, but perhaps others here can suggest options to give you a more scale finish.

Keep us apprised. That looks like it could be one heck of a project.

[Jimmy P]

I wouldn't fly it all the glue joints are very very old and a gasser will be poppin them all til it falls to it's death. Restore it for a museum piece yes , to fly , not me, just my opinion on this one.

[Shotgun06]

Solartex is still available and it's really good stuff. Like Cougar said, if it's covered with dope and tissue I would recover the entire plane with Solartex. I guess you could just patch it but it's hard to tell since we don't know what kind of covering was originaly used. I could send you a small sample of solartex if you want to try as I have some. I'm curently covering a Sig Citabria with it. Just pm me your address if you want some.

Alain

[grido]

sorry made a mistake here

[grido]

After giving this some thought, I may not spend the 1000$ or so an engine/servos/rx would cost me to get this baby in the air. I'm not confident enough it'll fly "ok", and I don't want to risk this amount of money. I will although finish restoring this as good as I can, and I'll decide after what I'll do with it.

[Shotgun06]

I got your address... The sample will be in the mail tomorrow. Have fun!

Alain

[grido]

thanks alain!

[Guest]

I guess free old planes as a gift are like free old cars and trucks -- expensive. Gdaughter #3 just learned that lesson when she received a "free" pick-up truck from a relative on her father's side -- repairs, licensing, insurance and gas consumption -- everything you don't need when you're a university student on a limited budget.

My suggestion, albeit slightly facetious, would be to see if you can find a kit that matches the plane or the plans for the model in questions, and then build a new one. Take the old one to the next swap meet and pass it along to someone else.

No worries about dried/rotted wood, glue joints, removing covering materials, wires, building errors and construction mistakes, etc., etc. Just a new project with lots of building fun, then fun flying it.

Considering the age of the model, what you've described is what might be classified as a hanger-queen. Considering the massive use of plywood and the probably undersized and possibly rusted/seized motor, twenty years is a whole two generations of new and advanced building materials and techniques. Might be workable as a pattern for you building a new one that's got a lot less heavy materials in it, plus "lighter flies better" (sort of like Grapes's line that he used in the old QUiznos radio ads.)