I just finished covering the horizontal stabilizer to complete the tail-feathers (fuselage and flaperons done earlier). I completed this just in time for the projected Artic front due in North Texas this weened. This will provide a good test of the new propane shop heaters.
Learned lots of skills and got MUCH better at applying the Oratex around the curves of the empenage. I found the hobby-iron and the heat-gun essential in the covering process I also have a Tyco iron which I have not used as yet but plan on using it to shrink the large flat areas of the wings and for a final tightening of all the other surfaces.
The remaining 2 tripod microphone stands are due from TEMU today. I hope to complete the assembly of the adjustable wing stands before the cold starts limiting shop time.
It's all looking good Kurt! Maybe I should have used the iron when I covered mine. I had decent success with the heat gun alone, but could possibly have avoided a few of the "pleats" I ended up with.
Wings in Fikker Red with the leading edge (approximately a 12" wrap) in the Sky Blue. Ihave 2 rolls of 22mm wide white Oratrim on order to demarcate the transition
The wonderful TX power grid is warning of possible power outages with the Arctic front this weekend.
If you're going with the half- or quarter-naked look, be sure and send proper measurements to Better Aircraft Fabrics for your expensive Oratex.
I simply referenced the Badland F3 and that I was going with the quarter naked scheme (in Red and blue) and asked for a quote of full materials and equipment required. They must have just used the fabric layout sheets provided by Chris (for FULL cover). I received 20 meters of the Fokker Red and 10 meters of the Sky Blue; which is considerably over what's really required. I have at least 3 meters of the Sky Blue and probably 5 meters of the Fokker Red as excess on the rolls. NO RETURNS policy.
The bottom line is if anyone needs the red or blue, I have plenty and will share.
Also, Better Aircraft Fabric in Anchorage offers factory 2nds; described as minor blemishes. The price is somewhat cheaper than the top-of-the-line material. The blemished areas are marked with little tabs on the roll and are MOSTLY along one edge (usually). Since we're cutting the 72" rolls down considerably, it was easy to trim off these areas,
Great stuff, once you learn the technique for working around curved edges. It's really a pleasure to watch the material shrink tight with the application of heat.
You may want to keep a decent amount of both colors, just in case you need to add patches for whatever reason. Or create other parts that you need to cover, like droop tips, etc.
I also ended up with excess material, but figured I would hang onto it for these reasons. (I didn't have the benefit of a "cheat sheet" since Chris hadn't created one yet, so I had to do my own math, and I clearly erred way TOO far on the side of caution.)
I have almost enough left over to cover BOTH wings TWICE and definitely enough to redo the empenage with oath material left over.
I only have tgewings left to do and have TWO unopened containers of glue. To cover the fuselage, flaperons and tail-feathers I've only used about 75% of one container.
Yeah, that is a lot of fabric! I think I'm more surprised at the amount of glue. I didn't even finish a single bottle...I may have used a little over half.
That's coming together really nicely Kurt. I love the contrast of the red and blue, it's perfect. I'm looking forward to seeing the wings covered and on the body of the plane. Try and stay warm buddy. I hear you're all in for a deep freeze!
