Stewart Systems- Covering

Well after 22 years the fabric finally goes on. I am starting with the fuselage as the wings are waiting for the fuel tanks to be repaired (they are "new" but the original sloshing sealer continues to come off in potato chip sized pieces).

First off, I must state that the last time I did fabric work was in A&P school 35 years ago when we covered a Stinson Voyager. I also chose Stewarts as I have researched covering methods over the years and I liked the fact that I won't loose any more of the few brain cells I have left from the fumes. I can't do MEK anymore.

I will add notes and tips that I have found as I continue. I have watched...many times the videos that Stewarts has. Somethings you don't learn until you do them yourself.

First off be sure to have:
Pinking Shears, dull pencil, rubber belt sander eraser(it really works) and lots of blue paper towels.

I purchased a dry iron from Amazon for $20 works great. The temperature during the heating on/off cycles is better at the higher temperatures. It seems to cycle back on after cooling 10 degrees. It doesn't seem to go over the selected temp.

Coverite mini iron. Bought mine from the local hobby shop. Teflon coated, temperature is spot on. Bonus, top side of tip is curved and retains the heat and makes it easier to get on the backside of the tubes.

Digital heat gun with temperature control- bought it from Ace Hardware. Great gun. "No" you don't use it to shrink the fabric. I use it to speed the drying (50 degrees in the barn). Adjust the temp so that it is comfortable on the back of your hand and you can aid the drying process. I have it set for 100 degrees. Saved me hours on the sides. The belly fabric I didn't have it.

Practice making straight cuts with the pinking shears. Otherwise you'll make rabbit trails and shread the fabric. It takes a little practice to get the hang of the technique. Let it do the walking. Also, when you are following a line choose one side of the line for the outside edge of the cutter to be next to. I found it is easier to walk the cutter next to it. When I tried to put the line in the middle of the cutter my "straight" cut wavered about the width of the pinked, which looks lousy.

Pink, pink, pink. The small diameter tubing for the upper and lower longerons makes a straight cut difficult to lay down on the back side. A pinked edge lays down much better...way better. Did I say way better? You can use straight scissors for the cuts around the clusters.

The bottom of the fuselage was my first section. Took me about 10 hours. The only source of heat was a portable propane heater...I stopped using it as it was making too much moisture in the shop. My shop is a 10'x10'x20' plastic enclosure in the barn. We got 10" of snow Sunday-Monday.

The sides about 4 hours each. (with digital heat gun) Probably could do it faster if I was in a 70 degree shop/hangar.

Photo's are the belly fabric, the right side and the third is a 1/2" aluminum angle Hysol'ed to the forward tube to get a little more fabric attachment area. The access panel opening on the right side is where I welded in some gussets and added some framework for the battery/ELT/contactor. You can see the ski tube that I added to back side of the baggage compartment.

Sorry some of the pictures aren't vertical. They were in my files...of course my dad always said I was "90 from plumb".:)

Looking good! I also went with Stewarts for the same reason. Can't stand MEK...

Some more quick notes.
Working with Stewarts adhesive is pretty straightforward. Think about where you want the glue and start with one area and work away from it. I did one longeron at a time to keep from forgetting an area. Take your time on the pre-glue...and it will take time to go around the tubes. . Use enough glue without being too thick. Watch for runs. The nice thing is that you can pre-glue the tubes today and put the fabric on tomorrow...or the next day. Use your finger as a squeegee to remove the glue that gets on the wrong part of the tube. If you find dried glue in an area that you don't want it, use the eraser to roll it off.
The iron clamp method works really nice. Once you have it trimmed and pinked I've found that it works better if you can form it around the tube with the mini-iron and get it tacked down slightly before doing the "glue-and-wipe" procedure.
After the glue/wipe procedure has dried, go over every area that has been glued to a structure with the mini-iron. Ironing the fabric into the glue. Make it look smooth, no wrinkles. The ends of the pink can stick up slightly after the glue/wipe. Now you can get the mini-iron in there and "squish" that area into the glue on the tube and ends lay down nicely. I have found that I can get the mini-iron onto 99% of the places I need to.
After heat tensioning the bottom.The side fabric goes on easier as you only have the upper longeron to pre-glue. Just like the Stewarts video make a pencil mark on the bottom fabric as a reference for the fabric-to-fabric glue seam. The bottom has the 1" fabric-to-fabric glue seam. I layed the fabric on, did the heat clamp on bottom longeron then marked the trim lines with the pencil. Take your time, mark around the clusters (the photos/drawings in the builders manual are a good reference). Heat clamp more if you need it. I used the pinking shears for all the cuts except around the clusters where its easier and more precise with straight scissors. Use the mini iron to lay down the fabric that will be glued to the bottom fabric. Mark the fabric for the bottom trim line. This belly seam is the one where you can learn how to straighten your long trimmed pinked edge. You'll find that you can gently pull up the fabric creating a straighter line by just caressing the fabric above where you want the edge to "pull up" by using the upper portion of the mini iron. Take your time, it will shrink ever so slightly. By the time you have finished the bottom you will have the confidence to straighten those sections on the fuselage that you will be able to see.

Adding a few more pictures. The first photo you can see the green square aft of the baggage that is the ground plane I made for the comm, ELT and UAT GPS antennas. Its re-purposed elevator skin from a RV4 tail kit I had since 1985. Its reinforced along the length where the antennas attach. The baggage area opening is larger as it now goes to the actual end of the baggage area. (My turtledeck is longer to account for it). The last is the forward section of the belly. I welded tabs for nutplates to attach the lower stainless skin of the firewall.

Here's the Fox fuselage outside of the barn. I made a trolley out of 2x6's and wheels so I can roll it in and out of the barn. The rotisserie is just some water pipe and fittings, angle iron and two steering wheel u-joints to keep it self aligning. Has worked well. Since this picture I added extensions to each engine mount point so I could mount the firewall and clear the footwells. I also wanted to evenly distribute the weight of the fuselage as I started adding the instrument panel, electrical, etc.

Mini Iron. Stewarts is similar to Stits/Polyfiber in regard to spending time with the mini iron ironing the glued areas. The more time you spend ironing the glued tubes, seams, the smoother that area becomes and the end product looks nicer. For the fabric seams, where the glue joint is, I work fairly quickly with the iron set at 300. I haven't (yet) worked a glue joint that I shrunk the fabric that was glued. I have only had the pinked edges slightly shrink when I spent too much time on one section when I was learning the technique.

After gluing the area where the patch will go and it has dried, I lightly iron the patch at 250 to get the doilie/patch to lay down smoothly with the base fabric before I do the glue and wipe. Working quickly you can get the the patch to follow the contours without distortion. There will be enough heat to slightly shrink the fabric if needed to get around fittings, etc. The patch will stick to the dried glue and keep it in place while you do the glue/wipe. If you do distort the doilie you can make another, or you can lightly shrink it back to shape at this stage. My left lift strut reinforcing patch I slightly distorted trying to get it to fit around the fitting. I lightly shrunk it back to the correct shape. After the glue/wipe process over the patch dries, I iron the patch to smooth out any areas and to get the patch to really stick. (the transition areas around the baggage/door frame/lift struts, as an example) and go around the pinked edge quickly with the tip of the iron to smooth it out. It is amazing how smooth you can get the patch.

One thing I have been doing is a "pre-glue" build up (after gluing on the metal reinforment) by applying some glue right at the edge of a glued on metal reinforcement (rudder cable exit, header tank fuel drain, inspection ring, brake line exit) and letting that dry before applying the glue over the entire area, as it seems to make for a smoother transition from the base fabric over the metal. Depending on thickness I have done a couple of build ups (header tank fuel drain ring). Before doing this there was an air gap between the base fabric and patch fabric at the end of the metal reinforcement that I couldn't get to stick down. I wanted that area to lay down closer to the metal and have a nice transition and this has seemed to work well. More glue to bond the fabrics together when you use the tip of the mini iron at that area.

What you see, fuselage covered, plus fabric on the vertical stab and some reinforcing patches, was a quart of glue....all I had. Time to order a gallon. I ordered a quart initially because I was going to do the horizontal stab and some practice parts and see how it went. I do like it; easy to work with and comes off of the hands without nasty chemicals. So, time to order a gallon. After I put a new clutch in the tractor and drop a rebuilt motor in the pickup....$$$$

... and throw another log on the fire! ;)

Busy guy!

Displayed the 'fox for our EAA chapter 326 at the Northwest Aviation Expo in Puyallup last weekend. Nicely attended. There's a picture of it on the chapter blog. Not used to that much talking. By noon Saturday I started getting hoarse, by Sunday had my "Barry White" voice going. Guys were helpful providing the chapter enclosed trailer. No damage. Its back in the barn.

http://eaa326news.blogspot.com/

So, whatever happened here? Did you finish the covering job? Love to see more pics.

Clark