109JB's Kitfox IV rebuild

[Eric Page]

Very cool -- congrats!

[Frontier Fox]

That is fantastic. I’m sure it will be worth the effort.

[PapuaPilot]

Congrats John! 👍 👍 👍

[109JB]

Haven't posted about my project for a while. Been working lots to hopefully have it ready yet this spring. However, I've reached an exciting and fun stage. Started fabric covering. But I also posted in another thread about mounting the wheel pants. So here are a few pictures of both of those steps. I'm using 3m Fastbond 30NF to attach the fabric. Reportedly it is the same as the Stewart EcoBond. A friend is using Ecobond and the 3m stuff I have looks, smells, feels the same and holds like gangbusters. I did a test panel with it last year. Will be using the 3m Fastond up through tapes and then using the latex process at http://wienerdogaero.com/index.php I have thought long and hard about this and part of my decision is based on my Sonerai. That airplane was finished with polyfiber using polytone for the topcoats. It is fine except that bird dung and other things stain the polytone and I tried all the tricks and could not get the stains out. As a result I topcoated the poytone with latex and it has held up well, has better gloss than the polytone and doesn't stain. Don't take this as a recommendation, only as a this is what I'm going to do and I intend to post my progress, results and occasional updates on longevity.Anyway, here are the pictures.

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I also decided to square off the top of the rudder just because I like the look better.

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[109JB]

More fabric work tonight. My shop has a bunch of stuff and I keep a skid loader in there to plow, so I had to find a way to roll out fabric while keeping it clean. What I came up with is moving the skid loader out, sweeping the floor and then rolling out builders paper. I also used the builders paper to make a template for whatever piece I need and then roll out the fabric and cut out around the template. Like this:

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So I didn't get any shots of the in-process, but I got the right side fabric on . Coming out good. I can say using the Stewarts process for attaching the fabric is sooo much easier than polyfiber. I did polyfiber on my Sonerai and while it works well, it is a pain to work with it. Messy, smelly, and a million clamps. On this fuselage side I used 2 clamps and only for initial positioning.

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[109JB]

Another side done and one side of the lower fin to aft fuselage transition.

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[109JB]

Well, I am committed now. The first cross coat of latex primer is on.

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[jrevens]

I’m interested to see how it turns out for you, John. I saw a very nice looking latex paint job on an airplane once. Maybe you’ve already commented on this, but how does latex house paint hold up to fuel?

[109JB]

My Understanding is that it holds up pretty well as long as any spills are wiped up promptly. I gathered this information from a few sources. It seems that nowadays the model airplane crowd is also using latex paint on large size models powered by gasoline engines. I used to be into RC airplanes pretty heavily about an eon ago, but never used latex. The consensus there is that latex is gasoline proof except for the possibility of staining if gas is left on the painted surface. This is also what I have gathered from research about latex on full size airplanes too.

On my Sonerai it was covered with polyfiber and topcoated with polytone. I found that with that airplane and also my Yellow Kitfox I sold last year that the polytone stains horribly. Both of those airplanes had what stains from bird droppings that I could not get out. The Yellow Kitfox also had gas stains due to bad gaskets on the fuel caps. The Sonerai, I wound up cleaning and then scuffing with scotchbrite, then putting an additional topcoat of gloss white latex. It came out great and has not stained. After painting with the latex, my mother passed and the airplane wound up in the hangar for another couple years and got covered with dirt, grime, and bird droppings again. When I finally brought it home to get flying again last year, I simply washed it with a hose and mild detergent and it looks as good as the day I sprayed it on. I will say though that where the latex is on the Sonerai it does not get fuel on it, but the bottom does get some oil and exhaust smut and that has cleaned up fine.

[109JB]

BTW, the first cross-coat got sanded this evening, fixed a couple spots where I didn't get the pinked edges locked down, and then put on the second cross-coat. The really nice thing so far is the ease of this process. The primer coats all go on with a cheap foam brush unlike polyfiber where everything is sprayed. Only the final color coats are sprayed with this. Also the primer sands easily with 320 grit dry paper. The primer is thinned with water enough that it flows out very nicely and only requires a very light sanding. I think I have a method worked out that will yield nice results. Brush on the thinned primer and once getting about 1/2 of a fuselage side done, go back and "tip" it with a pretty dry foam brush. From there it flows out great. Also dries fairly fast. I was able to sand about 30 minutes after finishing brushing and by the time I got to the last part that was painted it was ready. I'm hoping I'll get all the primer on before saturday and then get ready to spray.