Cheap aircraft covering materials

Awhile back, several group members were experimenting with cheaper ways
to cover a fabric-covered aircraft. I am currently constructing one
such aircraft, a Wag-A-Bond and want to cover it with something
affordable. Anyone have some ideas?

Drew

wrote:
Awhile back, several group members were experimenting with cheaper
ways
to cover a fabric-covered aircraft. I am currently constructing one
such aircraft, a Wag-A-Bond and want to cover it with something
affordable. Anyone have some ideas?

Drew

Drew,
Try using Coroplast. It is cheap, strong, light and comes in 4x8
panels.
I am using it for an iceboat wing.
Deane Williams

"Deane" wrote in message
ups.com...

wrote:
Awhile back, several group members were experimenting with cheaper
ways
to cover a fabric-covered aircraft. I am currently constructing one
such aircraft, a Wag-A-Bond and want to cover it with something
affordable. Anyone have some ideas?

Drew

Drew,
Try using Coroplast. It is cheap, strong, light and comes in 4x8
panels.
I am using it for an iceboat wing.
Deane Williams


Are you a member of?
http://groups.msn.com/LandsailerandI...ndconstruction
We would love to see what you are up to!!!!

Dave

"Deane" wrote in message
ups.com...

wrote:
Awhile back, several group members were experimenting with cheaper
ways
to cover a fabric-covered aircraft. I am currently constructing one
such aircraft, a Wag-A-Bond and want to cover it with something
affordable. Anyone have some ideas?

Drew

Drew,
Try using Coroplast. It is cheap, strong, light and comes in 4x8
panels.
I am using it for an iceboat wing.
Deane Williams


What are you using to bond it?

Tim Ward

It's not light compared to aircraft Dacron, doped. It's also damn near
impossible to bond to (Polypropylene). Most manufactured stuff using
it (post office bins) use "spot welds". Bicyclists using it for
fairings mechanically fasten it. Contact cement is the only
sem-reliable way to glue it that I've found. Paint doesn't stick to it
for S__t either. It doesn't do well in the sun.

Need I continue? It's a fun material, but not to cover an airplane!

Veeduber tried all sorts of things, and settled on uncertified Dacron
from Aircraft spruce, lacquer from Home Depot, aluminum paste, and oil
based enamel, also from Home Depot. He also outlined how he came to
his conclusions, and how you might come to your own. Go to
http://Groups.google.com/group/rec.aviation.homebuiilt and use Advanced
Groups Search to find out more.

That URL was dead. Anyway, I understand that Veeduber removed all his
material from this group. I was wondering if anyone out there has used
unshrunk cotton, instead of dacron.

On 4 Jan 2005 18:40:24 -0800, wrote:

That URL was dead. Anyway, I understand that Veeduber removed all his
material from this group. I was wondering if anyone out there has used
unshrunk cotton, instead of dacron.

I used grade A cotton about 55 years ago, and that is far to recent
for my taste.

Ed Sullivan

wrote:
That URL was dead. Anyway, I understand that Veeduber removed all
his
material from this group. I was wondering if anyone out there has
used
unshrunk cotton, instead of dacron.

I just did a search on Google groups for Veeduber's post and they still
showed up.

Click he
http://groups-beta.google.com/groups...jeg9ubkBZKeMAR

On 4 Jan 2005 19:26:31 -0800, "GyroMike" wrote:


wrote:
That URL was dead. Anyway, I understand that Veeduber removed all
his
material from this group. I was wondering if anyone out there has
used
unshrunk cotton, instead of dacron.

I just did a search on Google groups for Veeduber's post and they still
showed up.

Click he
http://groups-beta.google.com/groups...jeg9ubkBZKeMAR

I've got individual links to Veeduber's stuff (with his permission) at:

http://www.wanttaja.com/avlinks/index.html#tech

"Fabric-Covered Dreams" is toward the end of the list.

Ron Wanttaja

I used unshrunk 100% cotton muslin on my Wright 1902 glider. Purchased from
Ross Walton at Vintage Aero. The specs were 1.7oz, 213 tpi, unbleached,
slightly off-white. This fabric was custom-milled in Belgium to match the
specs. of the Wrights' Pride of the West fabric.

1.7oz is waaay too light to use on anything other than a pioneer-era machine,
but heavier denier might suffice. Here are the down-sides: this fabric was 3
times the price of similar dacron, its not doped, so it absolutely can't get
wet, it does not shrink unless you don't want it to, its very porious, it has a
lower strength and lower abraision tollerance than dacron. Cheaper cotton
muslin fabric from a fabric store was tried by another builder with very poor
results. The tension in the threads was uneven, and when his wings got wet,
they shrank into parallelograms.

You might be able to negate some of these problems by doping the fabric. But I
would only use cotton if the situation dictated it, such as in an historic
restoration.

Harry Frey
Wright Brothers Enterprises
http:\\hometown.aol.com\wright1902glider\airshow.h tml