iflyfisher

I am just getting back into flying after a five year hiatus. I dusted off my Midwest Citabria, replaced batteries, and got the Saito .91 purring again. I had originally covered the airplane in 21st Century Fabric, which has held up very well. However, I have one wing tip where the fabric has lifted along a 3 or 4 inch seam. I am hoping I can stretch the fabric and iron it back down without having to cut it off at a rib and stretch a new piece over the wing tip. The question I have is what do I use to seal the fabric back down? The only place it adheres is the outside edge of the wingtip with about a 3/16" overlap. This was sufficient for the other wing tip, but for some reason, the one side didn't hold. I might be able to get an 1/8" overlap now, but that may be tough. If I brush on some Balsarite, will that be sufficient? I had thought of stretching the fabric and ironing the seam the best I could. Then before shrinking, apply some thin CA along the seam. Is that a mistake?

Any thoughts are welcome.

Ken

scratchonly

If you use balsarite you will need to re-heat. Willyour paint stand the heat? Ihave done such a repair with ca. Use a very fine tip and do a small section at a time. If botched, you will need to recover the last bay and re paint. To re-shrink you may try a cloth under your iron to protect the finish. Good luck.

Campy

My Feedback: (1)

Use SIG "StixIt" instead of the Balsarite. When applied over bare wood, the wood is going to tear apart before the covering comes loose.

FWIW - Your next fabric covering job check out Solartex (Balsa USA ). It does not need additional adhesive on the airframe or overlap seams, does wing tips much easier than Coverite fabric and is noticeabley lighter in weight. I did 2 identical 46 - 60 size airframes, one with silver coverite and one with silver Solartex. The airframes were within 1/4 oz prior to covering. After covering the coverite plane was about 4 oz heavier, and after installing the radio gear and balancing the coverite plane was almost 12 oz heavier.

Here is a photo of the plane (I didn't have the exhaust stacks on in the photo )

iflyfisher

Thanks for the posts. The 21st Century Fabric I used came prepainted. There is no problem ironing again. I checked a local hobby shop today and all I could find is Balsarite. I believe there is one more shop in the area I can hit. I'll see if I can get some StixIt there. If not, guess I'll try the CA route. Nice plane Campy. I'll include a picture of my Citabria. It turned out very nice when I finished it four or five years ago. It has only had about a dozen or so flights. I'm anxious to get it back in the air.

Ken

iflyfisher

Couldn't find the StixIt, so I ironed the seams back down, then run a thin line of CA along the seam. After it dried, I used my iron and heat gun to shrink the covering back up tight, and it seems to have worked. We'll see how long it holds once I get back up in the air.

Thanks for your help.

Ken