Paint Repair

[RCS]

I have 40 year old Ceconite fabric which has been painted over a couple of times according to the log book history (as best I can figure). There are a few areas where the paint is cracking and lifting from the fabric which I would like to repair. I have many questions about the best repair procedure, the first of which is how to determine what type of paint was used for the top coat… is there any way to make this determination? Any good resources to guide me through the repair process? Thanks in advance for any help! --Rob

[Matt Gonitzke]

What is the condition of the fabric? Does it still pass a tension test? If it were mine, I would recover it. Otherwise, you'll spend all this time fixing the paint on one area, only to have another crack and lift. The 40-year old fabric is probably just about on borrowed time anyway.

[RCS]

The fabric is good and I am trying to postpone a re-cover job for a few more years. The problem areas are isolated around the door and at this point seem to be more cosmetic than structural. I am trying to build up my knowledge and skill set and thought taking on some minor repairs would give me some good experience. I'm just not sure how to get started. Thanks for the feedback.

[gbrasch]

Hate to ask what sounds like a stupid question, but is they type of paint used not in the logbook?

[RCS]

Unfortunately there is no log entry beyond "entire plane repainted this date". The date being 1992.

[gbrasch]

You might shoot this guy, John Stahr a question, he is a really paint expert: jstahr@stahrdesign.com

[FlyingRon]

Punch testing is not an approved way to test ceconite (and the other polyester fabrics). If the paint has been compromised to the point where the fabric is exposed (especially if the plane has been ourside), you've got a pretty strong chance that it's no longer airworthy.

However, in this case it's probably not structural. The official stuff to paint ceconite is Randolph products but even then it can be one of several products in that line. Of course, people paint fabric with just about anything from old butyrate dope to Imron so you'll need to do some investigating. Someone who's painted fabric before probably can guess given the flex and sheen what you've got though.

[stewartb]

Chances are it's dope. Look from the inside to see what color the nitrate was. Blue is Randoproof, green is Superflight Dacproofer, and there's an outside chance you'll find pink Stits. Silver is probably silvered butyrate and topcoat is likely colored butyrate. The best test would be to see if some butyrate reducer works to remove it. If it was top coated with a urethane nothing will cut it including MEK. Dope can be softened and recoated using rejuvenator and more dope. Urethane would require scuffing to promote adhesion of an added coat and I wouldn't expect good success with it regardless of whether the undercoat is dope or Stits. If you have Stits Polytone it's simple to fix, just look up the Polytone process instructions on-line. http://www.randolphaircraft.com/buty...juvenator.html http://polyfiber.com/stits/

[martymayes]

Any good resources to guide me through the repair process? Thanks in advance for any help! --

A paint guy can usually tell my looking if it is dope, lacquer or enamel. If you just want a quick and dirty spruce up, sand it and paint over with enamel w/flex additive.

[1600vw]

I have done some of these repairs on my airplane. I did this 5 years ago and am now doing another section. What I did 5 years ago looks like I just did it yesterday. This is on an EAB but covered in the same fabric as yours. I also had to do a few repairs to said fabric. It had a 3 inch tear in the fabric on one spot. Some knuckle head climbed under her with a screw driver sticking out of his back pocket. He then tore the fabric on said screw driver.

I looked in the logs and had no idea what was used or the system used on this airplane. I went ahead and used the Stewards System for all repairs. After 5 years it has held up just fine and looks like i just did these repairs. Now I needed some paint. What to do? I find a couple pieces I can remove with the color I want and head down to the local auto paint supply house. I walk in and start talking to the sales man or the dude behind the counter. We both have no idea what we are looking at so we grab a chip chart. We find a color that looks close and he mixes some paint up and put this paint in a rattle can for me. This is a two part paint. Meaning I must activate the paint in order to use it. On the bottom of the can there is a plunger you push to release the hardener into the paint. I take this back and apply said paint to the repairs. It turns out awesome. I mean really nice. After 5 years it looks just as it did the day I painted it. The color match was perfect. You can push on that fabric as hard as you like and it does not crack nor has it cracked. It even had some ring worm in the paint I covered. None of this came back after 5 years. I doubt it returns.

Now I am doing the trim. I am doing this or in the process now. I will get some pics. Those who say you can not repaint a fabric airplane or that it will not hold up, well I say you can and have the proof to show you. I did it. It also took very little paint to cover the fabric doing this. One can of paint goes a very long way. I watched him mix this can of paint. there is not much paint in that can, a few ounces and that can goes a very long way. Again I will post some pics. I will also make a very short video showing what I am doing. Tony