Clear or opaque airplane fabric?

[Brian Kopp]

Hi folks,
A friend here is going to start building a Fisher Dakota Hawk and will hang it in his garage/ man cave when it’s not in use.

He wants to find a clear or opaque airplane fabric to cover portions of the bottom of the wings and the fuselage so that the spruce wood interior structure can be seen from below. He has already done this with an RC years ago:


Is anyone aware of any clear or opaque fabric like this?

Thanks!
Brian

[bigdog]

There is a Jenny (I think) at the Museum of Flight in Seattle covered with mylar to show the structure. Of course it's purely for display. Your statement "when not in use" implies it needs to be airworthy. Even if you can find a translucent fabric I suspect there will be some airworthiness requirements to ruin the effect. It's going to need UV protectant and reinforced attachment to the ribs with reinforcing tape, rib stitching/screws/rivets and then finishing tape not only on the ribs but all edges and seams. You should consider building a small wing section covered with a mylar film just for display in the man cave.

[Dana]

I think you meant translucent, opaque means you CAN'T see through it.

Many models are covered with clear or translucent mylar, but it's not suitable for full size aircraft, the required tear resistance just isn't there. The Lazair ultralight used Tedlar film, but it's very difficult to obtain, and has its own issues.

[Eric Page]

Oratex makes two versions of their fabric. One has a black backing that prevents light from shining through, thus hiding the internal structure. The other has no opaque backing, so light can penetrate the fabric and illuminate the underlying structure. The fabric is available in two weights; for a Dakota Hawk you could use the thinner Oratex600, which is suitable for aircraft up to 600 kg (1,323 lbs) gross weight. The white, non-opaque fabric would be best at showing what's inside, especially if the aircraft is displayed with backlighting. That said, hanging the aircraft from the ceiling with no lighting above it probably wouldn't show much of the structure.

The Oratex distributor for North America is Better Aircraft Fabric, in Anchorage, AK.