Pics Airplane Project Update: 95% complete

[Mr. Stevenson]

I'm happy you got that T55!

 

[Taylorman55]

Looks awesome. Have fun with the first flight
i am curios. What kind of fabric is on these planes. I have been a passenger in one years age but never new what the fabric was

This is Ceconite 102. The older guys will call it the old dope and fabric. There are 3 levels of fabric available for this process. 101, 102 and 103. 101 is the heaviest duty, but also the heaviest. 102 is the mid and 103 is the lighter weight, but also lighter duty. Dad has seemed to have good luck with the mid weight, kind of balance between strength, but also keeping it light as possible. This fabric is tightly woven, and if you have a one foot by one foot chunk in your hands, you cannot tear it. You could be the strongest man in the world, and with the blank fabric, you cannot tear or rip it. Then you add in about 15 coats of dope and paint and its insane strong. Now, taking a knife edge to it is a completely different story. It'll cut like a hot knife through butter.

Most of the original fabrics of the 40s, 50s and 60s were "Grade A Cotton."

I can say watching dad do this fabric work is just something else. It is a true art. It's slow and tedious. It takes about 2000 hours for a guy to get his A and P certification, and this lit a fire for me. I do believe i'll start training directly under the old man, and work towards my certification, so I can do this work on the side, even if it's for myself or friends.

 

[Mr. Stevenson]

I always thought it would be cool to build an aircraft around a chain gun and titanium tub apparatus.