Fabric Covering

Page 1

I will have to say that this is the worst part of building a wood
aircraft. You have put all this work into it possibly over years
and now you have to take it all apart!!!!! I don't think that is fair
but this is part of it.

As I took the 303 apart I did something that really helped me out and saved me a lot of time. As I took each section apart whether it was the tail wheel, aleron or the fire wall and engine mount as you see here I made a drawing of each section. In this drawing I marked the location of each bolt hole, the type of bolt and the lenth. I also put in there if there was more than one washer. On other parts of the aircraft there were other brackets used. They were also listed. Also the brackets were marked as far as there position with masking tape.

Where ever you glue fabric you need you need to have the wood smooth.You can see a file on the rudder in this photo. I sprayed the spar varnish on the tail assembly and it was a mess. The rest of the 303 was done with a brush. I had the varnish run on some areas and the quickest way was to use a file to get the majority off.

Everything recieved a light sanding where fabric was going to be glued.

After every thing was sanded where fabric was going to be glued I applied a good coat of Poly-Fiber Epoxy Varnish. This gallon of epoxy varnish cost me about $200 but I believe the investment is well worth it.

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