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Author Topic: How to repair tears in old silkspan covered airplane?  (Read 3363 times)

Offline frank mccune

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How to repair tears in old silkspan covered airplane?
« on: June 10, 2014, 01:25:13 PM »
      Hi All:

      I got my Magician down from the attic where it has been hanging for at least 31 years an I found some tears in the silkspan that was used to cover the wings.  Some are about 3.5" long.  I have never flown this airplane and I am curious as to how it would fly with the old 1972 Fox .40 Stunt up front.

     The plane has a great paint job on it and I would like to patch it  just to see how it performs.  If I like it, I may strip the finish and recover the wings with silk!

    How may I repair these tears? I have silkspan and clear dope and have used silkspan in the past.  Would the old silkspan be too brittle to hold up to the strain of flying?

   I have heard of a plastic film that one can shrink directly on old silkspan and then repaint the new plastic covering.  What is it called and where would one purchase it.

   Suggestions?

                                                                                   Tia,

                                                                                   Frank
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Offline Tim Wescott

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Re: How to repair tears in old silkspan covered airplane?
« Reply #1 on: June 10, 2014, 02:29:57 PM »
If you just want to fly and you don't care about how good it looks, use clear shipping tape, or clear Scotch tape.  In the extreme, use some SLC or whatever the Combat guys use for temporary patches but don't bother painting -- just see how the thing flies.

To restore the existing silkspan you'd probably want to repair things with silkspan patches -- but as big as the tears are, I think it'd be wiser to declare the thing a loss, and refinish.

If you really just want to see how it performs, and don't mind risking more "ugly", give the silkspan a good thunk with your finger and see if it tears -- tearing it because you hit it may be traumatic, but it'll be a heck of a lot less traumatic than having it give up the ghost in the air!
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The problem with electric is that once you get the smoke generator and sound system installed, the plane is too heavy.

Offline frank mccune

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Re: How to repair tears in old silkspan covered airplane?
« Reply #2 on: June 10, 2014, 04:42:13 PM »
      Hi Tim:

      Thanks for the reply!

      I did not build this plane but I know who did and he thinks that he built it in the 60's!  He is a good builder but time may be my enemy.

      I think that I will just try to use clear shipping tape to patch the holes to see how it flies. 

      Do you think that it may blow apart in the air? perhaps the silkspan may begin to detach and things may not turn out for the better. Lol

      Perhaps I am just asking for trouble.  I should strip the wing and apply silk and not risk a compleat disaster! It does have a great paint job though!

       What would you do?

       Oh yes, I did have a Magician in the 70's that was powered by a 1972 Fox
36 pb.  That combination was a great one! I imagine that there are modern profiles that fly much bettter than the Midwest Magician.  I was always intrigued by the Excalibur by Dick Mathis of the early 70's.  Did it ever fly well?

                                                                                                                          Stay well my riend,

                                                                                                                          Frank
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Offline Tim Wescott

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Re: How to repair tears in old silkspan covered airplane?
« Reply #3 on: June 10, 2014, 04:58:34 PM »
Quote from: frank mccune on June 10, 2014, 04:42:13 PM
Do you think that it may blow apart in the air? perhaps the silkspan may begin to detach and things may not turn out for the better. Lol

I think I wouldn't know unless I had an idea of how well the silkspan has survived.  If the rips are just normal hanger rash and the material seems to be plenty strong, then tape it up and fly.  If the rips are there because the silkspan is rotting or has become hugely tight, then recover.

I was given a plane that was covered in light silkspan that was starting to rip at the ribs because of shrinkage -- it now flies just peachy in bright red Monocoat.
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The problem with electric is that once you get the smoke generator and sound system installed, the plane is too heavy.

Offline Balsa Butcher

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Re: How to repair tears in old silkspan covered airplane?
« Reply #4 on: June 11, 2014, 01:43:51 PM »
I just flew a 20 year old silkspanned stunter (Dixon Phoenix) that had many holes in its brittle silkspan covering. They were patched  with tape as I just wanted a flight or two to see if the plane flew well enough to be worth  restoring. It did and now is being stripped down for recovering and refinishing. The tape did not blow off during the flights. I suggest using Scotch MultiTask tape for the rips. It sticks well and makes great hingeline tape also.  8)
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Offline Steve Helmick

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Re: How to repair tears in old silkspan covered airplane?
« Reply #5 on: June 15, 2014, 09:05:35 PM »
One of the (shockingly) nice ways to do a quick repair on tissue or silkspan is to Scotch tape the tear together (assuming all the paper is there) enough to pull the edges together and apply a bead of Ambroid, Duco or SigMent to the exposed edges. Lay a piece of Saran Wrap over that, pull the wrinkles out, and tape down the Saran Wrap around the LE & TE. Let it dry, and it will be tight and mostly healed. Pull the wrap and tape, and repeat the process until it's all sealed up. About 1-2 hours and you're done, and you'll be surprised at how decent it'll look.  H^^ Steve
 
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Offline Bill Little

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Re: How to repair tears in old silkspan covered airplane?
« Reply #6 on: June 16, 2014, 03:13:59 PM »
Hi Frank,

When you get ready to strip it, go to Wally World and get some "Dad's Stripper".   It is the easiest to use paint stripper for our purposes I have ever used.  Depending on how thick you apply it, you can take off single layers or all the way down to bare wood.  It will eat plastic canopies, though.  My oldest son found this a few year ago and it is all we will use now.

BIG Bear
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John Leidle

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Re: How to repair tears in old silkspan covered airplane?
« Reply #7 on: June 17, 2014, 08:34:15 AM »
  Try Steve's method it worked for me
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Offline Tim Wescott

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Re: How to repair tears in old silkspan covered airplane?
« Reply #8 on: December 01, 2018, 02:31:05 PM »
Reviving this old thread.  So -- Steve's method for this one?  Or should I patch it with silkspan and refinish the area?  This is the worst of four or five holes in this model.
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The problem with electric is that once you get the smoke generator and sound system installed, the plane is too heavy.

Offline Bootlegger

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Re: How to repair tears in old silkspan covered airplane?
« Reply #9 on: December 01, 2018, 05:48:43 PM »

  Frank, something that I found MANY years ago is to tear the s/span instead of cutting it as it won't show edges when you dope it back down..  Good luck
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