Aircraft fabric

[Gary Brink]

About forty five years ago, part of my job in the air force was to recover control panels using cotton and dope. Today, I covered the first wing of my 14-13 2 with Poly Fiber and what a difference it makes! Very forgiving and easy to work with. I'm sure there are other fabrics on the market that are just as good but this is the one I selected. Anyway, I just wanted to comment on how lucky we are to have the materials available because using cotton and dope is no picnic.
Gary

 

[gfhawker]

I have restored a good number of fabric airplanes and can say that in my opinion the Randolph dope process is more user friendly than the Stitts process. My primary issue with Stitts is the "silver" step. I don't know what that stuff is but once it dries it is like concrete when it comes to sanding. Dope is much softer and much easier to obtain a smooth surface. From a fabric and glue standpoint they are identical.

RT