My Taylorcraft restoration project,  G-BREY
Page 6, March 2005 - Oct 2005
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by Robert Lees

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March 2005:  Wing work commences:

	The wings and fuselage are delivered to the airport to check the spar spacing and rigging.  Both wings and fuselage having undergone some major surgery, I was unwilling to take the risk of the wings not fitting.  It would be a lot easier to make any adjustments before covering. I do not have the space at home to do this.
		In fact, with the help of many friends, the wings almost fell on, with no further adjustment or trammelling required.  The diagonals (sternpost to wingtips) came out within ± ¼", so I was happy

April 2005

While the wings and fuselage are away for rigging (and my garage is empty) I take the opportunity of the extra space to spray up the tailfeathers....

...and after the white for the stabilisers, I need to revisit the fuselage...

...to get the red trim aligned with the fin trim lines.

The port wing makes a reappearance in my garage.  Both wings, ailerons and the fuselage and tailfeathers have been signed off by my beloved inspector Carl, so I can progress onto covering the wings.

You may notice I am using rib bracing tape...I'm not convinced of the benefits for the relatively rigid pressed-aluminium ribs, but a consensus on the Taylorcraft forum was to use it. I have also adopted an old Auster trick...that is, to use Selotape over the rib caps to allow the fabric to "slide" over the ribs as it is shrunk.

I make sure the pitot (and static) tubing is installed before covering.  Here I use black tape, and also some tie-wraps to secure.   Tie-wraps are known to fail after many years (because the plasticisers contained evaporate out) so I make sure the tape is adequate.  The tie-wraps are there as a "back-up" during the fabricking process.

The wing covering and sealing (pink goo) process goes relatively simply.  It is important to shrink the areas of maximum curvature first (i.e. above & below the main spar, and just aft of this area) so as to minimise any "scalloping" of the fabric, which would happen if shrinking each complete bay in turn.  Thanks to Jim Miller ( www.AircraftTechnicalSupport.com ) for the tip.

After the pink goo has dried, I run over it with my iron set at 250 degrees.  This gets rid of minor bumps, hairs and general detritus that has settled into the wet surface.

Opening out the clip holes with a soldering iron...

...after which I smooth down the raised edges...

...and lay the reinforcing tape and melt the holes through that.

The  clips get installed (barbs towards the leading edge)...

...and here is the result.  To install the clips on both sides took me a total of two hours.  Much quicker than lacing. These are original Taylorcraft clips, not the newer Martin clips.

This ring is used to take the fabric tension loads around the filler neck.  It is important that the fabric is sealed around the neck to prevent fuel getting inside the wing.

Taping.  Chord-wise tapes go on first, span wise after.  Except for at the aileron cut-out...the chord-wise tapes go over the span-wise tapes there. The square wooden frame lying on the wing is for pre-shrinking lightweight fabric from which I make the doilies.

The aileron gets covered (using lots of clamps around the tip)...

...and then a final check for alignment on the wing.

I add an inspection hatch on the upper surface of the wing.  Not absolutely necessary, and I hope I never have to cut it out, but it is there for access to the aileron bellcrank if required.

I finish off my wing rotating jig.  The jig screws into threaded inserts on the wingtip bow.

Two spray coats of Poly-Brush...

...and then silver coats.

June 2005

After three cross-coats of silver (and wet sanding the first two coats), I spray white. Although this photo shows the top surface (which will be red), I spray an undercoat of white first.  The underside will be all white.

After masking off, a mist coat of red...

Followed by two full coats of red see the wing in her true colours.  Only the under-wing registration marks to do now.

A spray mask for the registration letters is applied...

...and a light mist coat is sprayed.

After a full coat, the masking is removed to reveal the now completed wing.

July 2005

The next wing is prepared for covering.   One of the things very noticeable is a "set" in the wing, after nearly 60 years of washout in each wing. Here, the wing tip lays on a trestle...but the root is free to rotate on my "rotisserie", and both wings like to settle with the wash-out set into the shape. I can lock the root, which is what I do during the covering process.

August-Sept 2005

Much of the time since July has been spent recovering the other wing (so not a lot to report).  However, a few things of note that I should have posted before:

I used a chalk-line to "snap" the edges of the taping areas.

Excess chalk is first brushed off, then any remainder removed using a tack-rag.

To get the correct length of rib wire, I stick the free end in a "start" hole, and unreel to the "finish" hole on all the ribs.

I use the cardboard centre from a reel of reinforcing tape to mark the reinforcing "dollar patches" that go over the drain grommets.

To make a neat drain hole, roughly cut out the 1/4" inner fabric (I use a scalpel), and then burn the excess with a small-tipped soldering iron.. ..

.. ..then use the scalpel again to trim off the black built-up edge.

Ailerons:

Spraying of the two gear legs and two aileron progresses well through the "pink goo" stage until...

...during the first coat of silver, I drop the one of the ailerons on to the tip bow.  Ho-hum, repair required.

Repairs complete, the ailerons (& gear legs) get further sanding coats, and then the white treatment...

...and after masking, a dust coat of red. [Note the original aileron skin on the floor, used to get the same masking tape positions]

A couple of wet coats see the ailerons in full two-tone colour.

October 2005

The other wing is finished. That's all the fabric work done now.

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A tally of my hours spent restoring is available here
Other restoration photos
Nosebowl Grille fitting problems.
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