What's yours covered with?

[G-NIPR]

Hello all,
In an effort to kick start the conversation, I am interested to know what your Nipper is covered and finished with.
The rebuild of G-NIPR will be using a polyfibre system with medium grade fabric and polytone paint.
I chose this based on the virtues of easy application, light weight and easy repairs (touch wood!).
However the 'penalty' is a semi-gloss finish instead of the shiny finish I originally wanted.
I gather that polytone is not prone to cracking and is in fact very durable, and can be revitalised later if need be.
Any thoughts?

Paul.

[Neil Spooner]

Hi Paul,
I have covered mine with Ceconite 102, 3 coats of dope (thinned 50/50), 2 coats of Aluminium dope (50/50), one coat of flexible 2 pack primer, and hopefully tomorrow 2 coats of 2pack top coat. Once that has cured I shall apply the red and black colour scheme. The 2 pack paints I am using are normally used on truck curtain sides, so is very flexible, hard wearing (it is a absolute swine to rub down) and durable. We have kept samples of material that have been cut out from the middle of access hatches that are now 3 years old. You can screw them up into a little ball, flatten them out and have no cracking or damage to the paint.
Neil

[Pat Blenkinsopp]

Neil Paul and all,
ASXI is covered in medium weight Ceconite , doped filled and uv protected with a top coat of Neogene cellulose colour,
The Ceconite is excellent, having been applied in 1991 but the cellulose top colour has become crazed on most of the top surface of the
wing and is in need of some rectification . It is however only cosmetic. Having worked with most types of covering in my work, my choice of finishing would
be the Polyfibre system because of the sheer ease of obtaining a good finish combined with light weight. In my experienc two pack systems are very good and easy to apply but tend to be heavy. However coverage is easy and the finish is very durable. There is one real down side to two pack-- the stuff is seriously toxic when being applied so PLEASE use a separate air breathing mask. Trust me this stuff rots your lungs.
My new top coat will probably be polytone having applied a light coat of barcoat to prevent a reaction with the previous covering. Some experimentation will be required here. Forunately it is only the wings that are affected.
If ti all goes horribly wrong I can always recover the wing and that will give me the opportunity to install internal tip tanks

[Neil Spooner]

Hi Pat,
Although the internal tip tanks would be easier to install when the wing is bare, I created the mod' paperwork with the intention of not having to recover the wing. All the work is done from the underside of the outer full bay. It is necessary to introduce two inspection hatches in bays 3 and 5 to route and attach the fuel pipe to the ribs. This is what your ribs/wing should look like when modified:

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If your wing lower surface is ok and not cracked, could you not remove the old paint with thinners and respray?

Neil