Wing Tank replacement - ALMOST-

[AvidJack 26]

When it comes time to smooth out the tapes and runs, wherever you are in the polycoat process- there's a trick in the back of the Poly manual that makes everything work MUCH better.  Go get some Reynolds (tm) oven baking bags (Turkey are the largest), split them open, and use them between the fabric and the iron.  They allow you to stick down anything that is sticking up, and even fair in a lot of the edges of tapes, using the excess polystuff.  I've even ironed out the next-to-final paint coating.  Iron it out, let it cool, and peel it back off- it's now smooth (NO sanding!).  If you split one bag in two, you can iron on one while the other is cooling..

I used a harbor freight HVLP paint setup, about $99 (Item #44677). that is self-contained to paint several aircraft. Polyspray and Polytone are pretty forgiving if you don't stop in the process to admire your work.  Pick a calm day that's not too buggy, and shoot- I did two planes in the carport.

No, I'm not connected with Harbor Freight, but I do have one of their portable garages that I've used in the past as a paint booth.  I even borrowed my dad's HF hvlp (above) and used it as an air supply to my hood (located outside the HF garage) when I was shooting epoxy primer with mine.

And- one more thing while I'm at it.  I do NOT recommend the fuel indicators that you are using in your wing tanks,  I went ahead and put in capacitive probes and panel gauges.  Sit in the plane, and you'll see that there's NO way to see the pilot side wing tank.  I also put in fuel cutoffs for both wing tanks (before the filters), not hard to do.  When you park on a slight slope, all the fuel drains over to the low tank, and can leak out.  I simply shut off ONE tank when parking, and fly with both open.  If one starts to drain faster than the other, I can feed off the fuller tank for a bit.  It's so much easier than trying to fly with a wing held low, for a cross-feed.  In any other Avid- they're fine- I have see'um windows in my Bandit, and they serve well, but not in an amphibian or catalina.

$.02

Jack

Austin, TX

[AvidJack 26]

Ok,  I screwed up... I was commenting on the wrong thread when I mentioned the wing tank level indicators.. They'll work just fine for an avid without a hull.  But- I do still recommend the fuel cutoffs.  Makes it easier to change a filter, and saves a lot of cursing when you park sideways on a slight incline with fairly full tanks.

$.02

Jack

Austin TX

Catalina N92KL (flying)

Bandit N220AP (flying, not my build)

Osprey II (60%?)

[EDMO 1078]

Ok,  I screwed up... I was commenting on the wrong thread when I mentioned the wing tank level indicators.. They'll work just fine for an avid without a hull.  But- I do still recommend the fuel cutoffs.  Makes it easier to change a filter, and saves a lot of cursing when you park sideways on a slight incline with fairly full tanks.

$.02

Jack

Austin TX

Catalina N92KL (flying)

Bandit N220AP (flying, not my build)

Osprey II (60%?)

Jack,  You have water more than 32 feet wide in Austin?   Maybe a reservoir?  That's one place in Texas I haven't been.    EDMo

Edited 18 Feb 2016 by EDMO

[marksires 484]

Ok,  I screwed up... I was commenting on the wrong thread when I mentioned the wing tank level indicators.. They'll work just fine for an avid without a hull.  But- I do still recommend the fuel cutoffs.  Makes it easier to change a filter, and saves a lot of cursing when you park sideways on a slight incline with fairly full tanks.

$.02

Jack

Austin TX

Catalina N92KL (flying)

Bandit N220AP (flying, not my build)

Osprey II (60%?)

Jack,  You have water more than 32 feet wide in Austin?   Maybe a reservoir?  That's one place in Texas I haven't been.    EDMo

Ok,  I screwed up... I was commenting on the wrong thread when I mentioned the wing tank level indicators.. They'll work just fine for an avid without a hull.  But- I do still recommend the fuel cutoffs.  Makes it easier to change a filter, and saves a lot of cursing when you park sideways on a slight incline with fairly full tanks.

$.02

Jack

Austin TX

Catalina N92KL (flying)

Bandit N220AP (flying, not my build)

Osprey II (60%?)

Jack,  You have water more than 32 feet wide in Austin?   Maybe a reservoir?  That's one place in Texas I haven't been.    EDMo

[marksires 484]

Ed,

Then you haven't been to Texas when it rains.  I lived there for 9 years (Dallas).  When we moved there I went to see the mighty Trinity river.  Boy, was I disappointed.  There was a levee, then seemed like 1,000 feet, then this little mostly dry creek, then another 1,000 feet, and another levee.  I thought "who they trying to kid, this ain't no river, we had creeks 100 times bigger than that in Illinois".

 

Then it rained.  and rained  and rained.  Then the Trinity was to the top of those levees, and over the bridge that that ran between them.  They'd raised the levee's after they built the bridge, but hadn't built a new bridge.....

Then there is lake Texoma on the Oklahoma border, Lake Ray Hubbard outside Dallas, Lake Lavon north of Dallas.  Lot's of big reservoirs around that dry state!

 

Mark

 

[EDMO 1078]

Ed,

Then you haven't been to Texas when it rains.  I lived there for 9 years (Dallas).  When we moved there I went to see the mighty Trinity river.  Boy, was I disappointed.  There was a levee, then seemed like 1,000 feet, then this little mostly dry creek, then another 1,000 feet, and another levee.  I thought "who they trying to kid, this ain't no river, we had creeks 100 times bigger than that in Illinois".

 

Then it rained.  and rained  and rained.  Then the Trinity was to the top of those levees, and over the bridge that that ran between them.  They'd raised the levee's after they built the bridge, but hadn't built a new bridge.....

Then there is lake Texoma on the Oklahoma border, Lake Ray Hubbard outside Dallas, Lake Lavon north of Dallas.  Lot's of big reservoirs around that dry state!

 

Mark

 

I have been on the lake near Oklahoma - and DFW and a few other spots in the Lone Star State.   First flight to OKC, I left Cherokee strip and was told to follow the river south of town - I couldn't find the river!  There was no water - just a dry river bed and red sand!    EdMO

Edited 18 Feb 2016 by EDMO

[AvidJack 26]

A bit off topic? I grew up on Texoma, on the border of Texas and Oklahoma, north of Dallas.  I've *never* been on the whole lake, not even a quarter of it- didn't have that much time, or gas.  I hope to fly the cat up there this spring, my father retired in the house we built together back in the 70's, and I'd love to fly in and surprise him.  The only problem?  The Catalina cruises at 70-75.  Given the weather in Texas, it might be a week long trip!.  I *really* like water ops- but it is, from time to time, a long haul to the *big* waters (hence the Osprey build).  However, there are enough man-made ponds (ranchers call them "tanks" down here) that I enjoy the sudden increase in really safe emergency landing spots.  I might get in safely, and trailer out.  Luckily, haven't had to test that yet, but there was this one buzzard..

And there are *still* bridges out in Texas from the floods last memorial day .  Dry, maybe, but not always!  Lake Travis was down 60 feet this time last year, and now it's only down 5!  If you want to know how quickly things change, this is a fun video- it starts out slow, but keep watching!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6beJDUSSqqc

-Jack

[akflyer 1427]

A bit off topic? I grew up on Texoma, on the border of Texas and Oklahoma, north of Dallas.  I've *never* been on the whole lake, not even a quarter of it- didn't have that much time, or gas.  I hope to fly the cat up there this spring, my father retired in the house we built together back in the 70's, and I'd love to fly in and surprise him.  The only problem?  The Catalina cruises at 70-75.  Given the weather in Texas, it might be a week long trip!.  I *really* like water ops- but it is, from time to time, a long haul to the *big* waters (hence the Osprey build).  However, there are enough man-made ponds (ranchers call them "tanks" down here) that I enjoy the sudden increase in really safe emergency landing spots.  I might get in safely, and trailer out.  Luckily, haven't had to test that yet, but there was this one buzzard..

And there are *still* bridges out in Texas from the floods last memorial day .  Dry, maybe, but not always!  Lake Travis was down 60 feet this time last year, and now it's only down 5!  If you want to know how quickly things change, this is a fun video- it starts out slow, but keep watching!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6beJDUSSqqc

-Jack

Pretty impressive video.. Hate seeing those nice docks destroyed.

[rdooley79 28]

So I have the wing back on the plane. Was too busy working on getting it back together but I have one pic of it after the paint job. The rest you can imagine easily.  

 

The painter was VERY impressed with how far I was able to take it with a Purdy brush and wet sanding. Glue, Pink, Silver all with a brush. After I got it shot with Polytone paint it looked really good. Barely any evidence that the under coats were brushed on. You can tell if you know what you're looking for but nonetheless it ended up very nice. Now I am comfortable doing the same job in my hanger with some tarps to help keep the drafts down and the dust off while things dry. I did multiple cross coats with the brush always going with the weave of the fabric, never 45` to the weave. I think that's what saved me. Also I was heavy on the last coat of silver which let me wet sand it down.

 

My painter gave me a few pointers and said that the small HVLP paint gun from Harbor Freight ($10) was perfect for small repair jobs. So I got one and am going to repair a little tail feather damage from a rock that kicked up a few months back, on the right elevator.