Reskin a Super Viking

J

jturner1951

New member
Have a 73 Super Viking that I love. I was advised by my mechanic that the control surfaces (at a minimum) would have to be re-skined to pass next annual in August. He's correct. They're pretty bad. I have two quotes to redo the full exterior - one for $30,000, one for $60,000. Good grief! Both would take months, of course.

Any advice out there?

Ever done just the control surfaces? Surprising that they're so much worst than the rest of the plane....

Help!

Jim T
 
There's nothing wrong at all with doing just control surfaces.. In fact, if the rest of the plane is OK, it wouldn't make much sense to do the whole thing.
 
I think the factory sells control surfaces made up and ready to go.

You didn't say where you were located but there are other places too.
 
Dan Torrey gave a pretty good talk on fabric work at the West Coast Fly-In.

I don't think it is too daunting to recover your own control surfaces.
It will take some time, and it stinks like hell.. but you can do it on a long work bench.

The good news is that you can do them one at a time, they aren't so big that you are out a whole lot of money
on one, everything goes step wise... so if one step is messed up.. go back and fix it.

Plus, you have to take the control surfaces off anyway, and if you feel it's too much.. you can box them up and send them off, or find somebody locally.

EAA has some workshops on fabric. Also, since you have bad fabric ( or bad paint/dope ? ) you can practice on the old fabric first. Sand down a spot, and try rejuvenating it. Slice it with a razor, and then patch it.

---

I had NEVER done any fabric work, but I bought the Ceconite manual, and a kit of all the stuff from AC spruce,
maybe it cost $125 or $150 bucks. I have done a couple of aileron fabric repairs, and I am perfectly happy with the results, and nothing bad was said at the annual.. so I guess they were fine.

So, that's what I would do.. IF you feel you have the time, and can live with more down time for the airplane than you might have hiring the work done.

Lots of options, including stripping the old fabric, putting on new fabric, and at whatever stage you don't feel comfortable..
you let a pro take over. Covering is a lot of labor, but it isn't rocket science..and it costs a lot to have it done because it takes Time.

Get the Ceconite or Stitts Manual for $12 bucks from AC spruce, and read about it.
Then try some test things.. then decide.

A fuselage is a big deal, but you can handle the control surfaces... literally.

larry
 
blimpy said:
Get the Ceconite or Stitts Manual for $12 bucks from AC spruce, and read about it.
Click to expand...

Best to find out what's on the plane now and stick with that system, unless you're already committed to doing the entire plane.
Even though you could use ceconite on one aileron and the wing in something else, it'll be a pain to live with if you need to repair it and you don't have the right system on hand.
 
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