I'm still waiting for the Douglas Fir needed for the wing spars so no progress on the wings but today I participated in a LAA course on fabric covering taught by Dave Almey at Skycraft. There were six of us on the course and each had a PA-25 pawnee horizontal stabiliser to cover. Dave showed us how to do each stage and then we tried it ourselves.First the frame was glued and the fabric fixed to the first side. Rather than wait for this to set Dave produced another 6 stabilisers that had been glued by a previous course. These were then ironed to tension the fabric and the second side glued into place. This time the glue set during a short lunch break. Next a coat of dope was brushed on and then it was time to learn how to
rib stitch. Dave said we had to do both ribs as the second one would be better - it was! Final job was to of glue in place tapes to cover the stitches and to protect the edges of the stabiliser. It was a very good course and having hands on experience under the supervision of someone who really knows how to do it provided the confidence to do it for real on the Tailwind - thanks Dave.
