Covering Fuselage - How to Lay Fabric

[David Weber]

Trying to envision the correct way to lay out the fabric for the sides and top. I am thinking of laying the fuselage on its side and running it all the way back to and including the vertical stablizer, on both sides, then anything missed on top, just cutting and gluing in the top portion. Using Stewart's system.

I remember someone not doing it this way. What they did was basically the same way BUT they made the Vertical Stabilizer a separate step.

So, ignoring what I said above could someone tell me the proper way to do this step?

[whee]

There is the envelope method which many BH builders seem to use and their is the blanket method. Neither is right or wrong. Seems your talking about the blanket method and asking where to place the seems. I found Stewart's fuselage videos on YouTube helpful and will be covering my BH similarly to how they described covering the Citabria. They also said if I really am going to be playing off airport it would be a good idea to cover the bottom last so it is easier to replace.

[Battson]

There is no one "right way" to do this David.

You have three basic options as I understood it:

- Envelope (pre-sewn sock which fits around the plane)
- Blanket (one piece on each side where one overlaps the top, plus a bottom piece if the other side wont stretch this far. A small bit of stitching required at the vertical stabilizer)
- Individual panels (one piece on each indivudal side, top, and bottom)

I went for the blanket method. I think it was a compromise. I wanted to minise the number of seams, minimise sewing, and have a seperate bottom panel made of heavy duty fabric.

I play rough off airport more or less constantly. The underside of the tail wings and elevators, plus the rudder, definitely take the most damage. I used normal fabric. They can be made of the heaviest fabric if you want to play off airport a lot. My bottom panel has sustained a couple of very minor punctures (size of a staple). Too small to even notice without really hunting for them.

[Mark Goldberg]

The technique used by most builders is to cover the bottom first with one piece of fabric glued to the lower longerons. Then sewing two pieces together for covering the sides and top. The sowed seam looks best when it runs on top of one of the stringers on the top of the fuselage. Use the sewing thread recommended or sold by the covering people. Mark

[jim.mclaughlin924]

I used Mark's method, but did the fin with separate piece. Made a splice on the first rib. I think it saved some time and looks good. I did post photos sometime ago.

[N134RT]

My suggestion no matter what covering method you use, is purchase a copy of the Polyfiber covering manual. it's spiral bound and can be on the work bench beside you. it covers all your questions and i highly recommend it. it's been updated many times since the beginning and is the best book i have found for this. it has pictures and descriptions of the questions you just asked. good luck!