I purchased the plane and found some questionable airframe problems
under close inspection. Then we adopted 2 girls from China and all
airplane activity ceased for a few years ( we got little Anna when I
turned 50 and actually thought I could adopt a second girl, raise two
infants, work and put hundreds of hours into a plane project, isn't
denial a wonderful thing).

With the problems I found on the fuselage and my new family to
consider I've decided to completely refurbish the plane and bring it
up to proper standards before flying it now. I'm glad I decided this
after pulling the fuselage fabric. My plane was built in the 60's and
I want to refurbish it and keep it flying for another 50 years. Also
it was very overbuilt so I can reduce weight dramatically and am
trying to get its empty weight down to 600#s like Pete Bowers
prototype.

To me the plane is a valued antique that represents all that I admire
from the early days of amateur built airplanes movement. Nothing
represents those days better than a Fly Baby or a Tailwind.

As the mechanic in charge I had to ground the airplane, tough
decision. I believe more of us need to be prepared to ground our
planes when they need it. I once read a discussion with a NASA safety
expert. He said they found out through research that the second a
pilot gets that little gut feeling that someting might happen the
proper evasive procedure should be instituted immediately.



tell me why you are contemplating replacing the stits.
what is wrong with it?

I ask because the damn stuff doesnt deteriorate in a hangar. if it is
just the paint finish that is stuffed then that can be repaired.
you can spray rejuvinator over it to replasticise the finish.
you can wipe the finish off with mek if it is polytone.

are you sure you need to replace the stits at all?
Stealth Pilot- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -