Fabric...

So, I changed my mind on the fabric. I originally had planned to do a German Storch paint scheme. This would have required a complete paint job on the airplane with no less than seven colors, five of them custom. Pretty elaborate, but a very cool scheme. A lot of work too! Then I got the quote for the custom paints $3k+ just for the paint, I started to rethink my plans.

I also had been talking with other builders and the consensus on Oratex fabric is the less paint the better. After all, that is the beauty of Oratex fabric, the color is built in, no paint required. The other major reason was touch up and keeping the paint looking good. This aircraft is meant to be taken off airport which means abuse; rocks, sticks, weeds, etc. flying up and hitting the paint which means a lot of touch up.

I purchased White Oratex 6000 because I had planned to paint and White is the best to make colors pop and look they way they are supposed to. That's why I ordered it. Well, after working with Terry on covering his Kitfox (he used Silver), I changed my mind and decided to go Silver also. Only one problem, Better Aircraft Fabrics wouldn't exchange my White for silver. Since this fabric is relatively new, each order is basically custom. So, they would have to find someone that wanted White, in the same or nearly the same quantity, to get them to order Silver for me and I would send them my White. Easy, right? Not so much. After several months I was getting close to covering and it looked like it wasn't going to happen, I started making plans to paint the German scheme again. Just before I committed to purchasing all the custom paint, I get a call from Paul at BAF saying he had somebody that wanted my White. I jumped on it and within a couple of hours had a deal with a guy in Canada. I shipped my White out the next day. He ordered my Silver the following day. So, a long story short, I received my Silver Oratex 6000 fabric today.

42M of White Oratex (2 rolls - 16M plus 26M)

42M of Silver Oratex 6000 (one roll)

Now, my plans are to paint as little as possible but will have an accent color - Black. I'll paint the cowling, gear legs, wing struts, slats and a few other parts Black. It'll look something like this...

Covering to begin soon!