Careful paintstripping

Gooday All

You can sometimes find interesting writing when you start stripping aeroplane parts.

TFC’s old Yak had newspaper used between the stringers etc & the fabric. The print had transfered from the paper to the airframe parts so it was covered in arabic from Egyptian papers…
At least I think they were Egyptian…:confused:

Gooday All

You can sometimes find interesting writing when you start stripping aeroplane parts.

Recently I was stripping the old fabric of a Tiger Moth undercarriage part (the hocky leg) and came across A17-704 (an RAAF Tiger Moth serial number) on the fabric.

Also recently when I took the lining off an Auster door, I found D Cramer – Dalby and a date way back in the past written on the inside of the door (from ‘KSH). I happen to know Des Cramer althought I havn’t seen him in 20 years.

When I was checking some of the ply from the belly of my Proctor to check the grain direction of the ply, I wiped down the fabric with thinners to remove the silver dope and found the original WW2 yellow it had once been (in that area).

Too often we find these interesting clues and then ignore them or forget them.

cheers

Thanks

I think there maybesome, not sure how detailed, I’ll have a look.

I think there maybesome, not sure how detailed, I’ll have a look.

Stuart,Do you have any more detail photos of WF145?

Tony, you could try to sand of each layer with a fine abrasive like 220 or 280; this is the technique I used to reveal the queens crown and the legend “by appointment” on xw541.

The second photo is wf145, clearly it has been chemically stripped by a previous owner, although it worked, I do think they were lucky that the stripper didn’t take the lot off!

many thanx chaps, probably try sanding
cheers

I have been slowly removing a paint layer by sanding, this is a trial on the fin before I start on the sensitive noseart. It has been very very time consuming, the result looks OK from a few feet away but close up you can see scratches etc.. it is especially difficult around the rivets due to the height difference.

Good Luck, Paul

Tony, you could try to sand of each layer with a fine abrasive like 220 or 280; this is the technique I used to reveal the queens crown and the legend “by appointment” on xw541.

The second photo is wf145, clearly it has been chemically stripped by a previous owner, although it worked, I do think they were lucky that the stripper didn’t take the lot off!

Trying to strip paint off an airframe to reveal its original markings is a difficult task and not one that I have managed to perform often. The only airframe I managed to do this too and not intensionally was the Air Museums F-101 Voodoo when I was working on her. We were looking to remove the countless layers of paint to produce a smooth finish and it needed drastic measures in places to get the paint off so a strong paint stripper was enforced. It removed the layers of later painting attempts and revealed the original paint scheme from when in service, of which their were two in fact. The paint they originally used during service must of been well durable cause the paint stripper did not desolve it. With regard your airframe, it depends on how many times it has been repainted which will dictate what measures you need to go too to reveal its history. Paint stripper would be easiest but you will need to brush it on really thinly and use a plastic scraper to scrape the paint off. A bucket of soapy water needs to be close to hand with a sponge so, when you find the original scheme, as soon as it appears, wash the area with the water to rid the airframe of paint stripper and stopping it taking the original colours away. Keep the paint stripper away from that area after as well for obvious reasons. I warn you now though, it is one hell of a pain staking task and an extremely messy one to, so be prepared for a long clean up after each days work.

http://www.fleetairarm.com/en-GB/product/Corsair_KD431_The_Time_Capsule_Fighter_By_David_Morris/1_15.aspx

I think this book will answer some of your questions, have you tried contacting the fleet air arm museum?.

Cheers

George