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Black Paint and Fabric???

westwind

Registered User
Alberta
Was curious to know anyone has experienced any adverse effects from fabric painted black?? Thought I might have the leading edge, and topside of wings as well as horizontal stabilizer and elevator done in black while it's in the shop... Fabric is less than a year old and done with the stits process, thought it would be handy on those frosty mornings away from the "hanger", as a guy doesn't always have wing covers with him.... My AME is against the idea, but I have seen some black cubs around..... It wouldn't be outside more than 90 days a year Maximum..........
 
The only thing I can think of is: If it snows, then it gets warm then cold again it turns the stuff into ice.Then you have to get the ice off. Mine is outside 365 days. If its going to snow or frost, covers go on.
J.C.
 
I'll probably get a lot of flak for this, but I wouldn't, Stitts cracks bad enough as it is, let alone drawing more heat to it...........
 
Had a Black Staggerwing Beech years ago and the fabric would loosen up enough to wrinkle when first pushed out into the sun. After about 20 minutes it would totten back up. I was covered in Grade A with dope.
 
I use to fly an all black Cessna 340. Was brand new, owner had the factory paint stripped and repainted black with a thin gold stipe. Was a real attention getter. People would come out and look at the plane, even though it was just another C-340. Bad thing, was, after waxing, every rivet had a little dab of wax around it.........what a nightmare that was.
 
Black Paint

Sure, you can do it and it may even give you a slight edge on frost removal, etc. However, just about any "denser" color will also do a good job of warming up in the sun in the winter and easing ice removal. The big issue in painting an aircraft dark (or portions of an airplane--especially direct sun areas) concerns the tapes on the fabric.

If you do not pre-shrink the tapes you will have tapes that contract in the heat, pulling away from the paint and leaving white areas of no paint on the sides. I belive the Air-Tech web site has a bit of information on the issue in their online manual:

www.airtechcoatings.com
 
Black

New Guy,
I had one of two cubs painted black in anch. AK in the mid 70s . Mine I covered
with stits and painted in Emeron. Before anybody chokes there was a way to mix it
that left it rubber like. Never had any cracks. When it was 0 degess out and the sun
finally made it over the trees it would melt off in less than 10 min. In AK I never had
any problems with the tapes. In a area where there are higher temps I don't think I
would use black. Never saw any cubs with air conditioning. Wayne
 
I concidered black, but went with dark red. Also considered dark blue. Any darker color will shed frost fast. Just point the tail south and let the sun hit the top of the plane for a few minutes and it is gone. (This assumes the sun is out). Saves a lot of deicing fluid or scraping. I try to always put the covers on, but sometimes....

I would not recommend it for a Southern plane.
 
There was a Smith Mini Plane painted all black around here a few years back. The trailing edges started to turn up as the tops of the wings tightened up. We can have temps of 110 here in the summer and with up to two week stretches of triple didget temps. Not a good idea here.
Steve
 
Thank's ......... I think I will have a discussion with my AME and do it, rarely get's over 90 here so heat shouldn't be a problem... I may have that lightning bolt decal removed as well.........I like your scheme Mark, your cub may end up having a scheme sibling, north of the border...........
 
New Guy, It looks like you have enough advice, but you might just consider the leading edge. I live in ak and that leading edge can be covered with a dark color vinyl simular to the letters used by sign co. They can match your N numbers and requires no painting. The vinyl will last about 10 years and it goes on with soap and water. Check with AME on this process.
If the color is applied only to the leading edge,(stoping at the D metal) it will not effect your tapes. If you paint or use the vinyl, the contrasting color on the leading edge will eat the frost in sunny condition.
 
Olive Drab paint

My Cub used to have olive drab paint on both Ceconite and Razorback. The plane was based in both Boise and Idaho and was repainted about 10 years before recovering. The Razorback lasted nearly 30 years overall. But the paint generally looked terrible. Dark paint seems to oxidize faster than light paint and seems to need more care to keep clean. There were always wax streaks showing on it, as the wax seem to dry out on the surface a few days after waxing.

I'm having the Cub painted yellow this time, but if I were to use a dark paint again, I'd choose a color that resists oxidizing - perhaps blue.

Steve
 
Blue oxidizes something terrible. Black is the obvious choice if you want to be the first pilot flying after a frosty night.
 
My cub has black leading edges (aerothane) over Lockhaven yellow (sorry Diggler but I happen to like yellow). It lasted 14 years in southcentral Alaska with most of its life spent outdoors.

The only reason I had to replace it was the wind destroyed the left wing and elevator. The finish was still good and would have lasted a good bit longer. I repainted with the same colors of aerothane and I expect it will last a good long time. Of course it rarely gets to 80 degrees here in the summer, I don't know how it would react in really hot weather.
 
Black Cub Paint

I believe that UV will "dry out" the dope when it is painted black. The solvents that keep the dope flexible(that dry out over time) will be forced out of a black dope faster due to the higher heat absorption. This also applies to stits which is a vinyl product.
 
My last cub was completely black and the fabric was punching green when I took it of after 18 years of service. It held up great.
 
black dope

we're talking about the dope over the fabric drying out faster, getting old and brittle before its time. the fabric(ceconite/stits) cannot be tested with the punch test, which was designed for cotton. you have to measure the lbs pull to tear on the dacron type fabric.
 
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