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Empennage Arrived - Didn't Expect the Duct Tape

CSJohnson

Active Member
My RV-8 empennage arrived last week and I spent much of the weekend inventorying, labeling containers, organizing and storing the parts.

When I opened the larger box I was surprised to see a lot of duct tape. When I cut a few pieces of tape allowing the skins to open, I was surprised to see even more duct tape.

The skins are taped to the box, skins to each other, and parts to the inside of of the skins. They were definitely secured so as to be immovable, but freeing them feels like I'm performing a surgical procedure. I tried peeling the duct tape off of the plastic, but it removes the plastic.

When I see pictures of others who have finished their empennage, I see careful attention to removing the protective blue plastic along the rivet lines, while maintaining as much of the protection as is possible. I don't recall seeing duct tape remains on any of them.

Everything seems to have survived the long trip from Aurora to Tampa, I just didn't expect unpacking to be this difficult, or to have duct tape remain on skins during the build.

EmpennagePackages.jpg


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EmpennagePackage2.png
 
For reasons of ease of removal now as opposed to later and because of the potential for corrosion under the blue film, I would remove it all now anyway. No reason to leave it on, unless maybe you are going to have a polished plane, but even then I would remove it. I view this as the Newby desire to build and maintain the perfect airplane. I went through it as have many others. You will most likely paint your plane and small surface imperfections in the Alclad are of no consequence. Just one builders opinion.
 
Ditto

...and +1 to that. Take it off now, carefully, you can put a crease into thinner bits if you just pull hard. Get a marker and transfer the part number to the aluminum and put it all in a clean dry place.

Let the chaos begin!
 
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I am hardly a veteran, however this is one thing I am doing as well. What I have been doing is tearing away the blue film on the rivet lines rather than neatly using a soldering iron. That allows me to dimple and also rivet while preserving a little of the film to stop the inevitible scratching from the bench grindings and loose rivets that always seem to be there when you put the surface down on the bench.

After I finish the large piece (flap, etc) I just remove the remaining blue film. If you have ever seen a plane prepped for paint, it will make your scratches look like minor issues.

I also had an instructor when I took a sheet metal class (experienced guy) tell us to take the film off as well as he had seen problems with moisture and dust under it.
 
+1. Assuming you can store your parts somewhere they are not constantly bumped around, that blue plastic should come off. You can spend HOURS with a soldering iron trying to get those straight lines. But before painting you will scuff every square inch of aluminum with a red Scotchbrite pad anyway. It is a waste of time.

Funny, there are lots of posts saying this exact thing, but lots of pics with people still doing it. The interesting thing is that there are no posts giving a good actual "justification" for doing it. As a newbie I started off doing it because it just seemed like "the thing to do" - no other reason. I quit after the rudder and after researching paint prep.

IMO!
 
Remove the blue plastic. New plastic comes off a lot easier then old plastic. Also, do not leave edges of sheets touching a concrete floor. Moisture will wick up between the plastic and the metal causing corrosion.
I think a plane that has bright shiny squares of metal surrounded by dull rivet lines looks a bit odd. The first thing the painter will do is wash the aircraft and scuff the **** out of it with scotch brite pads.
 
Glad I posted!

Thanks for all of the rapid replies! Consensus is definitely to remove the blue plastic, which eliminates the concern and definitely makes it easier. Obviously a newbie assumption based on most of the pictures I've seen.

Moisture getting under the plastic would definitely be a concern, and I won't be leaving them on the concrete floor, but on some high shelves until needed.

Thanks!
 
The duct tape seems to be standard. I've been leaving my blue film on except for the rivet lines. Considering the age tags on some of my RV-3B parts and the location they'd been kept in, I doubt that they'd corrode much more here in Colorado. However, I've seen a little bit of corrosion where the blue film is loose, so if you're in a humid environment, go ahead and remove it.

Dave
 
Blue vinyl

Chris
Looks like you're in Florida. Store your parts inside or peel off the vinyl.
My empennage was stored in hangar in central TX. When I purchased it there were tiny spots on the edges under the film.
 
Black Duct Tape

That tape that Van's uses? It's got to be the strongest duct tape EVER made. WOW! As others have mentioned, be careful peeling it off of thin skins.
 
I left the blue film on the parts only up to the point where I picked it up the first time to do something with it - as soon as I did the first operation (like match-drilling to another part) the film came off. If it sits too long (years versus months) it becomes very difficult to remove.

When you remove the film, write the part number on the part with a Sharpie, you'll need that later...
 
I am hardly a veteran, however this is one thing I am doing as well. What I have been doing is tearing away the blue film on the rivet lines rather than neatly using a soldering iron. That allows me to dimple and also rivet while preserving a little of the film to stop the inevitible scratching from the bench grindings and loose rivets that always seem to be there when you put the surface down on the bench.

After I finish the large piece (flap, etc) I just remove the remaining blue film. If you have ever seen a plane prepped for paint, it will make your scratches look like minor issues.

I also had an instructor when I took a sheet metal class (experienced guy) tell us to take the film off as well as he had seen problems with moisture and dust under it.

+1
I had corrossion where the prior owner left it on. I painted my plane and didn't use alodine. Instead, I sanded with 80 grit and used epoxy primer. Very little you could do that won't come out with 80 grit. Epoxy looked like a sheet of glass when laid down.

Larry
 
Seems to me 80 grit would make deep scratches, is this standard grit for most?

It is a pretty standard practice in automotive painting. While you can get the corrossion off with less grit the 80 gives a good tooth for primer. While you get chemical adhesion between coats, the grip between the paint and metal is mechanical. The deeper the scratches, the better the adhesion. The primer fills it in nicely then you sand the primer with finer grits if using base clear. Check out all of your chips on a base/clear paint job. They are usually between the base and the primer. This is because there is no chemical adhesion and the primer is usually sanded with 400 grit as the base can't fill the scratches like epoxy primer can.

Like I said, two light coats of epoxy primer and it was a sheet of glass. You wouldn't have known I sanded it.

Larry
 
It is a pretty standard practice in automotive painting. While you can get the corrossion off with less grit the 80 gives a good tooth for primer. While you get chemical adhesion between coats, the grip between the paint and metal is mechanical. The deeper the scratches, the better the adhesion. The primer fills it in nicely then you sand the primer with finer grits if using base clear. Check out all of your chips on a base/clear paint job. They are usually between the base and the primer. This is because there is no chemical adhesion and the primer is usually sanded with 400 grit as the base can't fill the scratches like epoxy primer can.

Like I said, two light coats of epoxy primer and it was a sheet of glass. You wouldn't have known I sanded it.

Larry


yeah, no kidding, but the quarter panel of the car aint what holds it on the road :rolleyes:

Absolutely no issues pulling that blue film off after a 2.5 year build; glad I left it on for handling, moving, etc.! You want to see surface blemishes and corrosion? Come see my QB fuse; and it came with no blue film. Quality was good but cosmetically not so much.
 
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