Recovering a J3 Kitten with fabric

The Poly-Fiber manual is a very good step by step manual for that system.  If you follow it, you will have a safe fabric covering job. 

It is available from EAA for $14. http://shop.eaa.org/

A covering video based on the Poly-Fiber system is also availalbe from EAA.

Covering systems are not interchangable so make sure you follow the guidance of whatever method you selelct.

Best of luck

Thanks a lot for the information,  I really appreciate it............. I'm orderinbg both rigth away........

Jean

Hi Jean,

              My dad and I built a Kitten in the late 80's that I test flew and owned until the early 90's,it was a real ball of fun ,except for the engine I installed,a rotax 277,sorry but 2 cycle engines in my opionion should only be used in weed whackers,I was in the process of putting a half VW ,when a move changed all that and I had to sell her.I saw her for sale again few years back in Barnstormers.I might still have the plans tucked away,e-mail me at wingnut55@gmail.com if you are still interested,in the meantime I will see if I can find them and see what condition they are in.Regards,Rick

Great to hear someone that have flown a kitten..... I've sent you an email so if you find the plan I'm interested......

Btw, I've got a rotax 503 , I've heard that it should be great with the Kitten....

Thanks

Jean

Good luck with your project! I have 2000 hours in front of and behind 2 strokes. I have flown the Idaho backcountry behind one in fact. When properly tuned and maintained they are just as reliable as anything else and the power to weight ratio is unmatched. Be sure to check out the Poly Fiber website there is a lot of good FAQ's on there.

A friend of mine by the name of Rich has the plans and will be happy to help you.  E-mail him at     rich@bentoncountycable.net         I owned and flew a J-3 Kitten with a 447 for a number of years.  Loved that plane.  About 500 hours behind 2 strokes (277, 447, 503, 582 and 618) and really love and trust them.  Lots of bad info out there by guys that either don't know what their talking about or didn't take care of them.  Just follow what Rotax tells you and you'll do fine.  You may find that a kitten with a 503 will be a little over powered.  Make sure you check your weight and balance.

Gene

Thanks, I went to see the Poly Fiber wdsite and there are a lot of useful infos.... And as someone recommand to me ealier I've bougth the book "how to cover an aircraft...." and read it all, and I will also buy the cd.....

As it's my first ultralight my knowledge is also limited about those motors..... I'll make a lot of research about those, if ever you've got some books /videos title I'll listen carefully.........

Thank you.........

Jean.........

Hi Gene, I'll make sure to check the weight and balance. I know that the last one who flew my J3 Kitten liked it with the rotax 503....

I've got a question, (for you or annyone else)there's only two spark plug, one by piston by piston. it probably means it was a ski-doo motor.... Do I've got to expect to get many problems, even after a tune up ???

I'm doing researches on the net, but always very useful to get some answers from guys that really fly planes/ultralights

Thank you all for those useful infos.....

Jean

Ceconite or Poly-Fiber fabric ????

I've got a lot of useful info since few weeks that will help me with my project(from EAA members and elsewhere).... I'll decide in the next few days if I'm going to go with the Ceconite or with the poly-fiber fabric.  Any  EAA members out there that have preference on which I should use(and reasons) ???

About pricing....I will make all the work by myself. However just to get an idea I've asked what it would cost if I would pay to someone to recover my J3 Kitten. The highest price with Poly-Fiber was $30k !!!!??? and the lower price asked with ceconite was $5k, a pretty large range !!

I've called companies to get prices about buying everything to be able to make the ecovering by myself and the difference wasn't really different between both systems, maybe a littler cheaper with Ceconite and dope finish.....

Does someone around that have recovered an aircraft have a preference betwwen both ??? and why the asking price for doing it could be that much different ??

Thanks in advance........

Btw,  english isn't my mother language,  so sorry for my bad english....

Jean