Five taildraggers for sale

Sweet! My A&P just rescued a Stinson and plans to fix it up and start providing tailwheel instruction. Someone else I know is looking at taildraggers too for low & slow flying.
 
iflyvfr said:
Sweet! My A&P just rescued a Stinson and plans to fix it up and start providing tailwheel instruction. Someone else I know is looking at taildraggers too for low & slow flying.
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There's no better way to fly than low and slow in a taildragger!
 
The cessna 170 MIGHT be a good buy IF the engine upgrade has been done correctly and is in good shape. The rest are subject to condition of fabric, engine, when recovered, left outside? Etc.etc.
 
Jimmy cooper said:
The cessna 170 MIGHT be a good buy IF the engine upgrade has been done correctly and is in good shape. The rest are subject to condition of fabric, engine, when recovered, left outside? Etc.etc.
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Its Been for sale for atleast 2 years... I think something you mentioned is wrong with it. Never personally checked it out though.
 
Jimmy cooper said:
The cessna 170 MIGHT be a good buy IF the engine upgrade has been done correctly and is in good shape. The rest are subject to condition of fabric, engine, when recovered, left outside? Etc.etc.
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What's wrong with fabric?

The newer (i.e. 1980s and up) systems will last forever as long as the top coat isn't breached allowing UV to hit the raw fabric, these ain't cotton anymore.

Fabric is also lighter and easier to field repair, one of the reasons many backcountry planes still use it.
 
James331 said:
What's wrong with fabric?

The newer (i.e. 1980s and up) systems will last forever as long as the top coat isn't breached allowing UV to hit the raw fabric, these ain't cotton anymore.

Fabric is also lighter and easier to field repair, one of the reasons many backcountry planes still use it.
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That's silly talk. Anyone who's familiar with taildraggers that have been redone since 1980 using modern covers knows lists of things can happen if for instance the airplane has been left outside for sometime. Water damage can easily occur and the ceconite ( for instance ) still look fine. Or if not enough silver undercoat has been applied uv damage can easily occur. I am well aware of the pitfalls as I've owned six done with modern fabric and have helped restore two. One must be very careful and have someone well qualified inspect the plane before purchase. To say " forever" is absurd. ( not to mention an unreported crack in a wing spar on a champ when we stripped the wings to recover them . Very hard to spot unless the fabric has been removed. this was also found on a lower wing of my Stearman which looked good but wasn't. ) probably a ground loop unreported. Log books are often just full of lies and omissions.
 
Jimmy cooper said:
That's silly talk. Anyone who's familiar with taildraggers that have been redone since 1980 using modern covers knows lists of things can happen if for instance the airplane has been left outside for sometime. Water damage can easily occur and the ceconite ( for instance ) still look fine. Or if not enough silver undercoat has been applied uv damage can easily occur. I am well aware of the pitfalls as I've owned six done with modern fabric and have helped restore two. One must be very careful and have someone well qualified inspect the plane before purchase. To say " forever" is absurd. ( not to mention an unreported crack in a wing spar on a champ when we stripped the wings to recover them . Very hard to spot unless the fabric has been removed. this was also found on a lower wing of my Stearman which looked good but wasn't. ) probably a ground loop unreported. Log books are often just full of lies and omissions.
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Lots of that isn't the fault of fabric, a spar crack? Ground loop? Frankly I'd rather address that on a fabric wing compared to a metal wing with tons of rivets.

I've owned rag wings, not really a issue, plenty of them live outside in places like Alaska and do just fine, seen plenty of Pawnees and Calairs sitting out in the sun which are doing just fine too.

Metal vs rag wing, whatever, still need to check stuff out before you buy, both get damaged, both will have damage history, just got to hope it's the documented type, my current ride is aluminum, however that really wasn't a factor in the choice to buy it.
 
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