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Dear Julia,
During the course of the last decade, staff at the Australian War Memorial have worked on a number of cotton and linen covered aircraft, including a DAP Beaufort, Avro Lancaster and more recently a Pfalz DXII and an Albatros D.V.a. These are static display aircraft although every effort has been made to apply the fabrics using the original methods and materials.
A number of sources supply "Grade A Cotton" for the covering of aircraft. As to the precise thread count, fabric weight and elongation, we don't have instant access to the specifications so cannot advise how closely it matches your listed criteria. That said, being manufactured specifically with the intent to be used on airworthy aircraft, I'd be surprised if it did not conform to the current German standards.
In the past, I believe we have used Vintage Aero Fabrics as a source for Grade A Cotton. Ross is helpful and a quick email through to him ought to clarify if their products are suitable. ross[AT]vintageaerofabrics[DOT]com
A number of our Second World War aircraft have cotton coverings on the control surfaces. During the First World War, linen coverings were more common although I have heard that due to supply issues, trainer aircraft were often covered in cotton, the more valuable linen being reserved for aircraft less likely to be crashed as a result of inexperience.
During the First and Second World Wars, cellulose nitrate lacquer dope was applied to wings. This was primarily to shrink/tension the fabric around the wing frame and provide a tight aerofoil surface. Anecdotally it has been suggested that while the doped surface was somewhat weatherproof, this may have been supplemented by additional varnishing over the doped surface.
Cellulose nitrate lacquer had a number of drawbacks, being both solvent in aviation fuel and also highly flammable. Circa the early 1950's Cellulose Butyrate Acetate came into use as a replacement dope lacquer and many aircraft builders ceased using nitrate dope (however it is still available).
If you intend for the finished aircraft to get significant outdoor exposure to both UV radiation and moisture, we would suggest using butyrate/acetate dope rather than nitrate dope. research we are in the process of completing suggests that over a very extended period (30+ years) butyrate dope continues to shrink slowly and problems may develop with the fabric becoming too tight. Nitrate dopes appear to do this to a far lesser degree but deteriorate quicker under weather exposed conditions.
Commercially, it is also possible to obtain woven polyester fabrics for aircraft covering. These do provide improved weather tolerance however in my experience, obtaining an authentic vintage appearance with these fabrics is problematic, the end result often looking somewhat "plastic" or artificial when viewed up close. The best results I have seen from people working with these materials were at the Shuttleworth Collection in the United Kingdom.
Hope this is of some assistance,
Jessie Firth, Textiles Conservator, Australian War Memorial; Andrew Pearce, Large Technology Objects Conservator, Australian War Memorial.
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Dear all,
we are in the process of conservation a historic aeroplane and would like to cover it with a new textile. The aim is to let the aeroplane fly again. The new covering is to match the old one. Therefore, we are looking for a textile which is specifically made for this purpose. It has to fulfil the following demands (German Standarts DK 677.064:629.73 of 1968): - cotton yarn 100 dtex x2 - plain weave, wrap desity 33 +/- 2 threads per cm; weft-density 33 +/- 2 threads per cm - finishing: mercerisised, mould-inhabitant - width: minimum 130 cm - weight: 135 g/m2 +/- 5% - maximum elongation per warp an weft 13% (at 850 kg) - tensile strength per wrap and weft: 1300 kg/m thanks very much for your information to find such a fabric! Julia Dipl. - Rest. Julia Dummer Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel Textil- und Lederrestaurierung Postfach 410 420 D – 34 066 Kassel Fon 0049 (0) 561 316 80 326 Fax 0049 (0) 561 316 80 333 j.dummer@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx www.museum-kassel.de -- GMX startet ShortView.de. Hier findest Du Leute mit Deinen Interessen! Jetzt dabei sein: http://www.shortview.de/wasistshortview.php?mc=sv_ext_mf@gmx Jessie Firth
Textile Conservator
Australian War Memorial
Ph: (02) 6243 4421
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