NUtS & Bolts
Aircraft Building
AS USED IN OUR SOCIETY TO-
day, the word "dope" has
an obvious and negative
meaning. But to people
who cover their airplanes
with fabric, it has an en-
tirely different meaning.
Used for decades, the
term describes a liquid
that seals and tightens the air-
craft's fabric.
Builders of early airplanes cov-
ered their aircraft with fabric be-
cause it was light and easy to apply.
But just covering the wings with it
wasn't enough. Early aviators
found that unless they sealed and
tightened the fabric, the wings
wouldn't create lift. So they used
varnish to seal the fabric. But they
soon discovered that the varnish
would turn yellow and crack in a
short time.
This rudder is completed with nitrate and butyrate dope.
88 FEBRUARY 2000
Legal Dope
Nitrates & Butyrates
RON ALEXANDER
They tried furniture lacquers
next, with limited success. They
developed this lacquer in nitrate
dope, and dope today is still made
from the same raw material used
in lacquer. During World War II,
developers took the next step and
came up with butyrate dope.
Nitrate Dope
The first lacquer developed
and manufactured for aircraft
fabric, nitrate dope is made from
nitrocellulose, which is highly
flammable. Like all lac-
quers, it continues to
s h r i n k throughout its
lifetime, which means it
continues to tighten the
fabric it's applied to. Fur-
thermore, overtighten-
ing a i r c r a f t fabric can
lead to distortion of the
structure it covers.
Covering early airplanes with
fabric required more work and skill
than the processes available today.
Grade A cotton was the fabric of
choice then. Builders sewed it in
place on the airframe and then
shrank it with water, which gave
the cotton a moderate amount of
tautness. Then they brushed on
several coats of clear nitrate to fill
the fabric's weave.
These first coats of nitrate had
to contain a fungicide to keep cot-
ton (or muslin, another fabric of-
ten used) from rotting. As they
dried the coats of nitrate shrank,
pulling the fabric tighter. In other
words, the shrinking dope caused
the tautness of the fabric.
After the initial coats, builders
added a silver powder to the ni-
trate dope they applied next. This
coat protected the fabric from the
sun's ultraviolet rays. On many air-
craft, applying the silver coat com-
pleted the fabric covering process.
Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of St.
Louis is a shining example. Apply-
ing color coats of dope adds a con-
siderable amount of weight to an
airplane, and—if so desired—spray-
ing them completed the covering
process.
Flammability was a major prob-
lem for airplanes covered with ni-
trate dope. Any spark generated
from an accident would tend to ig-
nite the nitrate-covered fabric. And
when exposed to the elements, ni- flammable nitrate during World
trate dope didn't last very long. War II because it was less flamma-
The search for an alternative coat- ble (something combat aviators ap-
ing resulted in the development of preciated), and it weathered better.
butyrate dope. But it still shrank throughout its
lifetime, just like nitrate dope. In
addition to possibly deforming the
Used for decades, underlying structure, this uncon-
trolled shrinking would shrink ni-
trate and butyrate dope right off of
dope is a liquid the fabric, causing a peeling of the
coatings.
Chemists addressed the shrink-
that seals and ing problem by adding a plasticizer
to the dope. The plasticizer in-
tightens an hibits the shrinking tendency and
increases the flexibility of the
chemical. In short, adding the
aircraft's fabric. plasticizer meant the dope didn't
shrink as fast as before.
This additive didn't totally
solve the shrinking problem be-
Butyrate Dope cause the plasticizer evaporates
Cellulose acetate butyrate (CAB) from the dope with time. Dope
dope essentially replaced the more with plasticizer added is called
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 'flPHM^^^W^1™'
Aircraft Building
SinUe or twin engine aircraft,
JutttAf otters a OEM to meet yaw requirements "non-tautening" dope. But this is
something of a misnomer because
non-tautening dope still shrinks,
but it doesn't shrink as quickly as
dope without plasticizer.
With the advent of butyrate
dope the procedure for covering
cotton cloth changed. Builders
applied several coats of butyrate
dope without the plasticizer to
fill the fabric. When the fabric
started to pull tight they applied
non-tautening butyrate dope that
contained the silver pigment, and
then the color pigment.
Because these f i n a l coats
shrank little, they slowed the
overall shrinking process. When
you hear old-timers discuss a dope
and fabric job, they are usually re-
ferring to this systematic process.
Because certificated cotton fabric
isn't available, this process is now
For information, use SPORT AVIATION'S Reader Service Card outdated. Polyester fabric is what
covers airplanes today, and it
changed the way we cover an air-
plane.

Nitrate & Butyrate Today

Builders today still use butyrate
and nitrate dope on polyester
fabric. Ceconite fabric is most com-
monly used with dope, and the
Cooper Engineering Company de-

Right Stimulator
veloped it in the late 1950s. Rather
than using dope to shrink poly-
ester fabric (Ceconite), you can use
the heat from a household iron.
And you should use non-tautening
Ellisons Throttle Body Injector is built to fly...in any position. nitrate and butyrate dopes on heat-
Unlike other carburetors originally designed for tractors shrunk polyester fabric.
or jet skis, Ellison's patented fuel metering tube How do you apply these dopes
maintains smoother, more efficient engine operation
to Ceconite fabric? You cement
during any maneuver. The even fuel distribution simply
means more fun and better economy!
the fabric to the airframe using
Find out why Ellison is the right carburetor for special nitrate-based cement called
your aircraft. For product literature, write, phone "Super Seam." Then shrink the
425-271-3220, fax 425-277-9333, or visit our web site fabric using a calibrated iron (not
to email or to upload. EPS 4-5 a heat gun) set at a specific tem-
perature, normally 240°F. Next ap-
ply three coats of non-tautening
Carburetors You Can Bank On! nitrate dope to the fabric. Why
www.ellison-fluid-systems.com flammable nitrate? Because bu-
Ellison Fluid Systems Inc. • 350 Airport Way • Renton, WA 98055 tyrate dope doesn't adhere directly
For information, use SPORT AVIATION'S Reader Service Card
to polyester fabric. Nitrate dope
90 FEBRUARY 2000

does, and you don't need a fungi-
cide in the three nitrate coats be-
cause polyester fabric is a synthetic
fabric and will not rot.
After the initial coats of nitrate,
you switch to non-tautening bu-
tyrate dope, which adheres to the
nitrate dope quite well. Spray on
at least three coats of clear, non-
tautening butyrate dope; do some
sanding; and then add a mini-
mum of three more crosscoats of
non-tautening butyrate with sil-
ver pigment added.
Do some more sanding to give a
good finish and then apply the
necessary coats of non-tautening
butyrate with color pigment.
When buffed and waxed, this fab-
ric covering procedure provides a
deep, classic look found only with
hand-rubbed lacquer products. No
other covering system matches the
classic look of polished dope.
Nitrate/Butyrate Dope Advantages
Repairing a dope finish is easy.
You simply rub off the old dope
with solvents and reapply new
dopes after patching the fabric.
The colors are easy to blend and
match. This is d i f f i c u l t to do
with a polyurethane topcoat.
You must completely sand off
the polyurethane before you re-
pair it and blending in the new
color is often difficult.
You can also rejuvenate a dope
finish. After years in the open
weather, dope becomes brittle as
the plasticizer evaporates. But
you can easily apply some new
plasticizer to restore the dope's
flexibility. This adds several more
years to the life of the finish. The
chemical is called "rejuvenator"
and usually requires you to spray
on three coats to restore the sup-
pleness of the dope.
Another benefit of dope is that
it's acceptable to wear a charcoal-
filtered respirator when spraying
dope. You do not need to use a
fresh air breathing source like
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Aircraft Building

m
NON-TAUTENING
BUTYRATE DOPE

STRUCTURAL ADHESIVE NON AUTOCUW»Bl£

WARNING:
FLAMMABLE • VAPOB HARMFUL
s** back pane! tor precautionary instruct*"1*

QUANTITY (US): OAt

Non-tautening butyrate dope. Super Seam, a nitrate-based cement.

THE ONLY EASIER fVAY TO COVER

YOUR AXRPLAlf S.
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92 FEBRUARY 2000
those necessary for polyurethane
paints.
Dope Disadvantages
Covering an airplane with dope
is more time consuming than other
systems because it requires more
coats of chemicals and more sand-
ing. The problem of flammability
remains. Nitrate and butyrate dopes
are still flammable. Even though
fewer coats of nitrate are used, it is
still on the airplane.
Shrinking of the fabric is criti-
cal using a dope system. Even
though you use non-tautening
dopes, they still slightly shrink
the fabric over time, and you
have to allow for that. Shrinking
the fabric using a temperature in
excess of 240°F often results in a
deformed airframe over time be-
cause of the dope's added shrink-
ing. Other systems use coatings
that don't shrink over time, and
they shrink the polyester fabric
to 350°F.
Builders still used nitrate and
butyrate dope today on fabric-cov-
ered aircraft. Many people restor-
ing antique and classic aircraft
want the deep finish that can be
obtained by using dopes, and this
type of finish adds to the aircraft's
originality.
If you are going to use nitrate
and butyrate dope, I suggest you
purchase the Ceconite covering
manual. It is the most complete
manual you will find that discusses
this method of fabric covering. Be
sure you follow the directions
found in that manual very closely.
I want to leave you with this ad-
vice—never experiment with fabric
covering. More than any other
building skill, builders can create
more problems for themselves in
fabric covering by not following
the directions than in any other
area. Regardless of what the resi-
dent "expert" says about how to
cover an aircraft—follow the direc-
tions found in the manual! •
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Sport Aviation 93