Pre-covering Checklist

[@kylanlarsen6752]

Your production quality is astounding, love the B-roll too! I plan to start my model 5 in 5-6 years when I finish my surgical training so I love being able to live the dream vicariously through you. Thank you for documenting and sharing the process with us!

[@ColbyOsborn]

Appreciate the complements! Best wishes through your residency and hope you enjoy building as much as we do.

[@kylanlarsen6752]

@@ColbyOsborn Thank you very much and I’m sure I will, it looks like a blast!

[@yavoz.]

And this makes the 9th time I’ve watched this video. Great production

[@plane-fuzz]

Looking good!! good choice on the ORATEX! (it has come a long way since butarate and poly fiber was the choices ! they came with a terrible headache too at the end of the day and a little loopy from huffing 10 hours of poly tack)

[@markperkins5664]

I am using Oratex on my Kitfox build. Can’t wait to see how you like using it.

[@Ko3n3k33]

Oratex!!! I'm excited to hear how the covering process goes. I'm still leaning towards stewart's. Thanks for all the in focus macro shots on the shielded wiring!

[@ColbyOsborn]

I don't know why the coving system is such a difficult decision for me to make. Seems whatever people pick they're happy with. I only purchased enough Oratex to do the little bit of interior covering I'm planning on. I didn't want to mess around with painting the interior fabric and I though the Oratex would be easier to patch up if damaged by cargo. I figured after using it a bit I could more easily decide if I should stick with it for everything else, or use stewart's for the exterior.

[@Ko3n3k33]

​@@ColbyOsborn Crazy I was thinking I'd do Oratex on the interior as well for the same reasons, and just to work with multiple covering processes. I need to hit Mark up to get plans and any other updates on wingtips & instruction manual so i can start doing things in sketchup to keep busy while I wait for delivery. I pause the video everytime there is a tape measurer near anything so I can start scheming :) :)

[@davefreeman6105]

Same here. Leaning towards Stewart's, but I'm excited to watch the process with Oratex. A major strike against Oratex IMO is the lack of good instructional videos like Stewart's has.

[@sirnewton6874]

We are all here watching.

[@Bearhawk_Life]

Good stuff again. I am doing my Companion in Oratex, so will be watching closely.

[@ColbyOsborn]

Thanks Jay! At the rate you're building, you'll be doing your fuel flow test about the time I'm finished covering! 😁

[@Bearhawk_Life]

@@ColbyOsborn I am doing the best I can. 😂 Your videos have been a huge help

[@The-virg]

Looking good colby. I gave up on the factory window frame and made a carbon fiber one. Glad to see you made it work. Are you doing interior fabric or just exterior?

[@kylanlarsen6752]

I love that idea, I had planned on doing the same. Do you happen to have a build log or posts on the forum? I’d love to see your build.

[@ColbyOsborn]

Hey Virgil. Collin helped point me in the right direction for the window frames. I'm planning to do a little interior fabric, mostly in the cargo area or spots that I'd like to protect the exterior fabric. I don't think I'll put any on the celling. Hope your build is going well!

[@The-virg]

@@kylanlarsen6752 follow my KZbin I should have some videos out shortly. I am terrible about getting them uploaded but I’m about to go to paint.

[@The-virg]

@@ColbyOsborn it is going well I’m not on top of videos like you but the build itself is going pretty well lol.

[@ColbyOsborn]

building > videos. You can't fly a video!

[@markdickens5011]

Don't forget your antenna mounting points and any wiring back to the tail.

[@ColbyOsborn]

Appreciate the reminder Mark! I plan to use nav/stobe/position combo lights on the wingtips, so I don't think I need any wiring in the tail. And I think the rest of my antennas will be either on the wing near the root, or on the bottom of the boot cowl.

[@nelsonmartinmusic]

OCD alert! At 8:42 right as you started drilling, the bracket moved. Please tell me it's right now.

[@ColbyOsborn]

lol, I know! The location of the T and the bracket didn't need to be precise at all, so I just rolled with it. 🙃

[@johnbergt7]

question on the ELT antenna. Woudln't it make more sense to have that externally mounted? Or is it mounted inside the fuselage to protect it in case of an accident?

[@ColbyOsborn]

Hey John. You’re exactly right. It’s not uncommon for the externally mounted ELT antennas to be ripped off in an accident. And since the manufacture of this antenna and ELT said it’s perfectly fine to mount it inside of a rag and tube style fuselage, I went thought route.

[@kevingrosshandler5308]

do you wish you had a pneumatic or electric pop rivet squeezer?

[@ColbyOsborn]

Not yet. But I haven't really used all that many pull rivets and still have young hands.

[@kevingrosshandler5308]

@@ColbyOsborn probably have watched every video twice. Can’t wait for the next ones

[@Zachsworld-s21]

Been interested in ordering the model 5 myself. From when you placed your order until you received it how long did that take?

[@ColbyOsborn]

Hey Zachary. I don't think my experience would be very representative because we were able to order a kit before the factory was producing them. Last I had heard available slots were expected to deliver in about a year. But I know they were working to scale production to address the increased demand so I would call Bearhawk Aircraft. Mark will be happy answer that question and any others you might have. Hope you enjoy building whatever you end up going with!

[@markwebb8013]

Stewart much less expensive total price by far.

[@ColbyOsborn]

So far I've only committed to using Oratex on the interior. I wanted to use it before decided what I'll use for the rest. I have a quote in hand for both Oratex and Stewarts. The price difference is about 1.5% of the estimated total cost of the project. While cost like that do add up in a hurry, it's small enough it probably won't be a driving factor in making this decision. Appreciate the tip though.

[@markwebb8013]

@@ColbyOsborn If your Quote was only 1.5% more then that would be the way to go when I checked it was much greater and since then oratex price has increased more than steward. I would use it for the simpler finish it's like the original monokote from model planes I used to use.