I just finished moving into a new computer here at home. While it can be a pain in the butt to do, I usually find a few things I had forgotten about. Recently here and in emails, I have been answering some questions on the polyfiber process. I have been using this covering system for 45 years, since I was 5 years old. Working on airplanes was a family hobby for us until I was 13 years old. At that time, my Dad got tired of eating rollaids like pez candy running a multi-million dollar electronics distribution company and decided to restore a staggerwing project while he took time off to decide on a new career. As it turns out, he then joined forces with another aircraft restorer for a couple of years before splitting out on his own in 1980. Since then, we have restored or built over 100 airplanes. I truly have lost track of how many and recently had one stearman that we did 20 years ago come in for repairs. I covered, painted and rigged it back then but I still have no recollection of the airplane in my memory. Even photos of me working on it didn't jog memories in my old brain.
Anyway, rewind back 20 years ago when I wrote the letter below. It was written to Ron Alexander who owned Alexander Aeroplane Co. back then. Since the time of this letter, we have doubled the airplanes restored/built. So, double up the numbers listed to have a good idea of how much polyfiber has passed through our shop. I was 29 when I wrote this letter. I'm 49 now.
Anyway, just thought y'all might get a kick out of this.
*********************
8/15/93
Ron,
A few days ago, as I stood spraying the color on the fuselage of a G model staggerwing were restoring, I began to wonder just how many times I had held that very spray gun and how many gallons of dope and paint had passed though it. Now, just how many airplanes have we restored and how many gallons of dope did it take? I asked myself. Man, did that question open the proverbial Pandoras box!!
So Dad and I sat down in the office, looked at pictures, files and the computer, finding 53 airplanes in all that we had worked on. Granted not all were restorations. Some were recover jobs, or rebuilds like Great Lakes and Pitts, and some were built from scratch like an SX300 and a Wedell Williams Racer. Still that works out to an average of 4.5 airplanes through the shop per year. Further investigation revealed a total of 15 stearmans, 4 staggerwings, 2 Gullwing Stinsons, and a Clip Wing Monocoupe to name a few. Now that we know how many, the question becomes, How many gallons and how many rolls of finishing tape, rib stitch cord, yards of fabric, etc.? Well, believe it or not, heres what I came up with:
5000 gallons of Stits Liquids!
700 gallons of Urethane Color paint!
1700 rolls of finishing tape, which is approximately 50 miles!
80 rolls of rib stitch cordthats about 23 miles!
10,000 drain grommets!
4000 yds of Stits Fabricthat is a piece of fabric as long as 40 football fields!
105,000 man-hoursthats over 50 full time years!
All the dope spraying has been done with the same (now 30-yr old) Binks #18 spray gun!
And I dont even want to know how many sheets of sandpaper weve gone through!
Whew! Thats a bunch! I realize that there are many shops and manufacturers who have built a greater number of airplanes, but I dont know of any that use Stits exclusively. We have been using Stits products since I was 5 yrs old when Dad and I began restoring our Stearman as a hobby. As fate would have it, 12 years later we would enter the business of antique aircraft restoration. We are now in our twelfth year of that business. Throughout all this time, we have used the Stits process exclusively!
All these numbers impressed me and that is why I decided to share them with you. Dad and I became curious to know if anyone else has used this much or more Stits through the years. As you know, we have been a customer of yours since the days you were shipping supplies out of your garage and have enjoyed Alexander Aeroplanes service ever since.
Keep up the good work
Sincerely,
Kevin Kimball
********************
Anyway, rewind back 20 years ago when I wrote the letter below. It was written to Ron Alexander who owned Alexander Aeroplane Co. back then. Since the time of this letter, we have doubled the airplanes restored/built. So, double up the numbers listed to have a good idea of how much polyfiber has passed through our shop. I was 29 when I wrote this letter. I'm 49 now.
Anyway, just thought y'all might get a kick out of this.
*********************
8/15/93
Ron,
A few days ago, as I stood spraying the color on the fuselage of a G model staggerwing were restoring, I began to wonder just how many times I had held that very spray gun and how many gallons of dope and paint had passed though it. Now, just how many airplanes have we restored and how many gallons of dope did it take? I asked myself. Man, did that question open the proverbial Pandoras box!!
So Dad and I sat down in the office, looked at pictures, files and the computer, finding 53 airplanes in all that we had worked on. Granted not all were restorations. Some were recover jobs, or rebuilds like Great Lakes and Pitts, and some were built from scratch like an SX300 and a Wedell Williams Racer. Still that works out to an average of 4.5 airplanes through the shop per year. Further investigation revealed a total of 15 stearmans, 4 staggerwings, 2 Gullwing Stinsons, and a Clip Wing Monocoupe to name a few. Now that we know how many, the question becomes, How many gallons and how many rolls of finishing tape, rib stitch cord, yards of fabric, etc.? Well, believe it or not, heres what I came up with:
5000 gallons of Stits Liquids!
700 gallons of Urethane Color paint!
1700 rolls of finishing tape, which is approximately 50 miles!
80 rolls of rib stitch cordthats about 23 miles!
10,000 drain grommets!
4000 yds of Stits Fabricthat is a piece of fabric as long as 40 football fields!
105,000 man-hoursthats over 50 full time years!
All the dope spraying has been done with the same (now 30-yr old) Binks #18 spray gun!
And I dont even want to know how many sheets of sandpaper weve gone through!
Whew! Thats a bunch! I realize that there are many shops and manufacturers who have built a greater number of airplanes, but I dont know of any that use Stits exclusively. We have been using Stits products since I was 5 yrs old when Dad and I began restoring our Stearman as a hobby. As fate would have it, 12 years later we would enter the business of antique aircraft restoration. We are now in our twelfth year of that business. Throughout all this time, we have used the Stits process exclusively!
All these numbers impressed me and that is why I decided to share them with you. Dad and I became curious to know if anyone else has used this much or more Stits through the years. As you know, we have been a customer of yours since the days you were shipping supplies out of your garage and have enjoyed Alexander Aeroplanes service ever since.
Keep up the good work
Sincerely,
Kevin Kimball
********************
