Paint and Dope on Old Fabric

[bprior]

A minor accident recently required that we peel back the fabric on a wood wing to make a repair to the woodwork. In the course of this action we found that the paint/dope covering would readily peel away from the fabric. Some of us thought that this might be a case where the initial coats of dope had not adequately penetrated the fabric weave. Since the fabric was over 20 years old (the airplane was hangared most of the time) we thought it might be wise to take it all off and recover the wings. Others thought it wasn't necessary to go that far and advocated a fabric test first. But we weren't suspecting weak fabric, only poor adhesion of the dope/paint.
Has anyone had any experience with this kind of situation? Would a split in the paint/dope during flight lead to disaster if it wasn't  adhering well to the fabric?

Bruce Prior
RAAC 4598

[Fly_boy_bc]

The ONLY thing keeping a fabric covered airplane in the air is the PAINT. All of your careful work on the structure and fabric covering is JUST to keep the paint where you need it to be for aerodynamic reasons. If it peels off during flight you no longer have any surfaces and the plane will not fly!

RECOVER THAT AIRPLANE! (fuselage too or you lateral stability could suffer)

[bprior]

Hi Fly_boy_bc,
You have lost me. I think a fabric covered airplane will fly just fine without paint. Drag might be higher, and she won't look pretty, but she'll fly.
My original post was more focused on a painted fabric airplane, and the results if major portions of the paint should start to peel in flight.
I guess I'm missing your point.
Bruce

[Fly_boy_bc]

My point is that your assumption that an unpainted fabric covered aircraft is capable of flight is ABSOLUTELY incorrect and flying a fabric wing with peeling paint is very dangerous.  

If you don't seal the weave against the air YOU DON'T HAVE A WING!

Try making a stretched canvas boat without paint.

The ONLY thing keeping a fabric covered airplane in the air is the PAINT. Without it there is nothing stopping the air from just blowing right through the fabric!