Definition
A strip of pinked-edge fabric tape applied with dope or adhesive over seams, ribs, and structural joints on a fabric-covered aircraft to reinforce those areas, protect the stitching beneath, and provide a smooth surface for the final finish coats.
Plain English
A narrow cloth tape glued over the seams and ribs of fabric-covered aircraft. It covers the stitching, strengthens those joints, and gives a clean surface for paint.
Context Anchor
Seen in aircraft fabric-covering, fabric repair, and inspection of fabric-covered wings, control surfaces, and fuselages.
Derivation
Called 'finishing' tape because it goes on near the end of the fabric covering process, just before the final dope and paint coats. It finishes the structural work by sealing and protecting it.
Why Pilots Care
On fabric aircraft, finishing tape protects the rib stitching that holds the fabric to the structure. If the tape lifts, cracks, or fails, the stitching underneath is exposed to wear and weather, which can lead to fabric separation in flight.
Intuition Check
Finishing tape is not ordinary household tape or masking tape. In this context, it is aircraft covering fabric used as part of an approved fabric-covering repair or finish system.
Example Sentence 1
After rib-stitching the wing, the mechanic applied finishing tape over each rib before the silver dope coats.
Example Sentence 2
Finishing tape was pressed firmly over every seam on the fuselage to eliminate ridges under the final finish.