RE: Hanger-9 Corsair ARF Mods for more Scale/ Accurate Appearance
Lastly, I covered the fin and rudder with .7 oz/ sq. yd carbon fiber cloth (availble from "Art's Hobbies", do a Google search). I used clear gloss water based varnish to adhere it to the balsa. I like using this carbon fiber cloth instead of fiberglass cloth because it has a very fine 'weave', and requires very little (if any) filler and sanding to produce a smooth, paintable surface. On the other hand, it is stiff and does not conform to compound curves well, so it is somewhat unsuitable for say; the aft fuselage and/ or gull section of the wings. But for the flatter areas, such as tail surfaces, it works well for me and even provides a dark base which will be masked for panel lines when the finish is applied.
As stated, it is somewhat stiff and would not bend around the fin leading edge, or rudder trailing edge, thus the exposed balsa after sanding.
At this point, the rudder weighs 26 gr. and the fin 16, which looks like a gain of about 3/4 oz. I am a little concerned about the weight gain; these parts can use the extra strength, but I'll have to make an effort to keep from adding too much more additional weight, as I am setting my goal weight at 8 1/2 lbs.
I have made a lot of progress on the wings, and some on the fuselage, I will post those mods as I find time to do the documentation (documenting everthing doubles the time it takes to build it).