r_jsmith

I have been in and out of the hobby since 1940. I was most active in the 50's and the 60's. At that time the preferred covering material was dope with Jap tissue (not Silkspan) for smaller models.

I found silk/aerogloss to be far and away the best covering material for any airframe with a span greater then 50". Once one acquired a little experience with silk it became possible to use one piece of material to cover a structure which would otherwise demand multiple gores of the other available alternate. It was entirely possible to cover a turtle back and both sides of a built up fuselage perfectly with one piece of silk. I customarily covered a "V" dihedral wing with 2 pieces . One for left top and bottom another for right. Of course this would not work for an elliptical wing. I have covered wing tips with films and its difficult at best. a little pulling and stretching of wet silk and the job is accomplished ... perfectly.

For some reason the advice here favors applying the material dry or damp. I always pre-doped the structure with 2 coats of full strength clear Aerogloss. I soaked the silk in water blotted it and attached it sopping wet by brushing with thinned clear and rubbing it through the weave with my finger. I kept the silk wet by misting it with a spray of water. Because of warps it was important to cover both top and bottom of a wing/stab at once. Because the clear dope hardens the fibers it was easy to trim the excess silk away with a single edge razor.

For doping/finishing... I would brush on 4 coats of Aerogloss thinned to a brushing consistancy, light sanding with 400 wet/dry after to first 2 coats. I then I masked off the open area of the structure and applied 2 coats of balsa filler to the leading, trailing edges and center sheeting. This was sanded down and one or 2 coats of colored dope sprayed on, allowed to dry 3 or 4 days and then rubbed with polishing compound. The result a very serviceable and impressive finish.