Telemaster Sales UK

I even mixed them up yesterday at the funeral. Embarrassing or what? Beam me up Scotty!

Telemaster Sales UK

I have decided to have a go at using tissue and dope on the Big Guff's fuselage. The rationale behind this decision is that if I start on the underside and make a complete mess of things, I can remove the tissue with cellulose thinners, and go back to Plan A, covering the fuselage in Dark Green/Olive Drab Solartex. However I haven't used tissue and dope over balsa for sixty years so should I use sanding sealer first?

I have also been advised to give the fuselage 2-3 coats of shrinking dope, rubbing down between coats, before applying the tissue, Esaki Super Flite, with 50% thinned dope. Should I use full strength dope to build up a substrate or should that be thinned 50% as well?

The fuselage is covered in 1/32" (0.8mm) balsa.

donnyman

Dave
I used the silkspan (tissue) over wood recently and it is a rather quick and easy covering method that hides the wood grain well. sanding sealer isn't needed.

Two full strength applications of a low cost clear dope (nitrate) is fine and is the adhesive basis to bonding the tissue to the wood, a light sanding will remove any knap that rises up. Then apply the tissue wet with either 50% thinned dope or just thinner. I wet the tissue (well dampened) before applying to remove wrinkles and folds and it will hold to the surface and can be leveled before doping. what I like most using tissue is any ugly spots can be easily sanded down and covered over with more tissue that is torn, not cut which will disappear when doped. Torn tissue will not leave a sharp edge. several finish coats of additional dope with some sealer will result in a fine surface.
The wings can be done the same way but the covering over open areas wont be very strong, reminds me of my controline planes of the 1950's
I used a thinned water based polyurethane instead of dope.

Telemaster Sales UK

Thank you Donny for a very clear explanation.

Would you use the first two coats of dope full strength or thinned?

I have been advised elswhere to use non-shrinking dope because shrinking dope might warp the 1/32" balsa sheet. What do you think?

I doubt that I'll cover the flying surfaces in tissue but if I do I will cover the wings in doculam or mylar first to improve puncture resistance. I'm going to experiment on a much smaller project first!

Meanwhile, it's stopped raining, the sun is out and there's no wind. I'm going flying!

mkjohnston

My Feedback: (2)

Hi guys, I was trying to find the great planes plans protector that used to come on 6' rolls just like monokote covering. I called Tower Hobbies yesterday to see if they had it as I couldn't find it on their website. They told me that the product was discontinued a while back. What do you use on top of your plans to protect from the glue?
Thank You
Michael Johnston

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

I use plastic wrap from the grocery store. If you wan to laminate it you can use a clear book protector.

acdii

Backing from HobbyKing iron on covering. It's crystal clear and glue for the most part comes right off. Wax paper today is not the wax paper of old, CA goes right through it. Parchment is the closest I found to be glue resistant, but does stick on occasion. If you are near a home center, get a small roll of clear 3mm or heavier sheeting. I bought a small roll of it and it is pretty clear and does well to protect the plans, the only drawback is that folds tend to stay, and makes it hard to lay perfectly flat.

donnyman

I use it full strength, but 1/32 is quite thin so put one coat on the inside. (not sure it is necessary but can't hurt.)

donnyman

I am cheap so I used the protective backing from monokote or such, I keep it rolled on an old monokote roll.

ETpilot

I purchased a roll of moving stretch wrap for a moving job I had. Have a lot of wrap left over. So on my last build I used the wrap for plans cover. Worked good for me. I have enough wrap for the rest of my building days. I’ll just cut another piece for my next build.

Telemaster that Big Guff is looking good.

Telemaster Sales UK

I bought a car in 1997, there was a part-roll of industrial cling film in the boot. I've use that ever since but the problem is that I can't find it now! Guess I'll have to resort to using cling film from the local supermarket when I start on the Big Guff's wing, the sort of thing you wrap your sandwiches in! Picture of the car below. It's a 1974 Rover 2200SC.

Telemaster Sales UK

Doesn't it take a long time to do things?

I bought this model of eBay, a Flair Harvard, finished as an SNJ-4, fully built in 2015. It came complete with a battery and all five servos. I recall picking it up from the builder in the car park of a supermarket in the south London suburbs when I was going "home" to pick up my furniture. All I had to do was to install the engine but this was not as straight forward as it may sound. Five years later and and I ran it up on the stand for the first time yesterday. I need to adjust the throttle linkage to get a tick-over, and one of the aileron servos is growling so I need to investigate that. I had to chuck a rag into the prop to stop it yesterday! My French clubmates have been very fulsome in their praise of the model. They think I built it. I am not going to tell them. I plan to maiden it over the next few days weather permitting.

I will send off for the dope and tissue for the Big Guff once my pension is paid. I'll probably opt for non-shrinking dope.

ETpilot

If you have one in your area, try a moving and hauling company. They should sell the cling film. They come in many sizes. I use freezer paper for drawing plans. My film is wide enough to cover the paper.

Nice looking Rover. Also, nice looking SNJ-4. Fix that throttle so you can turn engine off when needed.

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

I like your field stand very well designed.

Telemaster Sales UK

It's a Great Mate stand. It cost me £150 new a few years ago, that's 174€ or $192 US, but of course in those days...

They are no longer being produced. Anyone who can design and build something of that quality will never be out of work long and someone made him an offer he could not refuse.

acdii

Hmm, gives me an idea and a use for my welder that has been sitting idle now for a few years. Is that 1/2" (12.7mm) tubing?

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

Oh, oh! acdii has another project!

acdii

Yeah dammit, I need a new clock, one that gives me more hours to do things with.

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

What all projects are you juggling?

Telemaster Sales UK

Yes it is, stove enamelled in yellow.

There were a lot of accessories which could have been ordered with the it but mine is standard apart from the seat and the starter motor mount. One of the most popular accessories came in the form of diagonal struts or braces which prevented the stand from being pulled over if you were using a big engine. I've had it move when using a 90 four-stroke, so these days if I have a motor of that size or larger in the stand, I start it then move behind the model, and hold the model down with my free hand while operating the throttle on the transmitter.

I've just had an aperitif gentlemen, I've a good beef stew with boiled potatoes and French beans waiting for me... oh and a 2012 Bordeaux too!

acdii

Besides the house? Well, have to get my barn rearranged to park my RV in it, pick up a new snow thrower and get it setup and running, move my other trailers around so I can park my second truck next to the house, then I can set aside time for my hobby projects. Working on finishing up the parts to be laser cut for the Liberty Sport, and finish building the Liberty Sport. Then get back to work on the B-25, and also have a P-47 to finish the servo swap on, a Corsair that needs to be completed, needs painting and radio/engine installed, and a P-51 mustang that needs a lot of work left to complete, still in bare wood with the nose cut off.

Then I have some networking to get done in the house, new switch installed, then run some CAT6 for the laser to be hardwired in, add a touch panel PC to the laser to control it with, and a SAN to store the laser files and eventually the Sherline CNC files once I get that working and start learning it. For that I plan on making landing gear for a Ziroli P-61, a Hermkins B-17, and who knows what else.

Then I have the P-61 to build, and a bunch of other plans to make laser short kits from and get those built. So I basically have enough to keep me busy for years, even if I were to retire next week.

Oh forgot to mention that Saturday nights I spend time at my friends while we work on RC stuff and have a SIG Citabria nearing completion.

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

So the usual stuff then. I am ordering decals from Callie Graphics for Pink' N Poke I got some more work to get done on it before starting the covering. Before I can start on an airplane I need to get some honey dos done in the yard.

donnyman

For that I plan on making landing gear for a Ziroli P-61,

I got a set of Robarts for that P-61 ,gotta let m go. let's make a deal!

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

What model gear do you have Donny?

Telemaster Sales UK

May I firstly express my thanks to Donny and everyone else who has offered advice on using tissue and dope to cover the fuselage of my Big Guff. I was simply waiting for my pension to be paid before ordering the materials but yesterday morning, before I'd even had breakfast, I had a Eureka moment! It requires a little explanation so here goes.

My Uncle Geoff was the man who helped me build my first model aeroplane. He was married to one of my mother's four sisters. He encouraged me through the second and third build but died of cancer in 1961. He was only thirty years old. He had worked as a draftsman and before he died he gave me all of his models including the fuselage of a double sized Tomboy and the plans he had drawn up. Among the models was a standard sized Tomboy which I flew free flight powered by a Mills 75 diesel.

Spool on thirty years and I finished his big Tomboy in the colours of his small one, yellow fuselage, red wing and tailplane with red trim. In fact it's had three fuselages. The first one was his own but the balsa was very weak so I built a second fuselage using cyano throughout. This disintegrated in a crash caused by pilot error: I was very inexperienced at the time so I built a third fuselage. The third fuselage was broken beyond repair when I put the model into a tree; again I was very inexperienced at that time! I still have the plan, and the wing and tailplane are in a box in my workshop waiting for me to build a fourth fuselage!

I'd covered the first fuselage in yellow nylon and the wings in Vintage Red Solartex. The second and third fuselages were covered in Vintage Yellow Solartex. At some stage I bought some more Vintage Red Solartex in order to carry out repairs but it was a different shade of red to that of the wing. I wrote off to Derek Hardman at Solarfilm who replied to say that they had changed the colour of Vintage Red Solartex. The more modern version is a brighter more transluscent colour but he offered me some of the old colour at a good price.

Yesterday morning I realised that I'd still got a roll of this old colour so I went down into the workshop and measured it at 8 metres long! I also have 4 metres of ordinary Red Solartex and 2 metres of "modern" Vintage Red, so the Big Guff is going to be finished in red Solartex, perhaps two different shades of red, but red it will be. I have too many other projects to occupy my time, both aeromodelling and non-aeromodelling, so speed and practicality trump authenticity. It will be a much more cheerful sight at the flying field than Olive Drab to say the least! Once more a big thank you to all who offered their advice on using tissue and dope.

The roll on the left is the later shade of Vintage Red, the central roll is old Vintage Red and the right-hand roll is standard opaque Solartex Red. This is what they look like on models. The Super Sixty is covered in the more modern Vintage Red and the Tomboy's flying surfaces and rudder are covered in the older colour. We were all much younger then.

P.S. I 'll be ordering some shrinking dope anyway. I am building a little Sharkface and plan to finish the wing in tissue over doculam. https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf=...w=1280&bih=888

Happy Landings Gentlemen.



Three shades of Solartex red.