DeferredDefect

Holy mackerel  - that is quite the Albatros!

straitnickel

I would say yes, but, there may be other finishes that would attack it. As far as I know any paint will work. You will probably get an answer from Randolph.

stinson sr-9f

MAJOR DECALS Has sheets for that plane just search online for A hobbie shop with them in stock as they don't seem to be in the decal business.

vertical grimmace

My Feedback: (1)

Don, first of all, your plane looks fabulous! I really wanted to build one of these, but unfortunately They are unavailable.

Here I go, I am going to bring this up again. The best way to stay compatible is to use the same material. If it were me, I would airbrush your markings with butyrate dope. Then they are fuel proof, compatible, and will apply well. Then, I would go back and weather/detail them to look hand brushed on. Make them look new initially, then weather them to make them look old, or hand brush applied.

abufletcher

Those who know me will understand.

abufletcher

The two biggest obstacles here are: 1) the (non-) availability of colored (black and white) dope and 2) my minimally-existent skills with my ultra-cheap (canned air powered) airbrush along with the need to use (non-available) friskets. But I like the "purity" of staying with an all-dope finish.

That's an interesting idea, adding a few brush strokes (and imperfections?) to sprayed markings to make them look hand-painted. But first, I really need to get over my fear and loathing of air-brushing.

TFF

Get a small compressor. The thin covering paints become a non issue with a decent airbrush.

I think the plane needs a Buzz Lightyear pilot and Barbie gunner with a big OS engines sticker on the cowl.

vertical grimmace

My Feedback: (1)

I understand, but the airbrush is rather easy. The hard part is making the stencils. Wal Mart has low tack shelf paper that is great for this and inexpensive as well. I am sure you could find a similar product. Another cool item I have begun using is carbon paper. This makes transferring your design easy onto the frisket (shelf paper), then you can cut it out with an exacto knife. This would be good for the iron crosses.
The great thing about the airbrush is you can spray in such light coats, the is no threat of bleeding under the frisket. Maybe you can find a small pulse compressor that has no holding tank. They are not too expensive and quiet to run.

There is no way to mail order small bottles of dope? Brodak and Sig have colored dope. From what I understand, Randolph makes Brodak dope and so those two should be compatible. Most likely, they are all compatible, but I cannot verify as I have only used Randolphs and Sig.

vertical grimmace

My Feedback: (1)

Take a look here. Maybe something could work for you. Scroll down the page a ways. Some of the smaller ones are a ways down the page. http://www.tcpglobal.com/airbrushdepot/compress.aspx

abufletcher

They would go nicely with the MAJOR DECALS.

GianFrancesco

Hi Abu
do you know www.flightlinegraphics.com ?
They can provide you proper paint masks; the only thing you have to do is to give the correct dimensions of the insigna you have to paint/spray.

ARUP

Is it legal to send dope and thinners to you in Japan?

BobH

My Feedback: (2)

Don, if you would just look at my DVI build on RCSB and did what I suggested you would be finished by now!!lol

Use the acrylic or enamel MM paint and be done with it. Crosses are pretty easy to make. Cut your template from cardstock or similar. Place it where you want it. Put the masking tape along the edge on your material making the mask. Remove the card and paint your cross.

you can buy crosses, I think, from callie graphics. She's very good to work with. That will take even more time of course

abufletcher

Thanks for all the suggestions. Bob, can you provide a link to the page on your DVI thread where you discuss how you filled the GTM fabric? I've looked and can't find it. ARUP, yes, dopes and thinners are all on the hazmat and TSA major no-no lists. I have what I have only because I slipped it through in my checked luggage...and through Japanese customs. GianF, if possible I'd like to avoid spray painting the markings. It just doesn't feel right to me on a WWI model. But if I do decide to airbrush, I'll consider the masks. Actually, I know I can hand-paint the crosses on the wings without problem, but I'm not so sure about the smaller crosses on the fuselage and tail.

Note: No MM paints available locally.

BTW, Matz demonstrated convincingly that in the Albatros factory, the work places a (positive) sheet metal template on the wing, then ran a brush with white paint around the perimeter. Then (presumably) he removed the template filled in the black and then the white. That is, the black isn't painted OVER the white as we modelers tend to do.

BobH

My Feedback: (2)

Take a look at page 21.. By TKFOKKER. He explains how he did the dope for Glenn's plane, etc. A few pages later I start painting the crosses. There's a diagram with the crosses on that page.. look around page 25-26ish.

abufletcher

Found it. But tfokker's description on page 21 don't really say much. How many coats of nitrate did you end up using on the GTM fabric before you painted your crosses?

BobH

My Feedback: (2)

I used three coats for the most part. Now the GTM Fabric is much more course than what you are using. So to fill the weave it needed more nitrate. You can use one or two and that should be fine. Then the butyrate dope over that.. On full scale planes the weave is pretty much filled.. just an FYI.

vertical grimmace

My Feedback: (1)

So I do not understand the fear of Butyrate over shrinking. Has anyone ever had this be a problem? I never used Nitrate until I covered my DVII with the GTM fabric. I really think that butyrate is all we need as modelers. I am currently covering a Fokker DR1 with dacron. I am adhering it to the framework with Sig Stix it, and then sealing the fabric with dope. I am using Randolphs butyrate. I have had my Fokker DVII now for around 6 years and am not suffering from a crushed airframe! Has anyone ever really had a problem with this on a model? (not full scale please)
I am of the opinion that when availability is not an issue, butyrate is all that is needed. It is all that I have ever used and keep going back to it time and again.

abufletcher

And you haven't have any issues with applying paints on top of butyrate? I think you mentioned that you have painted markings with latex and maybe acrylics. As far as shrinking, I've had little Guillow's models which were "crushed" by shrinking dope. And maybe that's the origins of the fear. It's probably not an issue with the much larger, heavier models around today.

Nieuport nut

My Feedback: (10)

Shrinking Dope can crush delicate frames, (which we try to emulate in WWI aircraft). It can also warp surfaces. Look at the cautions written "in the day" about pinning doped wings flat once the solvent had flashed off. I think the substrate is also important - ie tissue has less pull than dacron for the same number of coats of dope.

True enamel will be OK on any kind of dope. Dope is thinned by lacquer thinners, (like acetone), whereas enamels are thinned by varsol. Because varsol doesn't touch dope, you are OK with enamel over dope. As with all paints, the chemistry is more complicated than that, but that's a guide.

With any finishing, do tests! Dope needs several days to dry sufficiently to over cover with another type of paint. I once(!) tried to brush epoxy trim over a "dry" doped surface. When I removed the masking, ALL the epoxy paint was removed in one large perfect sheet! Now I would leave it 72hrs, (or more), and then lightly scrub the surface before applying the dissimilar paint.

Martin

TFF

Be careful with the word varsol. The varsol maybe a name brand but if you say varsol in the US it means industrial degreaser. It may have some base chemicals but you would make a oily mess of your paint. Non taunting butyrate is ok or SIG and Brodak would have no colored dope. AeroGloss wqs nitrate based with something in it for fuel proofing. The only thing that keeps natural fibers tight is the taunting of the shrinking kind. On a small model there is not enough surface area to matter so non-t works fine. If I was building a 1/3 scale covered with cotton I would mix in a small amount of taunting dope like 15%. If you really used it it would get droopy somewhere. Non taunting was invented to be used on manmade fibers where heat did the shrinking, like Ceconite and Koverall.

LesUyeda

"True enamel will be OK on any kind of dope."

Except that true dope WILL continue to shrink forever, and crack the surfaet of the enamel that you put over it.

Les

abufletcher

On my old test wing I laid down a large piece of the silk and gave it two coats of nitrate (to bind it to the nitrate filled Koverall below). This replicated the current state of the CI wings. At this stage the silk feels grainy like perhaps #1000 sandpaper. This is a little surprising.

Next, I painted small areas of this test wing with three options: 1) butyrate, 2) PolyC, and 3) Nelson's clear. The Nelson's actually worked best, creating a smooth finish with just a single coat. The PolyC required two coats for the same result. And even after three (somewhat) thinned coats the butyrate area is still rough.

Note: A couple of days ago I slopped some butyrate on another test piece and got a very slick surface but one with lots of irregular coloring and almost oil like color fringing. I think this is the result of the humidity (well over 80% that day).

abufletcher

My models don't last anywhere close to FOREVER.

abufletcher

The results: The PolyC and Nelson's Clear give a much smoother finish with less work/less coats than the butyrate. In fact, it takes 3 or 4 coats of the butyrate to create the same finish as one or two coats of the PolyC or Nelson's.

So what I think I'll do is smooth the silk out with PolyC, then paint on the markings (with enamels), then fuel-proof with Nelson's.