custards1

Hi i have the plans to make a aqua bird. I have had them for awhile now and might soon get started. my question is after i build it do i then fiber glass and paint, which i can only see ending up to heavy for a 40 size bird or is there another way of water proofing and keeping the weight down. I know if i cover in normal plane covering it wont stay dry for long and the ruin the balsa just not sure please help

thanks in advance

Falcon6667

using 1/2 oz cloth an finishing epoxie applied with a flat tool (not a brush) ! An paint. Or use waterbaced poly an silkspan, or dope an silkspan, i gess dope is the lightest.
Falcon

goirish

try using 1/2oz glass put on with water based polyurethane. The scrape off the excess with a credit card or something similar. Lightly sand with 400 wet-n-dry and then paint. Not much heavier than some coverings. I have 3 models: DeHavilland Beaver, Sea Dancer and SeaMaster done this way and all are waterproof. try it you'll like it.

siddus74

Goirish,

I am currently building a Canadair CL215 and have experimented with the water based polyurethane and glass cloth, and yes it goes rock hard, but I noticed that with all the water based solutions I found to try that it introduced a warp on a flat sheet of 1/8th balsa and 1/8th lite ply. . . I would be interested to hear your views on this. As I have oftern contemplated that the warping may not be a problem on a fully braced structure (fuselage)

goirish

Siddus74
I have not experienced that problem. Wondering if when you are using the poly if you are saturating the wood with to much poly. I lay the glass down drysmooth it out with my hands untill it is very smooth. I then use a soft brush and start at the center of the glass and work towards the edges. As soon as I have covered all the glass I then take a old credit card and again starting in the center scrape towards the edges. You can hardly see any of the poly after scraping. Maybe someone else has a different method and could share that.