Covering recommendations
 

I need to cover a 1/2a Jungmiester (wood). Really don't want to do film. What other options do I have that will have a fabric look, fuelproof, lightweight, and won't shrink too much to cause a warp??

Silk and dope

Is your Jungmeister the Flyline kit? What engine are you using? I have plans for one I would like to build. Don Srull designs are excellent.

I am struggling with the same question, monokote has been my standby and very reliable easy to clean up, but a little heavy compared to new coverings. Still, I covered my Flyline .049 size J3 Cub with Cub Yellow monokote.

Bought some Coverlite recently. Apparently it is very light and meant for smaller park flyer type models (similar to tissue). Only needs Balarite (thinned) coated on the bare bones first, then ironed on.

Brian

Yes its the Flyline. But I have a BIG problem. I'm not sure how to build this thing. Every kit I have built had a step by step instruction manual on how to build it. All this kit has is the plans, nothing more. I actually have the Flyline Curtis Robin for an easier first build, but again I don't know where to start. I don't know how to build the wing or fuse without instructions !!!! Help!

I recently just read about polyspan, and I am going to trying it

Typically, you start the build with the fuselage sides on the plan. Build one side, and then the other on top of it with Saran wrap in between so they do not get stuck together. This way both sides will be built identical.

From there, you work on the bulkheads. You can then start putting together the fuselage starting with the “box” around where the wings are located. You then pinch the tail and work your way down to the tail and then the firewall where the engine is mounted. Final steps are the cananes, landing gear, etc.

The wings are more straightforward once you have the ribs and spars reay to go.

We can probably find a good build thread which will mimic the above process.

Brian

Outerzone has the plan and article, free to download as PDF, was featured in May 1979 Model Airplane News. Article explains some building details, which might help give you clues.

See: https://outerzone.co.uk/plan_details.asp?ID=2063

Reason why assembling the fuselage is not readily apparent is that it is done in the old rubber powered stick style of building. The sides are flat, you build these over the plan. It has 1/16x1/8 stringers, to give the flat sides a roundish contour, these are installed after most of the fuselage is built. Use wax paper or Saran Wrap to cover plan to prevent from gluing it. Use a soft building board underneath that is easy to stick pins in to temporarily hold parts in place while glue dries. (Don't stick pins through the sticks, several on sides to hold in place.) Lay out the 1/8" square (that's what I think it is) longerons (the long pieces going from nose to tail. Trim to size with a sharp modeling knife or razor blade. Trim the vertical sticks to size, glue them to the longerons. Once both sides are built, one cuts a pair of 1/8" square cross braces at each vertical station. These are trimmed to size right over the plan. You are building the basic box. Then the top balsa formers are glued to these horizontal cross braces, then stringers added to the slots after that.

Look at some of the rubber powered model building blogs, should give you a good idea on how to approach building the fuselage. It is not difficult, a little tedious, but results in a lightweight but strong structure. These type stick models were typically covered in silk and dope or silkspan and dope back in the hay days. I would think that using one of the tissue-like lightweight coverings like Polyspan or Coverite Coverlite will help add strength as the lightweight plastic coverings tend to lack that. Silk or silkspan would shrink when clear doped, becoming drum head taut.

You have a real jewel of an aircraft and being light would fly well without resorting to extreme muscle power. (Shows a Cox .049 Tee Dee but I'd probably go with an old venerable Enya .09-III TV or OS Max .10R/C cross scavenged.)

As Brian mentioned, try Coverlite. I used it for the first time on a 1/2a Kadet. There is no adhesive, so you need to paint on the thinned Balsarite (I don't recall what I thinned it with, but it is too thick out of the can). It irons on just live whatever-cote. Light, and relatively strong. It looks great and is easy to paint. I highly recommend it on smaller models. I'll go back to silk when I win the lottery.

Mike

Would someone be so kind as to point me to a detailed (pictures) thread on building this type of kit ?

If you go to RCGroups and check out the Electric Scale/Scratchbuilt forum, look for build threads by Pat Tritle.

He designs his own models and has them laser cut. The methodology of the build will be very similar to the steps you will follow. He does an excellent job documenting his builds with pictures.

Hope this helps,
Brian

I use Litespan for all my 1/2A aircraft. It's a synthetic version of Japanese tissue but MUCH stronger and a bit heavier. It's the very lightest that I know of. It has no adhesive so use Balsarite or what they offer where you get your Litespan. The nice thing about it is that you have to apply 2-3 coats of dope or fuel proof, urethane. This is good because any trim you apply using Litespan, gets locked down really well and the trim won't lift

You may want to look at How to Design and Build Flying Models by Keith Laumer. It is the 4th book on:

https://outerzone.co.uk/books/index.asp

The Flying Scale Models of WWII by Bill Northrop is a good one, too.

Please note, I have notified the administrators at Outerzone that their Laumer book is missing the images. It was there when I last looked months ago.

Contacted Outerzone. Pages have been obsoleted. Book may now be downloaded at:

https://rclibrary.co.uk/title_details.asp?ID=1052 , download as single PDF is on web page: https://rclibrary.co.uk/download_title.asp?ID=1052

Another option is mylar or "Doculam" with Jap. tissue over that. Tissue alone on an RC model is pretty impractical.
Covering Models with Tissue and Mylar
really light Mylar is not super easy to find or work with. I got mine from a guy in the UK. Laminating film is as easy as commercial film covering.

https://www.freeflightsupplies.co.uk/index.php

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