ORIGINAL: Chip_Mull
ORIGINAL: drdoom
It has been a while for me: I forgot the difference between Nitrate and Butyrate Dope???
You only need Nitrate Dope if you are covering with Polyester. the Nitrate is trying to establish a chemical bond to the fabric, then the Butyrate goes on top of the Nitrate. Nitrate is very explosive. The pictures of the Hindenburg burning is mostly pictures of Nitrate burning. There were lots of thoughts on ways to save weight on full scale planes. Some folks even painted the entire aircraft in Nitrate then Nitrate with silver powder in it for UV protection and the top coat was only enamel. Of course it cracked and they didn't really save any weight.
Nitrate has quite a few uses in my experience. I used it to seal balsa before epoxying skins to foam for example. Saves at least one ounce of epoxy for a 600 sq inch wing but adds about 3 grams of nitrate.
I don't use fabric on my planes...silkspan over balsa for bedding, for the lightest of finishes. Nitrate dries well in relatively short time compared to butyrate. Accepts pretty much all other finishing systems like Stits, epoxy, PU and of course good ol' butyrate dope.
Randolph's is about the only game in town.