Originally Posted by
canardlover
Howdy SPADders, I have been SPADding a bit myself some years ago but discontinued because of two major drawbacks imo: 1) glueing is very tricky and 2) planes do become rather flimsy and/or heavy.
However, I now do plan to make a comeback, this time using "coroplast" made of polycarbonate(Makrolon, Lexan) which is available in several thicknesses here in Europe (4, 6, 10, 16...mm, see attachment) typically used for greenhouses and terrace roofs. As you all know polycarbonate is extremely tough and durable and much stiffer than the usual polypropylene coro. Weight per area unit is only slightly higher than the usual PP coro and I guess glueing canardly be worse than PP. To my surprise I have so far not seen polycarbonate coro being used in the RC-SPAD community, either here in Sweden or elsewhere...why..? Have I missed some relevant thread please show me..THANKS...or is there a problem I´m unaware of..?? Please enlighten me...Thank you.
One significant issue with polycarbonate is it's vulnerability to attack by aromatic hydrocarbons, such as lacquer thinner, acetone, xylol, MEK, dope thinner and all paints thinned or reduced with the same. It will be destroyed by those. Aliphatic solvents such as naptha, mineral spirits, turpentine, do not seem to affect polycarbonates. nor will alcohol. Nitromethane is an aromatic solvent so it will attack polycarbonate. Polypropylene is resistant to almost everything.