JimTrainor

I didn't find it hard. That was my first attempt. The LT-40 was a practice run for a 1/4 scale cub (which still hasn't been done).

The time consuming part was masking and painting the trim. The initial covering, nitrate dope, and base butyrate coats, where pretty quick. I avoided numerous pit falls by reading all I could here first. I expect the cub to be simpler since it is all yellow with just a bit of black trim (if I ever get to it).

(I had some experience with tissue and dope on Guillow models as a kid... I suppose that helped a bit. The smell of Nitrate dope was immediatly familar when I got started with the LT-40.).

You should invest in a simple respirator. You can find a simple resiprator with carbon filters at any home improvement center. The type of respirator you need is printed on the dope label - just match that to what you find Home Depot, or wherever. I did the work in my unfinished basement and vented the room via a fan that pull air out of the room and exhausted it directly out a basement window. That controlled the stink quite effectively. It didn't permeate to the rest of the house. You read here about how much it stinks... but I didn't really find that to be a problem. Actually, I prefer paint, and such, that stinks if the stuff is at all toxic. You know right away if the fumes are going somewhere you don't want them to go. Polyurethane paints, for example, don't stink but are very toxic (I've read). With dope, a simple carbon filter respirator is fine. I'm not sure it's that simple with Polyurethan paints.)