I'm a hacker when it comes to building, but I do have a thing about appearance and final finish.

If you are determined to use silk and dope - God bless you - I don't think you will have a problem substituting carpenter's glue (yellow - aliphatic) or even today's CA glues.

I prefer to use 1/2 or 3/4 oz. fiberglass cloth on the fuselage, though I have done my share of silking and doping fuselages too. I lived in very humid southern New Jersey where it was difficult to find a time with the humidity low enough to apply dope without it blushing. I also despise the weeks long curing time for dope, which I suppose is really a month if you do it right.

On the other hand, fiberglass and finishing resin, whether polyester or epoxy, permits you to progress much faster than dope when applied properly. Another advantage of these finishing methods is that they are impervious to nitromethane. I haven't found a dope that was truly impervious, especially at the higher concentrations that are normally used today in our four-stroke engines.

Anyway, I'm interested in your project, as I am sure are many others. How about posting some digital pics to the forum from time to time? You might even convince some of us to give dope another go round. <G>


Ed Cregger