ORIGINAL: dennis
ORIGINAL: Stickbuilder
I could not tell you about the different types of silk. I use Koverall exclusively. Here is one that is over 13 years old. Butyrate over Nitrate, still getting tighter, and not a crack in the finish.
Bill, AMA 4720
WACO Brotherhood #1
Unfortunately dope continues to dry and shrink almost forever. Most of those old C/L or R/C planes that you see on the auction site have cracked or torn covering. They all have the tell tale curl of shrunken dope. We never have made the perfect covering for an airplane that will last indefinitely but I guess that we never cared as we never expected a model to be around for 25 or more years.
However, if your doing one today then you need to use non taughtening dope after your base coats of nitrate to at least slow down this process. And keep your planes out of the sun and heat as much as possible. Even with plastic coverings ultra violet in the sun will really fade your finish and make it brittle.
Dennis
Yep,
The only things that seem to be everlasting, are death and taxes.
Bill, AMA 4720
WACO Brotherhood #1