ORIGINAL: iflircaircraft
I'm a little ahead of myself but I'm just getting started with building a Top Flite Corsair 60 (red box version). I've never glassed and painted an airplane. I need to know the lightest cloth and resin to use and the best paint.
I've used iron-on fabric before and lustrekote but that method added huge amounts of weight. I do not want to use iron-on plastic or colored fabric since I want the edges feathered vs hard lines.
I'm looking forward to your assistance and will be bugging you in the future regarding how to add panel lines, maybe rivets,etc
Tom
I have tried many ways and found the easiest and lightest end result came from using the 1/2 oz. cloth . But, it can pull and shift around on you when you're spreading out the resin with a credit card. So what I do now, and it works really well, is spray a very light mist of 3M77 glue over the sheeting, very light. it doesn't require much at all. Wait a few minutes, then I take my piece of glass cloth cut 3 or 4 inches larger than the area and gently lay it down , being careful not to press it down, and then I pull out the wrinkles so it lays flat as possble, then I take a credit card or even a business card to smooth out any remaining wrinkles. Once you have it all perfectly smooth I just lightly rub my hand over it and its stuck down. Now I mix up a few pumps of resin and pour it on, may be a puddle that is about 3" in diameter is all it takes and spread it over the area removing all the excesss. This is very light, very smooth and the cloth doesn't get screwed up. I use primer after it has dried to finish filling any remaining texture of the cloth before painting the finish coats.
Hope this has given you a good idea of how to do it light. Do one side at a time. let it dry. Remember excess resin adds weight not strength.