ORIGINAL: rcpattern
ORIGINAL: Cdallas2
This isn't necessarily in regards to pattern planes but you guys seem to have the best and lightest finishes out there.
Last year I followed Mike Hester's [link=http://www.customairframes.com/caaforum/showthread.php?t=93]technique[/link] to glass a small balsa cowl but now I want to do an entire plane.
My question is do you guys feel this is any heavier than film covering or if done right it should be the same or at least very close?
"Snip" There are guys now using the techniques that a lot of racing and glider guys do and are vacuum bagging the clother overtop of the wing, which leaves a virtually perfect finish without having to go back and add much filler. This would be virtually impossible to do a fuselage, but works well on wings. "Snip"
Arch
Doing a wood fuse this way is something I've given some thought to. I think it's possible to bag a fuse in a baloon. It would require a large enough perforated tube (must fit the whole fuse) that can draw the baloon to the inside surface using vacuum. Then the fuse is inserted and vacuum released on the baloon. The baloon will collapse and conform to the fuse.
I have not done it .... not yet anyway! I am not as certain that the baloon will conform to every concavity.
Bagging the covering onto a wing is straight forward if you are using epoxy. Not as straight forward if you are using dope, which is my personal favorite method for covering wings.
MattK