ORIGINAL: flyncajun

Arch,don`t take this the wrong way but,
don`t believe everything you read no one can do it (glass over wood finish equal weight to film)
The question was whether Mike`s system could be done lighter than monocoat ,you said it could
Neither Mike`s, nor my System can be done lighter than Monocoat. with ANY quality.
Molding an airplane skin finish, then painting the surface. is not the same thing, totaly different system not even the same league , molds have to be used.
Paint is the least weight involved in a painted wing or fuse once the surface has been prepaired.

On a 950 square wing monocoat weighs 30 grams total
If you use .5 cloth it s 15 grams then ,it takes minimum of 20 grams of epoxie per wing( and it takes lots of experiance to learn to use that little ) thats 35 grams, and then you you have to prime and paint. thats another 2 onces if your good,all conservative numbers.
The lighter the cloth the more filler it takes to fill the weave so No it`s not possible anyone who says it is, has never painted or never weighed the process in stages to compare.

The only way to get a light or equal weight finish is with dope and silk and that takes years of practice to do it right with a decent finish. Then you have a finish not as strong as film.

Now if you have the experiance to plan the build you can compensate for the weight gain of a glass finish and reduce the weight of the airframe.
then you can have a light, painted airframe.
But that was not the question.
Bryan