My brother asked me a question that I don't know the answer to. He's building some hand-chuck gliders and covering them with tissue. The tissue needs to be doped with a thinned dope mixture, naturally.

He asked me if acetone could be substituted for dope thinner (presuming he's using Aero Gloss butyrate dope). I'd never heard of that, but thought I'd ask.

Has anyone ever come across this before? Is there any substitute for butyrate dope thinner?

Thanks,

Bob

Make a test sample and see. I recently tried to clean the Aerogloss clear out of my spraygun with some kind of lacquer thinner. The result was like cloudy jello. I ended up cleaning the gun with Aerogloss thinner.

Jim

A small amount of acetone in dope probably won't be a problem, however it has a much fasted drying rate and will usually cause blushing if much is used. A better choice would be lacquer thinner if the proper dope thinner isn't available.

Haven't had a lot of luck with laquer thinner, or acetone.(cloudy, cottage cheese-like results.) Good results with MEK, just be very careful not to ad to much. The drying rate is rather fast.

Jetts

If he is building gliders he could use nitrate dope and laquer thinner ( with the clear dope). Laquer thinner curdles colored dope. Not fuel proof but works great for gliders and electrics.

By far the best way is to use the thinner made for the particular dope. There are many formulations of lacquer thinner some of which work quite well, and some that don't. The only way to tell is to try it and see. Dope thinner is quite cheap and should be available at the same place dope is sold. Unless you just want to be an experimental chemist, it doesn't make much sense to use anything else.

All good information so far. Thanks, everyone.

Does anyone else have any tips or tricks, or ways to 'educate' us a little more about dope.

It's been so long since I've used that stuff that I forgot all that I'd learned.

Thanks,

Bob

I use Nitrate dope on most of my planes. I use it over balsa and silkspan and polyester fabric. It is easy to do and is forgiving to install. You can go back and fix errors as you work with it much easier than you can with plastic film coverings. Is it as quick as plastic?....NO but easier in my opinion. Not 'one step' as with iron on coverings but many steps. I install silkspan or polyester fabric the same way: Two coats of thinned dope 50%-50% on the frame and lay water soaked fabric on the frame and smooth out as much as possible. Then using dope thinner or laquer thinner on a brush wet the perimeter of the section being covered through the fabric and rub down with fingers. It sticks in a minute or less. As fabric dries it shrinks a bit and becomes drum tight. Thinned dope is then brushed or sprayed over the whole area in layers. Then painted with most any kind of paint . Fuel proof paint if needed. This is nice to get textured finishes or a non glossy finish.