I'd heard that one sprays the bare balsa of a plane with hair spray before laying down that first coat of fiberglass. The hairspray is to keep the epoxy from soaking too far into the balsa and adding needless weight. It does let the epoxy penetrate, but it stays closer to the surface.

I got this from a pretty reliable source. Just some food for thought.

Bob

I had to buy tampons for the wife once.....hell I didn't know they came in sizes...how do you answer what size? went home told her never again that was 30 sum odd years ago...
after that I don't even whince when I proudly put my hairspray and clear fingernail polish on the check out belt.
this is a true story

we cant let this thread die it is too good

ive heard of wrapping our R/C car recievers in condoms to keep them watertight and spraying aeroplane covering with furniture polish to give it a nice shine but havent heard of using hairspray yet :S

I heard of one guy who wraps his fuel tank in feminine pads. He says it works as well as foam pading, but would also absorb the occasional fuel leak. Of course, he only used the ones with wings.

.

haha!

Ohhh, so that's why my wife wanted to marry me... I already had everything for her, except for the skirts braw's and panties. Well my instructors always told me to control my planes with a womans touch... I never knew my plane needed everything my wife needed. I guess that's why we give our planes a female name. Hmmm, now if I could have my Evo .46 cook my meals? Nawww. [sm=50_50.gif]



Luftwaffe Oberst
Radio Aero Modelers Club
AMA District II
Pulaski, NY

been there, done that, tried to heat coffee over my Savage 21BB engine... didnt work very well

F Y I Moose spelt Mousse, used to make ridiculous hairstyles possible.

Or were you joking?





old git - - - - - aka John L.

In the late 60s I built cl combat models out of foam covered in xmas wrapping paper applied with dilute PVa and then used hairspray to finish and fuel proof the paper.

Slon sized aerosol cans were cheap.

I thought it was an Alaskan delicacy. One of a line of products from Tundra Gourmet Foods. Some of their other canned products are Salmon Liver in Aspic and Canned Cream of Carabou.

If you are sanding / shaping a wing or a larger fuselage, pull one leg of a pair of pantyhose over it to make it easier to see the overall shape. The pantyhose will follow the same basic shape as the covering.

mousse

I've read on how to make a muffler out of mousse cans but I'd prefer to buy one

i always figured you would want to keep those things off your wife[:-] lol jk

Well if your heat gun is broke, You can hold the can up to the side of the plane and set it on fire with a match.

can't imagine why someone would want to cut the can off a moose and use it for a muffler. all you would hear is moose farts as your plane flew around... pfffffttt pfffftt brrrraaaaaapppp. plus i would think it would be pretty heavy. nead a big ol engine to pull it.

oh wait a minute, mousse, nevermind.

I am going to use hairspray as I tried sig stix-it as an adhesive for the monokoate and it was way to adhesive and pulled off the balsa wood in pieces.

Stix it is for non-adhesive coverings line Sig Koverall. The hairspray won't act as an adhesive. It will harden and roughen the balsa and also will stick down any dust or fuzzies so your Monokote will stay on. It makes a noticeable difference in the lifespan of you covering job and the number of wrinkles you have to iron out later.

The mention of various female oriented products reminds me that I once covered a fuselage with one leg from a pair of pantyhose. I don't remember what i used to stick it down but it took a coat of blue Lustercoat and came out looking pretty good.

My only recollection about using hairspray on a model plane goes way back to the days of silk and dope. From what I have read and gathered, after silk had been laid on to an airplane but not painted, folks would spray the open areas to seal the silk and keep dope from seeping through the weave. Puddling of the dope on the inside of the silk would add increased weight but not do anything to improve the finish. This was supposed to keep the finish as light as possible by limiting the amount of dope required to get good coverage.

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.....

Bob

Not slipping he probably just hasn't seen your toenails with the polish on yet LOL

Hair spray,,,,,,,,nail polish might want to start a new section if you get my drift LOL!!!!!!!

Some guys claim hairspray on the balsa wood under the glass cloth limits the amount of resin the wood soaks up and helps hold the cloth in place. Just like rolling the freshly applied resin and cloth with toilet paper roll will soak up any access resin keeping the airframe light. Roll in the direction of the roll so the paper does not unroll and peal off the saturated paper and expose new paper to soak up as much as you can. After curing fill the weave with feather fill and paint. Super light finish.

Dennis

Pretty sure it is shellac, dissolved in alcohol. I use it just the way others here use it, to keep fiberglass from fraying, to raise the grain and partially seal the wood prior to sanding and covering. I have not heard of using it like Bob says, to stop dope from seeping though silk and puddling...I'll have to try that!

Nice thing is that although it stinks, the smell dissipates very quickly so I can use it in my shop connected to the house without smelling up the place like dope does.

Jim

For any Guy/Gal using hairspray to stick covering: I started a project to remove the old chinese covering from a plane. In removing the old covering much of the paint remained on the balsa. I tried cleaning it with ascetone. The bulk of the paint came off but some of the coloring is apparently impregnated into the wood and monokote doesn't stick very well. I'm afraid any additional sanding will take too much wood. Has anyone tried to apply monokote in this situation after spraying with hairspray. Or, is there a better way. Thanks

Sonnytex