Just for the sake of it I'm building a free flight Piper Super Cub and need to buy some dope for tissue covering...From what I can see there is only Aero Gloss dope for nitro fuel airplanes ( nitrate dope is needed for the free flight stuff). Can I still use the nitro dope for my ff project?

Had me worried their for a minute. Thought you were looking for marijuana or something like that.

I'm not into this kind of stuff...however the fumes are probably much stronger!!!

Don't use Aerogloss. Sig, Brodak, and Randolph's are the only dope you should use. Though the first coats could be nitrate as it fills out better. You won't find Randolph's in a hobby shop as it is a full scale product, however it is just like the Sig and Brodak products, but the smallest size will be a quart and a gallon is more typical.

why Aerogloss would not be a good choice?

Hobby Lobby arts & craft stores carry sig dope.

Was only kidding. I retired from the chemical dependency field and when I seen the heading I had to chuckle a little. Glad to hear that.

Aerogloss is a Butyrate dope, and is not what one needs or wants for a lightweight tissue covered model. It does not have taughtning properties either. Nitrate Dope is a Nitrocullulose derivative, and can be bought in the taughtning form, and is also very good to adhere the covering material to the framework. You can apply Butyrate Dope over Nitrate, but not the other way around. I only cover with Cloth and Dope. I have been using it for almost 60 years, and still have not found anything better with which to cover a model.

Bill, Waco Brother #1

Stickbuilder

what kind of cloth do you use?

The best stuff to use for your situation would be Nitrate dope and dope thinner, both of which can be purchased at [link=http://www.sigmfg.com/cgi-bin/dpsmart.exe/MainMenuFV4.html?E+Sig]SIG (click here)[/link]

Click on 'Building equipment', then 'Paint', then 'Dope' and order SIG NITRATE DOPE PINT #SIGND001 and SUPERCOAT THINNER PINT #SIGSD106

Mxaexm; as usual you get many answers. Depending on you model's size, and if glow powered or other should be your answer.

Brodak (http://www.brodak.com/) sells the best Butyrate dope going. It is a derivative of Randolph's aircraft dope. Sig Dope is simply a repackage of Randolph. There in the Chicago area you have Super Flite which is OK but requires a lot of thinner and reducer.
IMO, I suggest Brodak. You could order a pint of thinner, pint of reducer, and a quart of cope, or smaller dope for colors if you need them.
I have used a lot of nitrate, both by itself and and under buty. Don't do it. It will rot, especially silk, within 2 years. I use only buty now. Sig sells and I think Brodak does also, a non-tautening dope. However I rather use regular with a few drops castor oil per 4oz. dope. After you are satisfied with your paint job, use two light thin coats of the "plastisized" clear dope. That will stop any shrinking. Regardless of contrary information, buty will SHRINK big time, it just takes a month to cure.

If your FF scale model has a light frame work, be sure the covering grain is spanwise on the flying surfaces, and you may want to use just enough dope to tighten the material. One coat a day is plenty. Then wait several weeks befor applying glow fuel.

BTW, buty is glow fuel proof. Nitrate becomes like sticky goo when exposed to glow fuel or ehaust residue. [:'(]

Best of luck to you.

I just bought Sig dope (it says that it's fuel proof and you can also use it with tissue). I'm just building for fun so this planes (free flght super cub 20 inch ws.) will probably fly once or so and then be hangared for the rest of its life.

Sig Lite Dope is what I've used in the past. But do thin it out. On a model of that size, you'll add unwanted weight easily. I would thin it out at least 50/50, and two coats might be all you need. When I was flying Indoor Free Flight, I found even Dope to be too heavy. I used to thin craft store acrylic to the consistency of milk and lightly airbrush the tissue. Dope is pretty good as an adhesive for tissue, but again, don't over do it. Here's a photo of a Peanut Scale Piper Tri-Pace I did. Total up weight was 5.3 grams without motor. A dollar bill weighs about 1 gram, so figure 5 singles would weigh approximately the same.

what do you use to thin it out?

Use Sig Dope thinner for the Dope. Water to thin out the acrylic craft store paint. The acrylic is a lot easier to clean up and dries water insoluble. Also, no fumes. But you really need an airbrush to get it applied thin enough.

Will acetone work to thinner the Sig Dope?

I've used acetone for thinning glue like Ambroid and sometimes in a pinch to clean a small brush. With Dope thinning I'm not sure how well it would work. I'm pretty sure it is one of the ingredients of thinner but Acetone alone has a very high evaporation rate. If you do try it, make sure you have proper ventilation and no open sparks or flame. Otherwise, "poof", we may never hear from you again.