hogger

I have been away from the hobby for 7 years and am getting back into it. It seems like I used to prepare the wood ( and fillers) with a common product that worked like Balsarite. Any one help jog my memory? Thanks.

MinnFlyer

My Feedback: (4)

I've tried all of the fancy "Superlight" spackles and fillers, and I keep coming back to regular old "Elmer's" wood filler (For light woods)

The way I see it, if you're using so much that you NEED ultralight filler, then you need to work on your building techniques!

Something else that I did for the first time last year, and I will do from now on is to water down some plain old white glue and coat all of the balsa. let dry and sand with very fine paper. the water/glue combination hardens all of the balsa "Fuzzies" so they sane right off . It leaves an incredably smooth finish.

Stick Jammer

If you are going to use MonoKote or Ultracote I wouldn't suggest using Balsarite, it's really not needed. Any heat activated covering needs to be applied at a very low temperature over the Balsarite or lumps will form under the covering that are just about impossible to remove.

tommy s

My Feedback: (55)

MinnFlyer

What kind of covering to you put over the white glue mix?
Monokote or covering and paint?

tommy s

Azcat59

If you are going to cover with Monokote or Ultracote, I wouldn't put anything on the wood. I do use a thin ribbon of Sig-Ment (model cement) around firewall edges, wheel well edges, and the wing saddle. Then the Monokote/Ultracote really welds itself to these areas which do tend to loosen up sometimes. Somehow it heat activates with the film adhesive.

Sand the wood reasonably well, dust it off, use a sock on your iron, and don't get the temperatures any higher than you have to over sheeted areas, and you should end up with a fine job.

Clair