I''m currently building a Black Magic v2.2 and I think I want to glass and paint the wings. I''m looking at using some sort of tissue instead of .7 fiberglass for a smoother, lighter finish. Any recommendations on tissue to use?

Thanx,

Don Ramsey has a great video out on CD about glassing wings. You may want to contact him.

Jim Sheffield

Do an "old School" finish technique. Use light weight silkspan and multiple coats of nitrate dope on sheeted surfaces lightly sanding between coats, let gas out a week or 10 days when finished then prime and paint like a glassed wing. Use same technique on the other sheeted surfaces for a completely painted finish. It''s much lighter than glass.

Hi Robbidos

Japanese working is translate on this link
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_68...tm.htm#6916537
Regards

I just built a V2.2 and I covered the fuse with lightweight silkspan instead of 'glass. I'm happy with the results and it saves about 2 oz. vs. the 'glass on the fuse alone (not counting paint + primer). By all means take your time and let the dope dry about a week (at least) before you prime it. You want to use Nitrate dope to attach the tissue NOT Butyrate. Nitrate dope shrinks less and bonds better to the wood and fiberglass (cowl). You can get Nitrate dope from Sig. It's not fuel proof - but you're going to apply paint on top of it so don't worry about that. You'll use a lot less primer than you would with glass because the silkspan is prety smooth. If you do it right, you may even end up lighter than a Monokote finish but you have to be REALLY good with the paint. Don't expect to see that with your first silkspan job although you might surprise yourself. Weigh everything as you progress so you can see where the weight comes from. That way you can try to do it better the next time.

John Pavlick
Team Black Magic

I'm going to use the Japanese tissue and nitrate dope from Sig Mfg for the wings and .7 fiberglass for the fuse. I found a number of sources for directions on doing it that way. I'll do some tests and probably try to put a thin strip of .7 fiberglass underneath the tissue on the leading edge of the wing to give it some strength that tissue won't have.

Cool - let us know how it turns out. FYI - I was warned that the silkspan wouldn't be as strong as fiberglass on the fuse and while it probably isn't, it IS more than adequate in my opinion. The surface gets pretty hard with the combination of nitrate dope and silkspan. It certainly is more robust than Monokote. I used really light contest grade wood on my plane and I'm sure if I just Monokoted it, it would be full of "hangar rash" dents in a few weeks. The main difference between the Japanese tissue and the silkspan as far as I know is the silkpsan is a little stronger and it goes around compound curves better. If I remember correctly, you apply Japanese tissue dry, whereas you apply silkspan wet. This allows it to conform to the surface really well. Post some pic's of your covering job as you progress. It sounds really interesting.

John Pavlick
Team Black Magic

I was shying away from silkspan because it supposedly shrinks a lot. It seems to be a lost art today as it seems there are few people using silkspan or tissue. I've always hated x-kote as a medium for covering planes. I purchased a Typhoon 2+2 from a friend and it is all glassed and painted and I like it. I've done fiberglass work with speaker boxes so lightening things up to do it on a plane seems pretty easy. Painting is the only thing that concerns me. Coming up with a design and implementing is seems daunting, but I have Troy Newman's help in that area. Should come out nice with his help.

I'll certainly post pics as I progress. I am keeping a diary w/pics and intend on posting a build thread when I am done. This is my first build without a step-by-step kit and I have learned alot of tricks from Troy. I'm just having fun building now. Probably will change in the middle of all the sanding I will have to do. :-)

I'd be concerned about the dope soaking through the balsa sheeting, and eating away at the foam core.

Tom

It will only eat the core if you have holes in the balsa, joins that aren't sealed etc. Lay a light coat of dope on first, before you get heavy.

You do have a sealed wing don't you?

Of course.

I think you'll really enjoy using tissue and dope. It's a pleasure to work with, especially after using iron-on plastic films. Here's my Super Kaos that I covered with tissue and sprayed with Brodak dope. Nothing fancy. The tissue almost completely covers the wood grain and requires very little primer to get a good painting surface. I'm glad to see you're giving this method a try.

David

Ha anyone adressed the issue of cost. I understand that a dope finish can be very expensive.

How about silkspan and dope for the base, then auto primer and epoxy pain for the finish?

Paul

A pint of dope costs about $13 but it will cover a lot more surface than one roll of Monokote. If you are only going to dope one plane it would be expensive because you'll end up buying more than you need for that single project. Over the course of three or four planes, though, it's not any more costly than iron-on film. In comparison, Klass Kote is over $20 a pint. I've been wanting to try epoxy paint. Is there a more affordable alternative to Klass Kote?

David

Pint of nitrate dope: $12
quart of thinner: $12.50
Japanese tissue: $30

All in all, not too bad.

Great looking aero there Dave, nice finish too!