Mein Duff

Hey guys,
I have been struggling the last few days to get a an acceptable result for rib stitch covering with frayed edges as seen on the original SE5 at Old Warden England.
So far I have tried using Solartex which would be excellent, except it's virtually impossible to pull the strands of fabric loose from the egdes...can be done but would take weeks.
I went to the local fabric store and picked up some fine weave cloth but found it needed about 4 coats of paint or varnish to fill the pours to get the close fine knit sheen I am trying to obtain...It also puffed up the fabric somewhat so that I loose the tight sheen effect ...ends up looking too rough and bulky after 4 coats of paint, even with sanding light inbetween.
I have some silk I have been playing with but it's too fine and very difficult to handle...never mind trying to rip it...ends up being a frayed mess so far..

It would be great if I could just use "Pink It" type system but the SE5 original was before this technique was used...this model is for scale competition.

Any tips or help would be appreciated !!

abufletcher

Eric, I think the answer depends on the scale. At scales like 1/6 and maybe even 1/4, these individual threads would be virtually invisible. So at these scales I would say that the effect of torn solartex does the job perfectly. This is what I did on my Snipe. At larger scales (1/3?) you're still only talking about these frayed edges being at most 1/8" wide. But maybe they would be visible as lines on the sides of the reinforcement tapes (as in your photo). In this case, it might be possible to simulate the lines by rolling some sort of tool through a strip of glue or something like that.

But have you tried the torn solartex trick? I think it looks great and would definitely use it up to 1/4 scale.

(PS. I'm ashamed to admit it, but I'm not even doing rib-stitching, on my SE5a "quick-built" )

TFF

I have tried it with Koverall and it was a mess too. I think my next try, I am going to use silk but with this first. I am going to make a frame and mount the fabric, shrink and then doped. Then I am going to slice it and then fray it, and then apply it with dope. Should melt in. Something is going to have to bind the fabric some to keep it from over fraying.

abufletcher

How wide would you estimate these frayed edges to be on the original? I'd say not much more than about 1/4 inch. So that would be 1/16" or so at 1/4 scale. Anyway, maybe the effect could be faked by "marring" the edges of the doped surface with something like a small wire brush.

vogel605

Hey Eric,
Try the Stits tapes from F&M they will fray easily and with a little finesse I think you will be able to achieve what your looking for.

Barry

abufletcher

Does anyone have a photo of the rib stitching on a model, where this fraying has been successfully accomplished?

ARUP

Look at John Cole's Proctor Jenny build on RCScalebuilder. He had done frayed edge tapes on it.

Mein Duff

Thanks for the thoughts and tips guys,
Don, on the original SE5 (at least the one at Old Warden) the width was substantial, but I will have to scale it up see exactly, probably between 3/4 and 1 Inch on the full size, the width varies on individual pieces but I will settle on an eyeball average.
I friend of mine here in Cal. did a nice job on his 1/4 Nieuport 28 with frayed edging but he's out of town at present, yes I could replicate this effect by pressing a textured wheel in thick paint I suppose, but know I would be disappointed at not seeing the real thing up close...( but that's just anal me[:'(])
The thing with this SE5 is how delicate the surface texture is with the fine sheen,the edge fluff from the stitching protruding, the danger of flooding it when spray painting could ruin it. BTW: I have just received my Warbird Colors paints and first test look fabulous the dark green match is perfect.

I will get info from the Nieuport 28 guy as well as checking out Stits & K&M, thanks Bary !

I will also check out John Coles build thread on his Jenny.

I will post a few pics when I get it nailed down....keep em flyin High !

Mein Duff

BTW: where can I get dope to try out?
even though it's plentiful here in Cal. it's not the type I need[>:]

abufletcher

What type do you need? Doesn't Aircraft Spruce have all types of dope?

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/

abufletcher

What amazes me is how MUCH surface detail there is, of various types, on the SE5. If the modeler goes all out, as you are doing, it's every bit as challenging as a WWII model with its panel lines and 20,000 rivets.

And, yeah, if the frayed edges are 1" on the original you'd absolutely have to simulate it on a 1/4 scale model. I might experiment with a silk strip doped in the middle, then frayed on the edges. This could be laid down under the (narrower) rib reinforcement tapes.

abufletcher

More and more I'm eager to move up to 1/4 scale so that I can get into this level of detail!