A few weeks ago, a pushrod broke in my glider,
and I didnt have any dowel or balsa long enough.
I was walking around a local swamp and noticed
how long and straight last year's cat-tail stems were.
I picked a handful and was amazed how light and
strong they are.
A coat of lacquer, and presto! one pushrod.
These could be used in model construction too.

Sounds like a plan.........

However, thinking about it, I'd suggest a slight modification. I think I'd use polyurethane. And make sure to soak it in. It'd then have a chance to bind all the fibers into a fairly permanent rod. Lacquer isn't necessarily going to add much structurally whereas the "plastic" should. Matter of fact, it does almost a fiberglassing job as a covering when polyurethane is used with glass cloth and even with silkspan.

Good find, btw.

Hi darock, thanks for that.... sikspan stuck to bare balsa with polyurethane?
Thats better than using dope?
I was going to use silkspan on a light gas model, but its a hand launch low-winger
with no landing gear, I'll be for-ever patching stubble punctures.
I found a sticky back shelving plastic from Walmart, made in Germany of all
places, 20 ft of it for 8 bucks, that heat shrinks well, will try that instead

Well, actually the silkspan on balsa with polyurethane is exactly that..... on balsa..... it doesn't do very good on open bays. But it is gangbusters on sheeted areas.

I used to do my solid sided gliders' fuselages with glass cloth to the front and SGM from there back. And would have sworn that the rear was as strong as the front. And the rear was a bit easier to sand smooth.

And btw....... I liked your idea so good, that this morning went down the creek looking for cat tails. Gotta admit that the trip was educational. Found out they don't grow around here and that copperheads are already out. And that I'm not as old as I thought and can run as fast as I ever did..... grin..... just not as far.........

Nah, just kidding.... I didn't run nowhere. 'Cause the copperhead beat me to it. Guess old guys must smell bad or something.

The shelf paper might be something like what some of the Chinese ARFs have on them. That stuff works ok.

If you have an accurate scale, if you'd be so kind as to measure out a piece and weigh it it'd surely be of value to know what it's oz/sq ft is. That way, we'd all benefit knowing where the best places to use it would be. If it's light enough, it could also work on the tail surfaces and being cheaper than monokote would be even better to use for most.

That covering material is called Contact-brand I found at Walmart
in the place where you find kitchen shelf covering.
Its like Mactac only much lighter, and has a variey of colors,
on the website www.contactbrand.com I found it, and its caled
Magic Cover there.

http://www.contactbrand.com/MC/mc_home_main.htm

I'm still working on proper iron temp. for application, but I'm
excited about the possibilities with this stuff.