The Pepsi Challenge for Covering Balsa with LS
 

After much curiosity in the warbird forum I have started this thread to investigate the use of an alternative covering product/procedure.

Liquid Sheeting sold by WOWplanes.com is what started it all. This product is a 2 part solution that allows you to cover a surface (in this case balsa) and paint it with any paint you wish.
Many have said its just repackaged Stryo Spray.

So with all this background information. I am going to perform the test. I have ordered both products as you can see from the photo. First I will apply both products to a plank of sheeting and run some basic stress tests on it. After that I have an ARC topflite p47 if the tests go well I will use the product that performs the best or neither if it’s a bust.
The reason for the comparison is to
A. See what the product really is
1. Is it really secret sauce or just a repackaged existing product
B. Test easy of application and use
C. Test Durability
D. Test how much product is required to cover a GS warbird

Many may believe this is about WOWplanes price point for the product, but it isn’t. WOWplanes sells their covering product for $20 for 8oz and styro spray sells for $29 a quart. So is sounds like WOWplanes may be expensive for the amount you get. All things being equal that may be a more the fair price point. Once open this stuff has a very short shelf life. So if you open 8 oz and can cover a GS scale warbird with very little left over you may save your self money. If you purchase a quart and it only takes 8 oz that’s a lot of waste.

This is not intended to make anyone look bad I just want to know the whys and why fors of this product so when someone asks I can tell the truth because of experience.
Bottom line is if this stuff works as advertised I will never put glass cloth on another airplane again.
Stay tuned guys

RE: The Pepsi Challenge for Covering Balsa with LS
 

Will be watching your progress, Thank you for doing this! :D

RE: The Pepsi Challenge for Covering Balsa with LS
 

subscribed...

RE: The Pepsi Challenge for Covering Balsa with LS
 

This will be good. No more guessing.

RE: The Pepsi Challenge for Covering Balsa with LS
 

subscribed~~
cant wait to find out

RE: The Pepsi Challenge for Covering Balsa with LS
 

Subscribed

RE: The Pepsi Challenge for Covering Balsa with LS
 

Subscribed and working on my TF Spitfire :D to be covered with ... We'll see the results of this test.

RE: The Pepsi Challenge for Covering Balsa with LS
 

ok guys test number 1 i got the styro spray in and grabed a plank of 1/8 which is what i would sheet a wing with. I have 2 planks of 1/8 in the photo one is unsanded the other is sanded. Mixed this stuff up 50/50 and 4 table spoons was way more then i needed to do this

RE: The Pepsi Challenge for Covering Balsa with LS
 

All right let the test begin. I just received an email from David and I`m about to order 2 qts. God knows if this stuff is as good as glassing , I`ll be a new styrocoat brushing fool. [8D]You have no idea how much I hate glassing,, fill, sand, prime, fill, sand,fill, prime,fill, AHHHHHH [:@]

_____________________________

RE: The Pepsi Challenge for Covering Balsa with LS
 

Just wait till you see how its packed. I wont spoil the surprise.

I know this may be a bit over board but heres a video on how it was done tonight.

www.wyliewarbirds.com/video/ls/styrospray.wmv

RE: The Pepsi Challenge for Covering Balsa with LS
 

After about 45 minutes I put a second coat on the planks. After that I checked back on the stuff about an hour and half latter. As advertised it was dry to touch but still very flexible like latex paint. This morning I got up and checked it out. Completely dry from what I can tell and very smooth finish.
While I’m waiting on the LS product to arrive from WOWplanes I’m going to try the following things.
1. Apply the product with a non foam brush
2. Allow the applied product to sit for 24 hour 48 hours and then 7 days and sand
3. Paint with good old rattle can paint (I usually use latex on my warbirds)


Here are the photos of the sanded and non sanded planks from this morning after 2 coats. By the way a little goes a very long way.

RE: The Pepsi Challenge for Covering Balsa with LS
 

Are you an engineer by trade? http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/js/f...sn/biggrin.gif

- Brian

RE: The Pepsi Challenge for Covering Balsa with LS
 

"Are you an engineer by trade?"

It does sound like a well controlled experiment. Days of old.

Les

RE: The Pepsi Challenge for Covering Balsa with LS
 

It's not a covering, it's an adhesive. apparently.
How much weight does it add, relative to not using it and just covering with Monokote?

RE: The Pepsi Challenge for Covering Balsa with LS
 

Very good question I should have weighed the plank but I didn’t. I couldn’t wait so I did sand part of the plank after about 6 hours with 320 dry and sanded off fine and smooth no problem.

Because I just can’t sit on my hands I am doing another plank this time I am thinning the product with denatured alcohol and rolling it on with a foam roller. That seems to work well in 45 minutes I will add a 2nd coat and wait and see.

This plank was sanded with 320 and its dry weight was 26 grams.

RE: The Pepsi Challenge for Covering Balsa with LS
 

Hmm, to me even if it adds 12 ozs to a giant scale bird would not matter non.:D

RE: The Pepsi Challenge for Covering Balsa with LS
 

I dont worry about weight on the GS warbirds but its a valid question. Folks might be using this where weight matters. Well i just checked on the plank i used a roller on with the thinned down product. Because it was sanded i think 1 cost is all its going to need. WOOO HOOO i love it when stuff just works. I am starting to get excited about this method.

RE: The Pepsi Challenge for Covering Balsa with LS
 

Iam really liking the fact that you are doing this thread and in the format that you are. Ihad purchased the Styrospray this past summer to use on a large plane but held off. And now, it is too cold. I did a massive amount of googling one day to track down the product name.

I tried it on some thin blue foam sheet that the electric guys use to cut out their planes. It was amazing how it flowed and filled the foam surface to a smooth finish. It warped the foam. But it is the kind of foam that warps when plane is sitting on the picnic table at the field. It was not a good application. The main thing that I discovered in my test was not to try to smooth it out by continually brushing it. It will get lumpy since it is already starting to set up. The best is to just brush it on with a few strokes and watch it flow out even and smooth on its own.

As an added item, can you start calculating sqare inches when you finish the application and weigh the item?

RE: The Pepsi Challenge for Covering Balsa with LS
 

I hope these videos are getting annoying but I thought it would be better than just photos. This video is of the thinned product and roller application. Also please note the measurment used was 1 table spoon of part A & part B. I keep saying teaspoon sorry about that. I really like how it works this way. The new plank is dry enough to handle and I weight it with 2 coats on it and its .48 grams dry weight was .26 grams. The size of the plank is 18inches long and 3 inches wide. On the other thread I thought I read this stuff warps the wood. I have not had this happen yet.

http://www.wyliewarbirds.com/video/l...experiment.wmv

RE: The Pepsi Challenge for Covering Balsa with LS
 

you might try it on a 1/16th sheet to see if it warps

RE: The Pepsi Challenge for Covering Balsa with LS
 

Here are some upclose photos of the sheet from today.

RE: The Pepsi Challenge for Covering Balsa with LS
 

"BalsaKote" used to be available here in CA.
I believe it fell afoul of some environmental regulations, like 3M 77 spray did.
It worked well with adhesiveless films.

RE: The Pepsi Challenge for Covering Balsa with LS
 

your mean .48 & .26 ounces, not grams right? or is the 48 & 26 grams??

RE: The Pepsi Challenge for Covering Balsa with LS
 

sweet. I think I just found my alternitive to glassing. just waiting to see if it will warp the thin balsa sheet, doubt it will
I appreciate very much your effort and making this thread.

RE: The Pepsi Challenge for Covering Balsa with LS
 

Can I suggest that you make a couple of stress risers in your test pieces- put in a couple of glue joints both parrellel and perpindicular to the grain so that you can do some flexure testing to see if it cracks over the joints. I used to paint my quickie 500 racers and tried several things to seal them up- the best thing ended up being mod podge thinned out a little bit with water. It held up great- you should try a couple test pieces with it..