Covering with Silkspan

I tried this with a piece of silk and a simple test frame of balsa, in a nutshell it didn't work. Not much adhereance between the wood and material. Granted I was using silk which did not abosrb the Polyurethane, but by the same token it does not absorb dope either. My feeling is that the poly is just to thin to work with and you really need something much thicker to get a good seal between the covering and the balsa surface.

Roy Minut minut at cox dot net

Looking in some other news groups there was a chap from England that is using varathane to cover hsi flying machine with. ALthough it was mentioned that varathane dries very hard which seems that it could be a problem as it wouldn't have any give.

Roy Minut minut at cox dot net

Go to:

These guys are experts with silkspan.

Phil AMA609

One item that the rubber modelers use a lot of for attaching tissue and silkspan papers, (never tried on it on silk) is the paper glue that is clear and comes in tubes. Mine is just labeled "glue pen". It's easy clean up afterwards and kids use it in craft classes. Find it at office supply, Walmart, and my favorite, the $ stores. (;-))< Some of the smaller rubber models never get any dope, just water shrink, which wrinkles on damp days. For me there always seems to be a day to get out and spray a coat or two of clear dope on a model and avoid the smell. Another item often overlooked is the Preval Sprayer usually available at Lowe's or other paint suppliers. About $5 for a complete set, and you can spray a number of coats of thin dope on a model of 40" or less. I use them for even big gas burners, as the clean-up is so much less effort than a spray-gun. Just sprayed a 80" job and have enough gas in the cylinder to do another coat. A number of years ago I tried polyurethane on a silk job, (72" Class C Free Flight own design) and within a month the silk was just too brittle to handle. Had to peel -- the stuff was STUCK -- and recover. My story and I'm sticking to it. !!

Horrace

Horrace and all --

Concur on the handiness of using the Preval system. You can also find the sets, extra jars, and pressure canisters at most good auto paint & body supply stores,

Lyman