The July/August Sport Rocketry article 'Igniter Building Seminar' calls for Nitrate clear aircraft dope. Is that the same thing as Aerogloss fuelproof clear aircraft dope? A lady at our local hobby store said that 'it must be', even though the word nitrate doesn't appear on the label anywhere. When I asked why it must be the same, she said 'because that's the only kind we've ever sold'! Anyway, if it's not the same, where can I get this stuff? TIA.
---Mick
No, it's not. If it doesn't say NITRATE, then it's not nitrate. Most dope used for model airplanes is Butyrate "hot fuel proof". It's NOT what you want for conductive primer. You can get real Nitrate from SIG, or perhaps from the local airport, as it's still used on real cloth covered aircraft. You can also find it in a GOOD hobby shop and avoid the HAZMAT shipping (try one that has Free Flight supplies). I still use it on all my BGs when I tissue them. You can use Nitrate UNDER other dope or epoxy finishes, but NOT on top of them.
Contact the EAA (expermental aircraft association) to find a chapter near you. If you live near a general avaition airport you might find someone rebuilding an old airplane in a hanger there who might give you some leftover dope from a repair (look for someone rebuilding an old Steerman Biplane).
SIG, or a good hobby shop is an easier source.
BTW, not far from the sod farm NIRA used to fly from is DACY airport, where the Dacy family flies several Steermans. (Stearmans?)
In a lousy attempt to hijack this thread, I finally had a free weekend and flew three C-BG's that had been sitting in a Houston garage for three years. For those of you who may not know, Bob is very fond of Houston heat and humidity. Nekked balsa wings will warp simply watching them down here. These three particular BGs had larger wings with various tissue but doped. All of them held their trim pretty much the way I remember them last flying -- One thermalled away. The prettiest one too. Dammit.... :-)
Nitrate dope -- Good stuff... The thoughts of simply dunking gliders into a five gallon bucket of nitrate dope is intriguing...
But were there any fire ants? ;-)
Nope... The fireants have been pretty much eradicated from the field. They did pull a 4 foot alligator out of the creek running through the field!
Oh, a baby! ;-)
I hope I get to Houston this fall for some flying. It's been too long!
A good RC Plane hobby shop will probably have a little bit of Nitrate Dope in stock, or can order it. But, as others have said, AeroGloss is definitely Butrate, not Nitrate.
The brand I used to use was Broderick, but I didn't see them listed at any hobby shop URLs just now. If the bottle says anything about "hot fuel proof", it is Butrate. The reason that most shops don't carry much Nitrate, is that it dissolves when exposed to alcohol / nitromethane based fuels.
If you try to borrow a bit from someone who works with full size airplanes, not models, you also need to borrow enough thinner to cut it down at least 50%. The full strength stuff has "lots" of disolved solids and will tend to shrink to the point that it distorts ignitors. Thin it till it's just a little bit thicker than water. An ounce or two of thinned dope will make many, many ignitors. You don't want much on hand, it doesn't store well.
Be very careful with it, the fumes are very flamable, more so than gasoline and the dope itself will burn easily, even when dry. That's why it makes such a good binder for ignitors.
Bob
I don't think its Butrate anymore, Formulas changed when RPM closed out the Pactra line to Testors, and there was another chemistry change about 10 years before that, when the Thinner was still in the dark brown bottles
I think Aerogloss is some kind of Acrylic Lacquer now, hadn't been Butyrate for a long time.
** mike **PolyTech Forum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.