Polyspan / white glue

[peabody]

There is a piece in MA about covering with silkspan and Polyspan....the author suggests sanding, then sealing with dope, then painting white glue and letting that dry.
He says that the glue will be heat activated when affixing polyspan...
Has anyone tried this? Seems simple.

Thanks

Have fun!

[Randy Ryan]

It does work Rich. It also works for fuselage doublers, wing sheeting, ect. Years ago when we discovered that white glue sometimes sealed itself in the joint and didn't dry. So I tried coating ply and balsa with thin coats of white glue and let them dry. I put them together and with an iron on it's hottest setting I heated the ply moving over the entire surface until I could see some movement of the glue along the edges. I then weighted it with a flat board and bricks and let it cool. Then I dissected it, the joint was full and strong. I used that method a number of times over the years though with the patience of age I now use epoxy. Back then I could have both sides glued and on in about an hour because the white glue dried quickly being completely open. Not sure all white glues are created equal though, my experience was with Elmer's.

[badbill]

Sounds like a great alternative to balsarite or stix-it, either of which I find to be hell to work with. I really like the Coverlite covering, I will use it a lot more often if I can use white glue!

[John Park]

I've never tried this for covering, but I've done it many times with 1/32" ply fuselage doublers and it works well.  On a historical note, this was a technique used in the old days by cabinet-makers for applying veneer: the glue was of course good old-fashioned animal glue from a cast-iron glue-pot that was kept hot on a stove (it had an outer container full of boiling water).  The stove was also needed for heating the flat-iron!

Regards
John

[Gerald Arana]

It does work Rich. It also works for fuselage doublers, wing sheeting, ect. Years ago when we discovered that white glue sometimes sealed itself in the joint and didn't dry. So I tried coating ply and balsa with thin coats of white glue and let them dry. I put them together and with an iron on it's hottest setting I heated the ply moving over the entire surface until I could see some movement of the glue along the edges. I then weighted it with a flat board and bricks and let it cool. Then I dissected it, the joint was full and strong. I used that method a number of times over the years though with the patience of age I now use epoxy. Back then I could have both sides glued and on in about an hour because the white glue dried quickly being completely open. Not sure all white glues are created equal though, my experience was with Elmer's.

I do this with aliphatic resin too. (Carpenters glue) Works great.

Jerry

[Dane Martin]

I do this with aliphatic resin too. (Carpenters glue) Works great.

Jerry

Yep. That's how i did the covering on my little 1/2a Cropduster. Titebond thinned out a little with water.

[john e. holliday]

Hey I learned this years ago about the sheeting from reading an RC article of all things in Model Aviation.  Learned about the poly-span and white glue by accident, but didn't tell any body so I wouldn't be put down

[Tim Wescott]

Hobby Lobby (the airplane people, whose new name is http://www.hobbyexpress.com) used to sell stuff they called "Polyspan" along with "Balsa Loc".  I'm pretty sure that the Polyspan really was Polyspan.  The Balsa Loc was basically white glue in a jar -- it looked and smelled the same.  The process is as described here.  It works well.

They did have you sealing the edges in a way that leaves a bit of glue oozing out the seam -- I'm not sure if that'd cause adhesion problems or not.