Was wondering if anyone uses polyspan for covering 1/2 A or is it too heavy.  Pretty sure silk would be and silk span is just too easily damaged.  Last 1/2 A I used Dave Brown's Sky Loft.  First and last for that.  Took about 8 coats to seal and then it wasn't the best, I just stopped.  Holes / fibers are huge.  Really didn't affect the weight per say, just too much work.  1/2 A's are suppose to be built quick.  (Profiles anyway)  Plastic coverings are a pain with all the little nooks and crannies and if you paint the fuse, you have some match line that usually looks just like that.  Would prefer to paint the whole thing.  BTW, have never used polyspan but from what I have read, seems pretty straight foward and strong.

Thanks,

John

Silk is not too heavy! Cover first with the free flight guys very thin mylar. I use thinned down impact adhesive on the balsa, then cover and iron on. Place silk on top and a light coat of dope (thinned at least 50-50%). Then fuelproof to taste. This mylar/ silk/ dope finish is lighter than doped silk (you don't need lots of coats of dope to make the silk airtight, the mylar does that for you!).

Regards,

Andrew.

I still use silkspan.

George

I have heard that tissue over mylar works, also, but I haven't tried it.

I used Ultracote Lite Transparent (Hanger 9) on this Baby Ringmaster and it came out fine. Easy to control the shrink and tough stuff.

Thanks Kenneth,

The Baby Ringmaster was built from a Pat King kit (patdk@aol.com) and can be built either as an electric or as a glow powered model. I thought that the transparent film would make a nice looking plane.

I have no idea about the availability of "Solarfilm" products over your side of the pond http://www.solarfilm.co.uk/ but one of the products they do is called "Litespan", It's a lightweight synthetic fibre tissue , fully fuel proof and only around 30gsm, I've used it on models up to Ringmaster size, It's certainly very lightweight and extremely puncture proof. They also do another product called "Airspan" which is a few gsm lighter but is not fuel proof so needs a light coat of fuel proofer to seal it. I'm sure there are comparable products from other manufacturers but having some experiences with "Litespan" I can recommend it. It has no adhesive so use Balasloc or similar to apply.

TTFN
John.