I know this is probably a old question but, i was talking with a fellow at the hobby shop and he said one way to cut down on weight was to use white glue and thin with water. Will this work? He said after glue dries and you cove with silkspan the piece will be strong and safe. Sounds iffy to me. Thanks Ron.

Elmer's white glue works fine on some things. You can thin it with water. The real trick is to dab water on the joint and then put the glue on. When the water evaporates the joint gets tighter. White glue is not fuel proof or all that sand-able.

I have used thinned down Titebond like dope putting silkspan on and used it as a first coat over the whole airplane.  I can't say about the weight.  It is sandable if you don't put pressure on.  It gives a very hard surface and smooths down pretty good.  You can do it in the kitchen where you cannot do dope.  Later, dope goes on just fine.

I did a little test. I measured out 2oz. white glue ann teaspoon of water and mixed. Glued a piece of 1/4 x 1/4 to a 1/166th sheet weighted it down for 24 hrs. Spread the mix on both surfaces with a Q-tip. When checked it almost fell apart. Was my mix or application or me at fault. Ron

For light building, Ambroinds, Duco, Sigment and such are the lightest.  They evaporate the carrier and only the acetate (or what ever the company dissolved to make it) is left.  You do need to "double glue" Ambroids and such for strength.  I put a coat on one of the pieces, put them together and pull them right back apart.  this leaves a film that soacks into the "joint".  As soon as it has set, I apply the glue again, and assemble the parts.  I have a 43 year old Smoothie that was built this way and when I recently "reworked" it, the glue joints were still solid.

White glue like Elmer's Glue All is next in the weight line since Pica's Gluit is no longer available.

Epoxy and CYA are the heaviest glues we use normally.

This is an update to my earlier plug for PICA Glu-It.

I emailed Dave Platt, the founder of PICA, regarding an alternative source, or even the manufacturer of, Glu-It. His response was a rather terse, "It's not available any more. I prefer Titebond."

As there were no modifiers (II or III), I presume he refers to the original formula Titebond.

If anyone else knows of a source, I'd really appreciate knowing who offers it. I've spent literally hours searching the www.