News:



  • March 28, 2024, 02:19:59 PM

Login with username, password and session length

Author Topic: Removing heavy creases in silk  (Read 1617 times)

Offline Harold Brewer

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Lieutenant
  • ***
  • Posts: 117
Removing heavy creases in silk
« on: December 23, 2018, 12:57:52 PM »
     Getting ready to cover my rebuild VooDoo with silk.   Removed it from the package and fount it to have very heavy fold creases.  As I remember (many moons ago). the last time I ran into this, I had a lot of difficulty in covering.  What (if any) is a good way to eliminate the heave creases???

Regards,

Brew

Offline Tim Wescott

  • 2016 supporter
  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Admiral
  • *
  • Posts: 12804
Re: Removing heavy creases in silk
« Reply #1 on: December 23, 2018, 01:55:09 PM »
I'm absolutely positively just guessing here:

  • Let it soak for a good long time (I'd go at least an hour) then hang it out to dry.  Hope that the soaking has relaxed the fibers
  • Iron it -- maybe do a web search on ironing silk clothing first
  • Ask on Stunthanger.  Someone there will -- oh, wait.  Never mind

Good luck, merry Christmas, and don't throw your iron at me if you scorch your silk!
AMA 64232

The problem with electric is that once you get the smoke generator and sound system installed, the plane is too heavy.

Offline Fredvon4

  • 23 supporter
  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Admiral
  • *
  • Posts: 2099
  • Central Texas
Re: Removing heavy creases in silk
« Reply #2 on: December 23, 2018, 03:32:12 PM »
If Dharma China 5mm or 8mm silk

Cold or hot clear water rinse to remove any sizing chemicals

Pay strict attention to weave orientation shrinks 7% length wise and 1% chord wise...IMPORTANT

You can iron it flat IF DRY.....Ironing it wet or damp will pre shrink it

or take damp cloth and lay out on bath towels and pulling it taught as it drys most wrinkles relax and as you apply the WET silk they will relax and not be a problem

BUT yes   all  sharp folded over--- for mailing ---creases do need to be dealt with before application


"A good scare teaches more than good advice"

Fred von Gortler IV

Offline pmackenzie

  • Pat MacKenzie
  • 24 supporter
  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Captain
  • *
  • Posts: 765
Re: Removing heavy creases in silk
« Reply #3 on: December 23, 2018, 05:50:32 PM »


Pay strict attention to weave orientation shrinks 7% length wise and 1% chord wise...IMPORTANT



Any easy way to tell which is the 7% direction, and which is the 1%?
Presumably you want the 7% direction to be span-wise on a wing, or lengthwise on something like a fuse?

Thanks,

Pat MacKenzie
MAAC 8177

Offline curtis mattikow

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Lieutenant
  • ***
  • Posts: 105
Re: Removing heavy creases in silk
« Reply #4 on: December 23, 2018, 07:24:06 PM »
The sizing is there to keep the dope from soaking through, wash out the sizing and you will need a lot more dope to fill the weave.

The creases...cut the piece to size for your wing.  Crumple it up and run the crumpled ball under the water in the sink, just until it is wet, squeeze it out, and strech it over your framework and dope it down.  Silk should always be applied wet and crumpled into a ball(does not need to be tight) before applying.

Offline Chuck_Smith

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Captain
  • *****
  • Posts: 685
Re: Removing heavy creases in silk
« Reply #5 on: December 24, 2018, 05:00:00 AM »
I've used the following technique for decades, from Osaka silk to present:

Clean off a space on a smooth countertop. It needs to be spotless.

Cut the silk to the size needed while dry.

Lay it on the countertop (OK, I now use my building glass top)  and then use a wet paper towel to get the water to soak through and smooth it out on the countertop, Pat up an excess water and remove the silk. It should be wet all the way through now, not dripping but fully wetted. This will have removed any creases. If you encounter them at this point, just work them out with the paper towel before you remove it from the countertop. You'll feel the silk "relax" as you do this.

I prepare the structure with at least two coats of Lite-Coat thinned 50/50, sanding with 400 after each coat. The structure will now be waterproof and sealed and the wet silk will "stick" to it just like it does to the countertop. Pull out any wrinkles and 50/50 Lite-Coat through the wet silk over the wood - not any open areas - and then let the silk air dry.  I'll then put a couple coats of SuperCoat on the open bays to taughten, and then Lite-Coat for everything from then on.  I'll say that I believe the trick to easy covering is to have the surface properly prepared. The Lite-Coat you brush through he silk instantly reacts with the dope on the surface and the covering lays down and sticks perfectly.

I use exactly the same method for silkspan.

I'm sure there's lots of other great methods, but the above works for me.

Chuck
AMA 76478

Offline john e. holliday

  • 24 supporter
  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Admiral
  • *
  • Posts: 22752
Re: Removing heavy creases in silk
« Reply #6 on: December 24, 2018, 09:14:47 AM »
My self if I wanted a silk texture for a finish, especially clear over colored silk, I would do the following.  I would cover all flying surfaces with SLC(Super Light Covering from the Corehouse).  Once shrunk sand or buff surface to a dull texture.  Brush on the dope like you were going to do before you covered the wing with the SLC.   Now apply the silk as you would normally do starting on bottom of wing.  Don't dope the open bays until all the silk is in place.  The silk should be tight once it is dry.  Now you should have no problems of dope bubbling under the silk and it should take a lot less dope.  Just my way if I were to use silk.   But for cloth covering I use light weight jacket lining poly-ester cloth from the fabric store.   There is so many colors to choose from. D>K
John E. "DOC" Holliday
10421 West 56th Terrace
Shawnee, KANSAS  66203
AMA 23530  Have fun as I have and I am still breaking a record.

Offline Avaiojet

  • 22 supporter
  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Admiral
  • *
  • Posts: 7468
  • Just here for the fun of it also.
Re: Removing heavy creases in silk
« Reply #7 on: December 25, 2018, 06:47:32 AM »
I'm glad we all have our own way of doing things and Forum members are OK with this.

I use  silk from Dharma Trading Co. Exclusively.

Wash silk?

I've NEVER EVER washed any silk that I've applied on my models but I do cut my pieces and iron them using steam and ample heat to remove folds. I also draw an "ink line" near the CG to the tip, just for alignment.

Also keep in mind I no longer use dope to apply my silk, so I can pull it board tight and apply silk dry using CA. So even ironing isn't necessary either if silk is applied this way. Ask Dennis, he sees the light!  LL~

See the GBR-3 Build where I go over this technique at CFC Graphics vendor's corner.

DRY! CA! Oh my gosh! And it works! Two minutes and my GBR-3 wing top was ready for dope on the open bays.

Here's a metal straight edge from rib to rib on an open bay, no dope yet. Here's a model covered with silk dry using CA.

Keep in mind, all the words and tips/suggestions are fine, but you still have to do it yourself.
 
Experiment as I did and you will see the light! See the light!!  ;D
 
Especially on Christmas Day!

Nothing going until dinner tonight, so

I have tail feathers to my TEXACO 13 to sand. Progress photos today.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!


Trump Derangement Syndrome. TDS. 
Avaiojet Derangement Syndrome. ADS.
Amazing how ignorance can get in the way of the learning process.
If you're Trolled, you know you're doing something right.  Alpha Mike Foxtrot. "No one has ever made a difference by being like everyone else."  Marcus Cordeiro, The "Mark of Excellence," you will not be forgotten. "No amount of evidence will ever persuade an idiot."- Mark Twain. I look at the Forum as a place to contribute and make friends, some view it as a Realm where they could be King.   Proverb 11.9  "With his mouth the Godless destroys his neighbor..."  "Perhaps the greatest challenge in modeling is to build a competitive control line stunter that looks like a real airplane." David McCellan, 1980.

Offline Harold Brewer

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Lieutenant
  • ***
  • Posts: 117
Re: Removing heavy creases in silk
« Reply #8 on: December 30, 2018, 09:38:52 AM »
I read all of your comments and decided to start applying the silk as follows:

     1. Cut the silk to size for the wing panel.
     2. Placed the silk on a towel and ironed to remove the creases (actually works).
     3. Sprayed down the silk liberally using a spray bottle
     4. Let the silk set for a few minutes on the towel (towel absorbs the excess water).
     5. Placed wet silk on wing panel, removed all of the wrinkles and doped down with thinned clear.

Silk dried very tight and looks great.  Thanks for the advice, guys.

Regards,

Brew     H^^


Offline Fredvon4

  • 23 supporter
  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Admiral
  • *
  • Posts: 2099
  • Central Texas
Re: Removing heavy creases in silk
« Reply #9 on: December 30, 2018, 11:41:16 AM »
Just saw Pat asked a question about length and width

For most  lengths and widths to stay orientated you need to adjust the sizes you order so you know the length of the sample.. Never order one yard by 36" wide....you end up with a square and no way to feel or see how it came off the long 1000 yard bolt...one yard by 28 " or 42" is easy

But ordering 36" wide material always get 2 yards



"A good scare teaches more than good advice"

Fred von Gortler IV


Advertise Here
Tags:
 


Advertise Here