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Building Tips and technical articles. => Building techniques => Topic started by: kevin king on March 08, 2023, 01:55:46 AM
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Does this look right? Seems to be worth the effort to lay the silkspan over the plans and make templates, tear off the black ink to eliminate any sharp edges on the silkspan, then do the silkspan over the top blocks.
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If I had plans for what I知 building now, I壇 probably try that. I知 draping the 壮pan and marking it with a pencil on the biplane I知 doing. I decided to use an Xacto to make straight lines on pieces where I think the sheet metal edges would be. Never done that before, so we値l see how it turns out. If I don稚 like it, I値l try to fill and blend the edges. But I like your idea.
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It didnt go as well as i thought. One side went on good, the other side had alot of wrinkles. Might be better to place the silkspan on dry, then dampen it with the windex after its in place. Ruined my day. HB~> Now i know why Windy at times like this had mellow classical music playing in the background.
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I have a question.
As far as I remember, I've always brushed on a coat of dope to the surface then immediately laid down the damp silkspan on top of it, pulled out the wrinkles, then brushed on another coat. Is that how its done? I was thinking it might be better to apply the damp silkspan on dope thats already dry to the touch, my feeling bieng it would be easier to work out the wrinkles if its only water holding it place. As opposed to laying the silkspan down on top of wet dope and sticking like fly paper.
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I have always used two coats of clear before silkspan. Coat 1 gets sanded to remove all of the fuzz. Coat 2 only lightly. Putting the silkspan on wet will raise the grain in the balsa so I like to minimize that. I put mine on barely damp and only dope the edges just like you would put on MonoKote. I let it dry which shrinks out the wrinkles then put on the coat of dope and rub it in. On the ship I am building I am going to put it on dry with Z-Poxy over bare wood. First time for this so I expect a disaster!
Ken
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I have a question.
As far as I remember, I've always brushed on a coat of dope to the surface then immediately laid down the damp silkspan on top of it, pulled out the wrinkles, then brushed on another coat. Is that how its done? I was thinking it might be better to apply the damp silkspan on dope thats already dry to the touch, my feeling bieng it would be easier to work out the wrinkles if its only water holding it place. As opposed to laying the silkspan down on top of wet dope and sticking like fly paper.
That's how I do it. Damp paper on dry dope. Then I stick it down with VERY THIN dope-almost all thinner. This soaks through the silkspan and softens the underlying dope for adhesion. To do a full fuselage there will be several pieces with overlaps. Once covered I apply a coat of dope at about 50-50 mix. The next day I carefully sand off the overlaps and any wrinkles before proceeding with building the finish. Try to allow a day or two between coats so the dope has a chance to gas off and shed weight before the next layer. This also makes warping less likely. You can lightly sand (400-600 grit) between coats being careful not to sand holes over the ribs on open bays.
Dave
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I will do the fuselage in sections. Normally, I do the bottom sheet, coming up the side a bit, then do the sides, and overlap the bottom piece a little. Same with the top. It is easier to do it in smaller sections due to surface geometry.
I apply at least one coat of clear to the bare wood, then sand lightly. If you try to put the silkspan on with no dope on the wood first, everything soaks in, and not much is left to stick the silkspan down. I will put the dry silkspan in place, spray with water, then dope thru the dampened silkspan, working the wrinkles out.
And, never cut the silkspan. Always tear it since that feathered edge is much easier to blend in and you never see the seams.
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Thank you all for sharing your methods with me. I appreciate it.
Kevin.
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I put the silk span on before inserting the wing, but nothing wrong with your method. May even try it. H^^ What ever works is not wrong. H^^
Assuming I get that far before I die of old age, the plane I'm working on (Brodak Legacy) has you finishing the fuselage assembly after the wings go in. So it's not always an option, at least not without some redesign.
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I put the silk span on before inserting the wing,
Me too, much easier to handle. y1
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WINDY GETS MOST OF HIS PARTS PAINTED UP TO SILVER THEN ASSEMBLES THE PARTS
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WINDY GETS MOST OF HIS PARTS PAINTED UP TO SILVER THEN ASSEMBLES THE PARTS
Painting the parts up to silver is also the way i do it to, This Vector 40 was the exception. Because the wing was not built on a jig, i had outside help to straighten it. While we were there we used his method of assy before paint. And there u have it.
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I have a question.
As far as I remember, I've always brushed on a coat of dope to the surface then immediately laid down the damp silkspan on top of it, pulled out the wrinkles, then brushed on another coat. Is that how its done? I was thinking it might be better to apply the damp silkspan on dope thats already dry to the touch, my feeling bieng it would be easier to work out the wrinkles if its only water holding it place. As opposed to laying the silkspan down on top of wet dope and sticking like fly paper.
Whatever its worth from me, thats how Ive always done it. Dope, damp silkspan, lay it down, smooth it out, then another coat of thinned 50/50 dope (the idea being that it might permeate the covering better to get to the undercoat. Dont know if it really helps or not)
Gary
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1/2 ounce fiberglass is so much easier.
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1/2 ounce fiberglass is so much easier.
easy indeed! but so much heavier...
good for radio control models unfortunately
a lot of weight for F2B
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In the past, I used lite silkspan strips applied damp, so it would stick.until doped down.
THEN I discovered carbon veil! Much easier, lighter, no wrinkles, sticks like crazy, overlaps don't show, etc. etc.