Hi Keith,
Both models are finished Randolph and Certified dopes. Open bay wings are covered with carbon veil on sheeted surfaces and with Polyspan on the open bay portions. This is applied with either Randolph butyrate or Nitrate, depending on what we have in our stock. Nitrate seems to adhere the carbon and polyspan a little better. After heat shrinking the Polyspan, a couple coats of Sig Supercoat (tautening butyrate) are applied to the open bays. From then on Randolph non-tautening is used in the build-up of the substrate. All colors are either stock Randolph or acrylic pigments from the auto paint store mixed with Randolph clear.
Last October when I was down at the Golden State contest in Madera, California, my old buddy Gord Delaney and I were talking finishing and I was complaining about Randolph clear yellowing after spending a season out in the sun. He suggested that I try using Certified non tautening clear for the clear coats. Chris and I bought a gallon and I am completely sold on it. From now on I will only use Certified for all my clear dope needs. Dries faster, harder and actually lays on better with the spray gun. A little more expensive than Randolph but is a lot higher in solids. Comes out of the can like honey so it requires significant thinning for our needs. In short, we had to thin about 75% thinner to paint so a gallon goes a long way. People are always asking about what thinner to use on dope. We are lucky here in Canada, as Home Depot here in the Great White North, carries a Canadian made lacquer thinner that works with all kinds of dope and costs a lot less than half of what Randolph thinner does.
My model has been in the air. I took it out one day this week and flew 2 short 1.5 minute flights to check lap time and make sure wings were level, tip weight was about right, CG was close and how it turned. I put in a fresh battery and changed the timer to 5:20 flight time and flew the full pattern on it's first full flight. It flies great and is really close to being ready for contest work. Weights are a little high for us. We were both hoping to be around 66-67 oz but with the take apart structures, we are both in the high 60oz range. I am already starting a new stab/elev. assembly to reduce weight in the tail so I can use the 1oz. lighter AXI motor. I figure I can reduce overall weight by about 2oz. which would make me happy. Chris is also thinking a new tail on his and it hasn't been in the air yet.
Alan