Cloth Hinges

[Mike Griffin]

I know I am a dinosaur when it comes to this but I use Dacron cloth hinges and probably always will.  In the past I found that Nitrate Dope was really great to apply the hinges but now I am not using dope so much anymore and I was wondering if any of you use glue to attach cloth hinges and if you do, what have you found that does a good job.

Thank you in advance

Mike

[Hoss Cain]

Excellent question. Have not even thought about it for years. I would have used Testor's or Sig cement if I had done so.
For years I had a bundle of 4 X 12 sheets of a stuff that those slim paper-like hinges, very strong material that I made all my hinges from. I'm out now and my source has long retired to other areas.
Current plastic hinges are too easy to worry about cloth over and under, but shucks, maybe it ain't. Thanks for the idea!
Cement or thick CA  it will be.

[Glenn (Gravitywell) Reach]

I still use cloth hinges and I use yellow glue to glue them on.  I put some on the spot where it goes, then place the hinge and rub it to "serat" it.  Then I put some on the top of the hinge and use my finger to again rub the glue in and smooth it out.  I've done this for years and never had one come loose.  A lite sanding when dry smooths out all the threads that life.

[Bootlegger]

  I still install mine with dope.

[john e. holliday]

SIG  Sigment is what I use now if I don't do the dope routine.  It doesn't bleed thru like Ambroid does with some finishes.

[Dennis Saydak]

I'm with Doc. I've used Sigment for years to apply cloth hinges. For a really neat job run a strip of masking tape parallel to the hinge line before pregluing the balsa. After the hinges are glued on use a razor blade to lightly cut through the hinge material along the tape line. When you remove the tape you have a perfectly straight & neat hinging job.

[Gerald Arana]

I use "Ducco" 

[Ward Van Duzer]

Hoss,

Thin, strong cloth for hinges can be had from Tom Morris. He may even have some precut...

Ward

[Hoss Cain]

Hoss,
Thin, strong cloth for hinges can be had from Tom Morris. He may even have some precut...
Ward

Ward, Thanks very much but cloth is not what I was talking about. My real good friend since about 1970, now in the Scottsdale area of AZ has a brother in AR. The brother worked in a company that produced a super thin, very tough paper-like material and two layers together with a super tough plastic layer between the layers made excellent hinge materials. Some ARFs picked up on that material and there were a couple state-side produced cut hinges in the pkgs for H-Shops some years ago. Since the mid-'90s there is almost nothing like it once was.  WOW! I just remembered I still have a fair size roll of pinking tape used for fabric covering tail surfaces that I LIBERATED from some USAF maintenance shop back around 1960. Gotta' go look fer it!!   
Thanks much Ward for the help, which just pushed my dementia aside a bit. 

[Bill Little]

Hi Mike,

I use Sigment when I do not use Nitrate.  If I am out of Sigment I use Duco.  If you can find the Testors "Glue for wood models" it works about the same.  Apply it to the wood, put on the cloth than apply another coat over the cloth and rub it in.

I always dope the cloth before I cut it to help keep it from unraveling.
Bill

[Clancy Arnold]

This same question was asked on the Ringmaster Forum so here is my answer again.

I have used cloth hinges on many models. My technique is to use an aliphatic resin wood glue and apply it to the wood and then place the fabric on top of the glue and squeeze the glue up through the fabric. I watch that the glue does not get closer than 1/8 inch to the edge of the wood. That way the fabric is flexible at the actual hinge area. I start by rounding the mating edges to be hinged. Then I install them in pairs so they will actually allow the two parts to roll around each other maintaining a near gap less hinge line. To hide the hinges you can recess the fabric into the wood the thickness of the fabric then use a filler over the fabric to blend the surfaces ready to finish. Again do not get any filler on the last 1/8 inch of the fabric on both sides as you want that part of the fabric hinge as flexible as possible.

For even better hiding I select the color of the satin ribbon used to match the finish color of the model.
Clancy

[Randy Cuberly]

Hi Mike,
What Bill Little said.

Sigment or Duco.  Both under hinge and over hinge to fill cloth.  Rub it in good...makes a nice second skin on your fingers to chew off later while you're waiting for it to dry. 

Ambroid works but is a bad color and can bleed through dope later...Go figure???

Randy Cuberly

[Mike Griffin]

Thank you all for the input.  Like I said I have always used dope but I am getting away from dope and using polycrylic on the solid surfaces now and it works great.  Hoss, I will offer a suggestion for a source for cloth hinges too.  As was mentioned you can buy them precut from Tom but he uses the ultra lite dacron from aircraft spruce.  I did what Tom did, I ordered a couple of yards of it and  cut it into strips and it is enough for a lifetime supply.

Thanks much guys

Mike