Issues with SIG dope delivery

[Chuck_Smith]

Ordered dope on 11/4. To their credit they called and said it was out of stock and would be in within two weeks, so I kept order open. I've contacted them twice since and still no ETA.

Has anyone used Brodak over Sig?

Chuck

[Dave_Trible]

I've been using Randolph and Certified from Aircraft Spruce-quite a bit cheaper too. 

Dave

[Avaiojet]

Ordered dope on 11/4. To their credit they called and said it was out of stock and would be in within two weeks, so I kept order open. I've contacted them twice since and still no ETA.

Has anyone used Brodak over Sig?

Chuck

Clear or color?

[Angelo Smyth]

I'm having issues with SIG dope as well as C-Grain balsa wood delivery (open order since 04 Sept). They say they suffered a major fire at their facility.....

[Harold Brewer]

Angelo -

     I have had the same problem with SIG dopes (both clear and color) for most of this year.  I have finally given up and gone to Randolph dopes.  I placed an order for butyrate and nitrate clear on Monday and received the order yesterday. 

Best regards,

Harold Brewer

[Roy DeCamara]

Chuck  A year ago during November SIG had a black Friday sale and I sent in an order using the website.  Just as you did, I also received a notice that some of my order was out of stock.  I had ordered enough to get "free shipping".  They wanted to know if I wanted them to ship what they had and the rest later.  I asked if I would have to pay shipping on the back order stuff.  They said yes.  I told them to wait and ship the entire order.  Towards the end of last January, they still had not shipped anything.  I had the need to drive over to orange county, so I called Aircraft Spruce and ordered a good supply of dope.  They had everything I wanted and put the order in will-call.  I picked it up on my way over to Costa Mesa.  I called SIG and cancelled my order and asked for my account to be credited back.  This they did.  They are not a very reliable company to do business.  Aircraft Spruce will ship and the service is excellent.  They are a full scale aviation supplier and welcome model builders.  For what it worth..........................Roy DeCamara  Tucson, Arizona.

 

[wwwarbird]

 Other than clear for work during the early finishing stages (covering work etc.) I haven't used SIG for years. Actually, since running out of my supply of SIG clear a few years ago, I don't even use it anymore. Went to Brodak (Randolph) a long time ago for everything and haven't looked back. No complaints with SIG clear but as far as any color dope goes the Brodak stuff is a vastly superior product IMO.

[wwwarbird]

One thing I saw was the RANDOLPH 9701 CLEAR BUTYRATE TAUTENING DOPE says not for use on heat shrunk synthetic fabric. That's polyspan right?

Motorman

 No problem, go for it.

[Chuck_Smith]

It's a bummer because my system has been to use Sig Lite Coat to prep and apply covering, a couple coats of Supercoat over open bays to shrink it and then Lite-Coat and Sig Color from then forward. It allows for a really lightweight structure with no warping due to covering and finishing.

If there's enough experience out there to say it's OK to work with Brodak color over Sig clear I'll go that route.

Chuck

[Avaiojet]

Do you use a primer?

[John Lindberg]

I had a plane once that had at least 4 different brands of dope on the plane, used the same thinner for all, no problems, I think one has to let a coat dry for at lest 2 or 3 days in between using different brands. Use the same thinner for all, sadly, I think Sig is the best thinner, if you use Randolph's (same with Brodak's) you have to use a  retarder (theirs) if you work in a high humidity environment. 

[Dave_Trible]

Glad this came up as I have a couple of big planes to finish and not enough Sig dope for both. One thing I saw was the RANDOLPH 9701 CLEAR BUTYRATE TAUTENING DOPE says not for use on heat shrunk synthetic fabric. That's polyspan right?


Motorman

As I write this I'm letting a coat of the 9701 dry on Guillow's tissue.  I'm not sure why you would want to 'tauten' a heat shrink (heat tautened) material anyway.  Could be the dope will just pull it into a pretzel.   I'd just go with the non-tautening.  It still shrinks a little, just not near as much just like Sig Supercote and Litecoat. 

Dave

[mccoy40]

All,

Sig apparently had a fire earlier in the year - about the March time frame. They are probably experiencing some issues with there office space and facility. Six months is a long time in terms of delivery and service to us,  but it is nothing to an Insurance claim and rebuild etc.

I would get your dope some where else for now but loop back to SIG at a future date when they may be back in full operation.

I find SIG to be too good of a Vendor to not give them repeat business.   



 

[Paul Walker]

Glad this came up as I have a couple of big planes to finish and not enough Sig dope for both. One thing I saw was the RANDOLPH 9701 CLEAR BUTYRATE TAUTENING DOPE says not for use on heat shrunk synthetic fabric. That's polyspan right?


Motorman

I put 2 to 3 coats of that tautening dope on my open bays covered with polyspan. Works great!

[wwwarbird]

If there's enough experience out there to say it's OK to work with Brodak color over Sig clear I'll go that route.

Chuck

 I've done it many, many times with no issues.

[wwwarbird]

I put 2 to 3 coats of that tautening dope on my open bays covered with polyspan. Works great!

 I use tautening clear for every step on a model, from start to final finish. This is with Polyspan, Silkspan, C/F veil, whatever, all without any issues. I see no need for all the other products like Nitrate, Lite Cote, or anything else. K.I.S.S.