Silkspan

[Bruce Guertin]

I keep containers of "Wet Ones" hand wipes on my work bench. I used one yesterday and left it out. I noticed this morning that dry it looks exactly like Silk Span. It's got a tight weave with a grain is pretty light. Too bad we can't get it in rolls or sheets.

[Dennis Toth]

It's probably similar to "Tea Bag" material.

Best,   DennisT

[Bruce Guertin]

It's probably similar to "Tea Bag" material.

Best,   DennisT

I sacrificed a tea bag. This stuff is heavier and weighs about 1 oz per square yard.

[louie klein]

I have been using the tissue paper you use to line present boxes. It comes in colors and I cut out designs and dope them on. Stars, thunderbolts, fire, whatever. It is light needs less dope which is what we want right, try it on a spare wing.———-Louie

[Jim Svitko]

I have been using the medium weight silkspan from Easy Built Models.  From what I can see, it is identical to the product we used years ago.  I use it to cover bare wood and it works well for that purpose. 

[Dave_Trible]

I have been using the medium weight silkspan from Easy Built Models.  From what I can see, it is identical to the product we used years ago.  I use it to cover bare wood and it works well for that purpose.

Jim it is certainly good to cover wood however I discovered you do not want to use it over open bays.   It has absolutely no fiber strength.   after a year or two it will simply begin to shred with even light finger pressure.   I think some of the 'doctor paper' is about the same.   As dope cures it continues to shrink for years to the point it will just start pulling the paper apart.   Actually I've seen silk do the same but usually after 8-10 years.  I am totally sold now on the 'tea bag' material from Sugardoo.   It has a visible mesh of some sort imbedded in paper fibers and should resist shredding for a very long time.   I have most all my current fleet cover with it now and haven't even poked any holes.   It is quite light though and usually fills with four or five coats of clear dope.  Tea bag paper very definitely has a grain direction like old silkspan but unlike most all these other papers.


Dave

[Rick Campbell]

I recently tried this stuff. It's the same thickness (about .002") as the OO silkspan I've had hanging around since the Sig/K&S days. I covered open bay built up elevators with it. Handles nicely wet and shrinks up like it should. Longevity remains to be determined.

[doug coursey]

i called sig about the silk span they have on their website and asked if was the same that they always had before and he said it should be.....im building a foam wing impact with built to stab and elevators and im going give the carbon veil a try...i tried silk span from brodak and it wasnt very good at all

[Jim Svitko]

Jim it is certainly good to cover wood however I discovered you do not want to use it over open bays.   It has absolutely no fiber strength.   after a year or two it will simply begin to shred with even light finger pressure.   I think some of the 'doctor paper' is about the same.   As dope cures it continues to shrink for years to the point it will just start pulling the paper apart.   Actually I've seen silk do the same but usually after 8-10 years.  I am totally sold now on the 'tea bag' material from Sugardoo.   It has a visible mesh of some sort imbedded in paper fibers and should resist shredding for a very long time.   I have most all my current fleet cover with it now and haven't even poked any holes.   It is quite light though and usually fills with four or five coats of clear dope.  Tea bag paper very definitely has a grain direction like old silkspan but unlike most all these other papers.


Dave

I agree.  There are much better materials than silkspan to use over open bays.
I gave up years ago on silkspan over open bays.  If I ever do an open bay structure, wing or tail surfaces, I cover with Polyspan or Thermal Span. 

[Dave_Trible]

I’ve never had any problems with open bays and REAL silkspan.   These alternative papers ARE NOT silkspan.   Silkspan had- guess what- silk fibers mixed into the paper fibers and gave it fiber strength.   The old K&S silkspan which also furnished most all the kit manufacturers back then was the real deal.   I still have a little of that around from old kits and wouldn’t be afraid to use it today.   However it is actually a bit heavier and requires more dope than the Sugardoo product.   I may use up what original silkspan I have on OT free flight stuff I still want to build…. Someday.

Dave

[Jim Svitko]

With hardly anyone doing actual building anymore, it is difficult, if not impossible, to find the "original real materials."  No market so why produce it?

The silkspan I get from Easy Built Models is close enough for my use.  It might not be the real deal, but good enough.  Some years ago, a hobby shop in Irving, TX, closed.  Before that closure, I managed to get some of the real, heavy silkspan.  So old that it was still in the unopened cardboard box.  And, this silkspan was more of a light tan or almond color, not white.  That was the last time I ever saw real silkspan.

One of the guys I fly with came out with a plane he built about 30 years ago, maybe farther back than that.  The wing was covered with silkspan.  All you had to do is touch the open bay and the silkspan shattered.  It was like a dried out leaf.

[Dave_Trible]

With hardly anyone doing actual building anymore, it is difficult, if not impossible, to find the "original real materials."  No market so why produce it?

The silkspan I get from Easy Built Models is close enough for my use.  It might not be the real deal, but good enough.  Some years ago, a hobby shop in Irving, TX, closed.  Before that closure, I managed to get some of the real, heavy silkspan.  So old that it was still in the unopened cardboard box.  And, this silkspan was more of a light tan or almond color, not white.  That was the last time I ever saw real silkspan.

One of the guys I fly with came out with a plane he built about 30 years ago, maybe farther back than that.  The wing was covered with silkspan.  All you had to do is touch the open bay and the silkspan shattered.  It was like a dried out leaf.

Yeah it will do that with age-but so will silk.  When I was a teen the owner of the hobby shop I worked for asked me to build an RC airplane kit (Sterling Cessna 182 I think)  to hang for display in the shop.   I covered it with silk for longevity.   It was hung from the ceiling but after only about three years or less the silk began popping apart all over.   The heating ducts circulated air in the store pretty aggresively and accelerated the dope shrinkage some.    Pretty sure it was AeroGloss dope which was pretty high shrink.    He was never a SIG dealer.   Of the six or seven hobby shops in the KC metro at the time there was only one SIG dealer.    That shop is today the only one still open,  handed down at least two generations.   Not a whole lot useful to us there today.

Dave

Dave

[Dan McEntee]

Yeah it will do that with age-but so will silk.  When I was a teen the owner of the hobby shop I worked for asked me to build an RC airplane kit (Sterling Cessna 182 I think)  to hang for display in the shop.   I covered it with silk for longevity.   It was hung from the ceiling but after only about three years or less the silk began popping apart all over.   The heating ducts circulated air in the store pretty aggresively and accelerated the dope shrinkage some.    Pretty sure it was AeroGloss dope which was pretty high shrink.    He was never a SIG dealer.   Of the six or seven hobby shops in the KC metro at the time there was only one SIG dealer.    That shop is today the only one still open,  handed down at least two generations.   Not a whole lot useful to us there today.

Dave

Dave

      The shrinking over time issue is common. I have had it happen on old models where it would split or distort the ribs in the wing! Aerogloss was probably the worst. I got to using Dave Brown Flex-All in everything I used once the covering was tight enough to suit me. I think it's still available but you have to order direct from them, like a lot of other manufacturers these days. I really think that Flex-All is just medicinal castor oil. I did a really scientific test on it once, I tasted it compared to medicinal castor!! Just a drop on my tongue was all it took. It even looks the same. If you read the instructions on old model plans and in old magazines it was often advised to plasticize dope by adding castor oil to it, like a teaspoon to a thinned quart or something like that. the actual chemical f or plasticizing is wickedly toxic to even consider. I can't even remember the name right now. But Flex-All is what Windy used on all hi models and they have held up well, the ones he has left and the models I used it on seemed much more flexible as they aged. Even SIG colors, which was formulated using their Lite Coat clear as a base, tends to keep shrinking over time, but not as bad as Aerogloss.

   Type at you later,
      Dan McEntee

[John Park]

I have been using the tissue paper you use to line present boxes. It comes in colors and I cut out designs and dope them on. Stars, thunderbolts, fire, whatever. It is light needs less dope which is what we want right, try it on a spare wing.———-Louie

I do this a lot, on models I don't want to finish heavily.  Even pin-striping is easy if you don't want it thinner than about 1/16", and the only down-side is that the colours fade over time.

[Don Jenkins]

I've been using the Easy Built Model medium silk span for several years.  I have used it on open bays on many planes, but I did "double cover" and 7 years later I still have no issues.  The first layer is applied about one inch larger than the open bay damp with water and dope is only applied to the edges.  Once dried, the second layer covers the entire surface.  At least that is my experience and it has worked well.

Don

[Bruce Guertin]

When I get a chance I'll cover and dope a small framework with this stuff and see how it behaves.