silkspan what is it and how do you use it?

[Andrew Tinsley]

Hello,
  I have some kits coming from the US. Some of them use silkspan for covering. Have never seen this in the UK, so any info on it and its use would be very welcome.

Regards,

Andrew.

[Bryan Higgins]

Andrew

Visit Brodak.com and send for one of there Catalogs. They are $7.00
inside you will get schooled in Control Line flying and the different
types they have.
There is a how to build section that explains how to apply silkspan.
They also have a pamplet on how to paint your airplane.

Have fun and go fly an airplane

[Wynn Robins]

it is basically the same as tissue - but generally thicker and has a more noticible "grain"  you apply it with dope - the same as tissue also.

[Neville Legg]

Sounds like heavy weight modelspan we used get here in England? Most kits of the 50's 60's over here came with either light weight or heavy weight modelspan in them.

Cheers     Neville

[Jim Thomerson]

It is what your teabags are made of.  You put it on wet with the grain running spanwise.  Dope it with plasticized dope once dry. (How many teabags to cover a Nobler wing? )

[john e. holliday]

I didn't think the Britixh used tea bags.   

[Tim Wescott]

It is what your teabags are made of.  You put it on wet with the grain running spanwise.

I had someone insisting to me this weekend that he remembered putting silkspan on dry, then spraying it to shrink.  That's certainly contrary to _my_ experience -- the first time I tried silkspan that's what I did; it sagged just like tissue when I got it wet, then just shrunk back to the wrinkled-up loose state it had started in!

I only needed the lesson once, though.

[Tim Wescott]

Hello,
  I have some kits coming from the US. Some of them use silkspan for covering. Have never seen this in the UK, so any info on it and its use would be very welcome.

It's lovely stuff, if (as you may gather from comments here) a bit weaker than modern coverings.

Cut it dry to fit the panel, dunk it in water, squeeze it dry between layers in a towel so it's damp but not dripping, then put it on before it dries.  Dope it on just like tissue.  It conforms to a structure like nothing else I've ever used (though I haven't used silk, so what do I know?).

Use about a zillion coats of dope to seal, then paint it up with the dope-based process of your choice.

[Wynn Robins]

.

Cut it dry to fit the panel, dunk it in water, squeeze it dry between layers in a towel so it's damp but not dripping, then put it on before it dries. 

or just use a water spray bottle and spray it so it is wet ........

[Andrew Tinsley]

Thanks guys,
  By the sound of it, I think I will give it a miss! I shall stick to silk over Mylar, one coat of thinned dope and the wing is both taunt and sealed! Low weight and very strong.

Regards,

Andrew.

P.S. I may be a limey, but I can't stand tea! Give me strong black coffee (about every half hour!).

[Greg McCoy]

At work the paint shop has a prefilter material that looks like silkspan, color texture and grain. But a burn test it acted like a synthetic. I should play with some samples and see what happens.

[Neville Legg]

Thanks guys,
  By the sound of it, I think I will give it a miss! I shall stick to silk over Mylar, one coat of thinned dope and the wing is both taunt and sealed! Low weight and very strong.

Regards,

Andrew.

P.S. I may be a limey, but I can't stand tea! Give me strong black coffee (about every half hour!).

Andrew,  the free-flight scale bods here in England use light weight jap tissue (shiny side up!) under their silk covering, don't know if its easier to apply than mylar? but the results look good! Have a look on freeflightscale.com  Try lemon in your tea, not lime! 

Cheers     Neville  

[LARRY RICE]

     Anytime that you put lemon in water you are making lemonade, try a touch of cream. 

     K & S still sells Silkspan with the same "OO" "GM" AND "SGM" designations; I know because I supply it in several of our kits.  For "SPORT" and "FUN" flying it works just fine.  I include a series of pictures on how to apply the silkspan that Walt Musciano did for one of his books, he puts it on dry.  I believe that silkspan has changed over the years, it seems like there is less silk and more paper in it now. 
     As a kit manufacturer I am expected to provide a covering material, especially in kits that are meant for beginners.

Larry
Black Hawk Models

[Neville Legg]

Cream in tea!! Yuck! A nice black tea with two thin slices of lemon, very refined!

Cheers    Neville

[John Hammonds]

...snip...
I suggest you use what we call Polyspan. I know this is avail in Merry Olde, but not sure of the name.

I know Mike Woodhouse ( http://www.freeflightsupplies.co.uk/ ) has a really good range of different coverings, Including Polyester Tissue in 3 different weights which he says is "sold in the USA as "Polyspan"."

TTFN
John.

[Dwayne]

I ordered some light silkspan from brodak and it was just like tissue paper, I wet it applied it and didn't shrink at all, anyone else have this problem?

[Jim Thomerson]

There was some stuff with no grain, looked to me like wrapping paper, being sold as silkspan.  A number of people posted on difficulties with it.  I saw one batch of it in a Sig tube, but cannot say for sure it was a Sig product.  Personally, today I would not buy silkspan without seeing it first. 

[George]

A few OPINIONS:

Silkspan is NOT like Japanese tissue...you can't apply tissue wet...at least I can't.

Silkspan doesn't really shrink a lot...it swells when you wet it and assumes its former size when it dries. That's why most apply it wet.

I can easily read the grain on light silkspan (OO) but to me GM and SGM are much harder to read. It looks as if the grain runs with the longer side of the rectangle...but this may not apply to all brands.

George

[Bill Little]

Hi George,

I just use the old *tear it* trick.  I tear a tiny piece out of the corner.  The direction it *tears* the easiest is with the grain.

Big Bear

[Neville Legg]

Andrew, have you had a look on www.samsmodels.com he has dozens of covering materials including modelspan! (didn't think it was made any more?)

Cheers    Neville

[George]

Hi George,

I just use the old *tear it* trick.  I tear a tiny piece out of the corner.  The direction it *tears* the easiest is with the grain.

Big Bear

Bill,

That is what I was referring to when I mentioned that the heavier grades are, to me, harder to read. The heavier stuff I have seems to tear about the same in both directions.

Used to be that you could hold it up to a light and straight fibers going one way and "squiggly" fibers going the other. Perhaps my eyes are just not good enough for that anymore. 

George

[Bill Little]

HI George,

10-4 on the eyes........  seems my arms are getting shorter every day.

Bill