stunthanger.com
Building Tips and technical articles. => Paint and finishing => Topic started by: Dwayne Donnelly on March 26, 2023, 12:29:48 PM
-
I have a pack of Brodak med silkspan and it comes folded, how do I get the creases out before I wet it?
Thanks
-
Hi there,
The creases won't matter once the covering is dampened. You should be able to pull them out as you go. This is for folded tissues, or creased DocSpan
However, if you must minimize the creases, set the dry paper down under glass to "press" the creases out. Using an iron would also relax the creases, but the covering stands a chance of shrinking as you press. I did the glass trick with old, yellowed, dried plans just so the large format scanner could do it's thing.
-
Exactly what Jim said. Just dampen it and lay it out. Wrinkles will pretty much disappear. No iron needed.
-
I routinely iron dry with low to medium heat on both silkspan and tissue. Just enough to get the wrinkles out. Shrinkage isn't affected.
Ara
-
I always use folded silkspan (I have a lifetime supply of the Sig stuff). The exact, smartass answer, is to wet it and stick it to a glass plate, then let it dry. It'll be flat when dried. Then you can wet it (it'll stretch out to right where it was the last time it was wet) and apply it.
But really -- the creases go away as soon as you wet it. In fact, when I'm doing a large panel like a wing, I'll cut my piece oversized, crumple it up, dunk it in water, wring it out, then un-crumple it and apply it. There will be super-mild creases from my crumpling, but as soon as you start stretching it out over whatever you're putting it on, those will go away. Any that don't will go away when it dries.
-
Thanks for the replies, the last time I soaked silkspan it swelled and didn't look good when it dried on the plane but maybe I should have let it dry a bit before applying it.
-
Thanks for the replies, the last time I soaked silkspan it swelled and didn't look good when it dried on the plane but maybe I should have let it dry a bit before applying it.
I only have experience with Sig silkspan, but you want to apply it damp. Neither dry (it'll never shrink) nor sopping wet. I have heard that different brands behave differently, so ???
In fact, for large surfaces like wings, I'll have a sprayer handy to keep it at about the right moisture level as I take my time sticking it on.
-
I lay my silkspan down on a clean towel with the shiney side up. Then after doping around the perimeter of the wing, i spray the silkspan with Windex and apply. Another good method is to use 2 clothes pegs to hang the silkspan up, wet it with windex, then drape over the wing.
-
What does Windex do that water doesn’t?
-
What does Windex do that water doesn’t?
Costs more ;D. I recently used an alcohol/water mixture in a spray bottle. Not because I thought there was any advantage, but because that was what was in the bottle I discovered after I started misting it. Works well, but dried so fast I had to keep doing it again and again and again. I've heard of using Windex, but never tried it and also don't know why some people use it.
-
What does Windex do that water doesn’t?
Windex has ammonia in it, and it can soften the fibers better that just plain water, if you are trying to get creases and wrinkles out of it. Like soaking balsa to shape and mold it. Ammonia works better for that than straight water. If you can stand the smell!
Type at you later,
Dan McEntee
-
Well that wasn't so bad this time, I wet the silkspan on a towel and patted off the excess water and it turned out real nice. y1 #^
-
Hubba hubba hubba! I like the look of the 1/2 ribs mixed with full ribs. I fly small, so this look isn't very familiar to me.
Thanks for sharing.
-
Well that wasn't so bad this time, I wet the silkspan on a towel and patted off the excess water and it turned out real nice. y1 #^
Dwayne...WOW is the right word to use here. H^^
I've read about these wings for years but this is my first look at a large photo of one.
How are the ribs made...?
I looked at a you tube tutorial for working with silkspan and the guy made the tissue soaking wet...then he wadded it up to squeeze out the excess water...!
He did show a time lapse covering job that looked good and his demo eased my mind about having to deal with creases in the tissue.
-
Dwayne...WOW is the right word to use here. H^^
I've read about these wings for years but this is my first look at a large photo of one.
How are the ribs made...?
I looked at a you tube tutorial for working with silkspan and the guy made the tissue soaking wet...then he wadded it up to squeeze out the excess water...!
He did show a time lapse covering job that looked good and his demo eased my mind about having to deal with creases in the tissue.
Hey thanks Chuck, this was my first time building an I Beam wing so I watched this video by the master himself. :) y1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4m_KYcyZRnM&list=WL&index=108