stunthanger.com
Building Tips and technical articles. => Paint and finishing => Topic started by: James Mills on September 02, 2010, 07:53:36 PM
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A friend who recently passed away gave me a profile for my 8 year old that he had built to the point of being ready to assemble. He covered the wing with silkspan and I'm wondering if I can cover the silkspan with iron on (like Econocote, Brodak), mostly for ease of repair later.
Thanks,
James
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If it's already got silkspan on it then most of the hard work is done, and you just need to put a bazzilion coats of dope on it.
Were I to get that plane in my hands and decide to recover it, I'd cut the silkspan out of the open bays, sand the plane smooth, then cover. AFAIK the silkspan & dope that's already on there will do nothing but improve the finish of the plastic film.
But.
Don't be surprised at where St. Peter directs you when you pass away, you heinous sinner, you!
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Tim,
Thanks for the reply. I'm not to concerned with the "pretty" factor as much as durability and ease of repair as it will be flown by my 8 year old (every flight is an adventure).
James
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Just slap a couple of coats of clear dope on it and go fly. Small holes and tears can be fixed with scrap silkspan and SIG Glue. Don't worry about the pretty as once he gets the hang of what that thing in his hand is for, he will be flying circles around us. H^^
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Just slap a couple of coats of clear dope on it and go fly. Small holes and tears can be fixed with scrap silkspan and SIG Glue. Don't worry about the pretty as once he gets the hang of what that thing in his hand is for, he will be flying circles around us. H^^
That's when you get back from the field and pull the scotch tape off.
Seriously, repairing small dings and tears in silkspan is simple if you've got a bottle of dope and a brush handy. You can repair a tear and be flying the next day.
Besides -- when you get the silkspan sealed and painted with a white base coat, you can hand him a bottle of his favorite color of dope and a brush, and let him personalize the model.
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To answer your question directly, YES you can put iron on directly over silkspan. It works very well and you get the best of both worlds that way. The silkspan gives the wing rigidity, and the monokote ( iron on of whatever brand, I prefer Ultracote) gives the open bays puncture resistance and pretty too..
go for it, it will be easier for the most part to repair though on repairing it, I doubt you will be replacing any damaged silkspan,, ?