Guys, long-time Supercote and Lite-coat guy here. I use Supercoat only over open bays to taughten, and then Lite-Coat from then on.
Are Brodack colors or clear a taughtening dope or not?

I'm really fanatical about "straight and light". Back in the early days I had Randolphs turn good wings into pretzels...

That said, I always am looking for something new.

Should I just bite the bullet and start using automotive finishes?  My reluctance there is that I have painted cars and know how heavy DuPont or House of Color usually goes on, but those metalics sure look awesome on some guitars I've painted.

(I always wanted a stunt ship with a bass boat flake finish... that would look soooooo cool in the air on a sunny day!)

Hi Chuck,

You can get tautening and non tautening clear butyrate or nitrate from Randolphs, and at a much cheaper price.

For metallic finishes, get the toners with out the carrier/binder and add it to clear dope.  Just tell the counter guy that you just want the toners for say a pint.  It will probably cost the same as buying a "full pint".  Of course you can get several different sizes of "flakes" and pearl powders also, to add to clear.  HOK also offers candy concentrates that are added to clear dope.

Bill

House of Kolor makes really good additives, too. Both flake and pearl.

Back to the original question: Windy Urtnowski said that Brodak clear is somewhere between tautening and nontautening dope.  I discovered when I used it on silk that it leans toward the nontautening.  I had to resort to Sig to get the wrinkles out of the silk-covered airplane.  Brodak brushes nicely, and I used it successfully on a silkspan-covered stunter without any supplemental tautening dope.  You can use Brodak and Randolph interchangeably.   On the last two planes I built, I used Polyspan with Randolph tautening and nontautening dope used as you used the two Sig dopes.  I think most folks use that combination now, although some start with nitrate.  After the clear is on, folks diverge to different combinations of dope and car paint.  The best writeup I've seen on how to get a good finish (20 points at the Nats) was Phil Granderson's in Model Aviation about 2006.  He starts with dope, then uses car paint toners in dope, and then Isocyanate Death Paint clearcoat. 

OK, I'l forego my usual lecture about using non-compatible materials.

OK, I'l forego my usual lecture about using non-compatible materials.

Randy,

An extremely good point worthy of further discussion.

On another related note. I'm absolutely positive I read in a Thread that Brodak dope was not fuel proof?

Charles

Gee, that must come as a real shocker to the hundreds of people who're successfully using it!
No dope is completely fuel-PROOF, though some butyrate dopes are fuel-RESISTANT, up to a certain Nitro' content.

Mike,

Do you clear your dope with automotive two part clear?

To play it safe I will. I may not even use dope.

Charles

A "Zeek", huh? And I pictured you as more of a "Fubar" kinda guy, Mikey.  Steve