I have a sterling Denight Special I'm covering with silk. The only open area is the rear of the fuselage. When covering the sheeted surfaces, in a few areas, i have a few bubbles in the silk and a wrinkle. What i don't understand is they weren't there before i applied the first coat of taughtening butyrate.
Here's how I've been doing it:
Sand bare balsa till smooth
1 coat clear thinned 50%
Light sanding to remove fuzz with 220 grit
1 coat of clear thinned 50%
light sanding with 220 grit
lay wet silk over area, seal border with clear thinned 50%
when silk is dry, trim off excess and brush on clear, thinned 50%
I've tried to re wet the problem areas with clear, put a few pinholes in the silk  and rub down trying to get the silk to lay down, but it has not yet worked. The only reason I can come up with there was something on the balsa keeping the clear from sticking, but i can't see what.
What am i doing wrong?
Any advise??

Dennis, this is over sheeted surfaces. I have had it loosen over open bays, and after 5 coats of clear, it did tighten back up, but over a sheeted surface? why would a wrinkle form where one wasn't before the clear was applied. I'm kind of disgusted with the whole deal, because with the number of hours in preparation, now this???
I'm really afraid to cover the wing (it's sheeted completely), will I get wrinkles or bubbles randomly? Seems like I can't get them out.

Jerry,
I have the feeling that what happen was when you applied the silk over the large sheeted area it didn't get fully adhered to the surface. Since it is over solid surface you can take a new #11 blade and slit the bubbled area, injected some dope under the bubble and firmly press it down to get it stuck down. Baby sit it for an hour of so, pushing the surface down until the dope dries. Once this is dry you can sand off any wrinkle and put some filler in any depression then put a batch of silk over it. Several coats of clear will make it disappear.

If you are going to apply more silk over the sheeting I would use the thinner method of appling the silk wet. Put four coats of clear on the surface, wet the silk so it is damp, put it over the surface and pull it tight. Start from the middle and apply thinner down the long dimension of the surface starting at one end and keeping the silk tight as you go. Once you have that line down keep the silk damp with a spray bottle and work toward the front of one half with the thinner pulling the silk tight as you go and rubbing the silk down (good idea to use a paint glove or finger protector), watch for areas were it gets lose and push it back down. Do the same for the other half. Once its down and dry use a couple coats of 60/40 thinner to dope (taunting) to finish adhering (this is important, I tried going with straight clear from the can and it took weeks to dry) then switch to 50/50.

Hope this helps,                DennisT