$2 silk is now $35 a square yard. Good silkspan no longer exists. Polyspan is currently where it is at for conventional finishes. Actually better than silkspan ever was. Tougher and heat shrinkable. No water shrink required, wet strength not an issue.

Better, though is Polyspan undoped with a Mylar film bonded to it. Sort of do it yourself Micafilm. Look at the SLC over Polyspan thread.

Also, look into “doctor paper” on this forum.

I'm wondering why every one  seems to be using silk span instead of real 100%. I remember back in the 1960's the best looking finishes were always silk. Is anyone using it any more? If so I would like to do a classic colored silk with a clear finish. I never was able to master the technique, can any one give me some tips on this subject?

                                            Thank you   Terry McQueen Tempe Arizona

Terry,

Welcome!

Your first Thread I see, It'll be a real winner. Controversial for sure.

 Controversial, "Giving rise or likely to give rise to public disagreement."

So, you're wondering why everyone is using "silk span" instead of 100% silk?

How did you come to this conclusion?

I used 100% silk on all these models.

Terry, buckle up! 

I always used silkspan (up until the good stuff was mostly gone) because it finished the lightest of most coverings except jap tissue and was far easier to use than silk.  As mentioned the cost was another factor both in silk and the extra dope it required to fill.  No doubt you can get a great finish on silk too. I recently covered a new one in silk.  It went over weight pretty fast at 700 sq. in. and hangs on the wall to keep the house firmly down on the foundation.  I'm now fully sheeting everything and coming out lighter.  Silk is great for smaller airplanes, trainer types and certainly old time projects.  I recently built a few nostalgia combat airplanes, Sneekers, Big Iron and they are silked for durability.

Dave

I cut a sq. yard of silk and I cut a sq. yard of silk span for a weight test.

The silk span weighed in at 11 grams and the silk at 14 grams. WOW! what a difference.

Having used both silk and silk span, for me anyway, I like the silk better for many reasons.

I find dope fills the weave on the silk with less coats than silk span. But that's me.

Obvious differences from person to person because of many reasons. The percentage of the thinning, type of brush, application, the method the modeler uses to apply the dope, i.e., amount of pressure and brush movement, fully loaded or not.

Terry, you're new so you haven't seen these models. All have silk span covering. The wing to my Gee Bee Z has silk span. I'm considering recovering it with silk. This model, The ARGO 2 was covered in silk span, I recovered it with silk. Finished weight was just under 55 ounces.

Dave, I remember you saying you experienced "cracking" in the open bays with silk span. Did you ever draw a conclusion or reason as to why this occurred?



 

Way back when I started in this model plane stuff I was building a stunt plane I wanted to look nice and last a while.   Up to that time I used silk on the combat planes.  Several lasted longer than they should have and the silk started splitting.   Was told it was the dope attacking the silk.  The person said use nylon and told me how to put it on as it did not shrink like silk.   Nylon was also tougher.  I have not used either for many years now with the advent of MonoKote.  I won't repeat what I now use as it is covered in the finishing section.