Piper Kit 303 LC Tissue Problems

[td46]

I'm new to this forum and have just recently returned to building balsa wood models after a multi decade hiatus from building balsa models.
I am currently building a Piper Cub 303. I covered the airplane using and UHU Blue glue stick and shrinking using a 50/50 water and alcohol mix.
There were some minor wrinkles, but I corrected them.
Here are my problems:

After spraying with an acrylic clear coat, I noticed that more wrinkles appeared after it dried. After a day or so I then sprayed a couple of coats of acrylic color. Each time, the tissue "sagged" and when it dried some wrinkles disappeared but there were more wrinkles then when I started. FYI - I'm using an airbrush at low pressure.

Questions:
1) Is the supplied tissue from Guillows any good for multiple acrylic coats?
2) Why did the tissue continue to "sag" after additional coats of acrylic?
3) Are there any suggestions? I'd prefer not to use dope since ventilation would be an issue during the winter in the Chicago area.

On my next Guillows model ( Beaver ) I'm thinking of going back to nitrate dope and a light silkspan.

[scigs30]

First of all the new tissue Guillows supplies is the best I have used, almost as good as Esaki. If using a glue stick make sure to double back over all seams with thinned white glue and allow to dry overnight before shrinking. I have never liked Krlon as a dope replacement, nothing beats brushed on dope. The only clear sprays I've liked have been Design Masters Clear and LustreKote clear.

[td46]

Thanks much for the tips. This was the first time I tried the "non-dope" method. I didn't go over all the seams with a 50-50 mix of white glue and water so that was probably some of my problem. Good to hear that the Guillow's paper is very good. Next time I use acrylic I'll try your suggestions.

[scigs30]

Nothing beats good ole dope for a finish but I understand fumes and make it difficult to use. I tried EZE Dope for awhile and it works pretty good but does take practice and it is finicky but no smell. Here is a thread on Eze Dope and you will see my builds using this product.
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthre ... 210&page=8

Also here is my recent Guillows Se5 I built using the new supplied tissue, attached with 50/50 water white glue, shrunk with water and brushed on a coat of 50/50 Aerogloss dope. You can see from the wing tip how strong this tissue is covering wet and stretching it around the wing tips. The only bummer is that Guillows is only supplying white tissue. I wish they would add colored tissue so the builder does not have to paint the plane. As you can see the decals would not look good on the white plane. I am painting the Se5 with Design Masters Paint.

[td46]

scigs30,

Thanks for taking the time to post your additional tips and pics. Great info for me. I've heard of EZ dope, but have never used it. I'm sure I'll give it a try sometime.

[NcGunny]

Eze Dope is great stuff if you take the time to practice with it first. Make a simple popscicle stick frame and cover. Shrink however you want. I shrink with 50 water,25 alc, 25 eze. Once dry I paint Eze on with a fan brush (camel hair) dont puddle it on. The tissue will sag,but pops back to taunt. Some guys have a awful time with it, others its the best stuff. I had more trouble with stinking Elmers mix than anything,but have since mastered it using the framework I just suggested for trial and error. Also I bet you sprayed your clearcoat to heavy,,,I mist..mist..mist..almost like when you shrink. Eze is my go to now. (Keeps jug on banana oil hidden)

[td46]

Again, I've received some great insights and tips. I greatly appreciate that.
Ncgunny, You are probably right about my spraying to heavy. For the initial shrinking I used a 1 oz. pump spray "mister" with 50-50 alcohol/water. It looked fine after that. Maybe I got too confident after that and used my cheap airbrush for my acrylic coats. I turned it down to minimum spray output, but obviously that did not work to help the wrinkles as you have suggested. Thanks for your tips on EZ Dope. A test panel is the way to go as you suggested. That's what this hobby is all about......experimenting and learning.

I'll look in EZ Dope. There was a link above in this thread for details on it so I'll check that out also.