A couple newbie questions

[Igneus13]

Hey guys, new here! Anway, I've just gotten into building balsa airplanes and I just had a few newbie questions haha.

Is there a difference between gloss and dope? I ask because when i search for 'dope' online i get a lot of results for Midwest Aerogloss. I also emailed someone at Guillows and they kinda pointed me to the gloss section of the site. Also, can someone tell me a little more about the 'white glue' mixture.

Ok, last question (for now ). Can someone describe to me what the difference between "good" and "bad" balsa wood?

Anything other advice from seasoned modelers would be greatly appreciated! Thanks guys!

-Ig

[supercruiser]

Hi Ig,
Welcome to a great hobby. To answer your questions:
Aerogloss is a brand name for "dope". I called Aerogloss a while back and they told me Aerogloss is butyrate dope. The same stuff that is used on full size, fabric covered airplanes.

The white glue mixture is simply Elmer's White glue (my bottle says: Glu-ALL) diluted with water. Some folks use a 50-50; water-glue mixture, some 70-30, water-glue. Many times, to attach tissue, I just use the glue straight from the bottle. Read Mr. Duckett's for posts about glues and painting.

Good and bad balsa. That is most likely in reference to density. Contest grade balsa is usually considered to be 6 to 7 lbs/cu. ft. Many of the Guillow kits have 10 to 12 lbs/cu. ft density. Some of the laser kits have a better grade. Too low a density is a problem, then the balsa is sponge-like and does not have much strength, compared to contest grade. If you are building for display purposes it doesn't matter too much.

By the way, have you bought any kits, yet? What are you planning on building? Hope this has been helpful to you.

[Igneus13]

thanks, the info was great! Yeah I have the piper cherokee, almost completely covered. I had run out of the Aerogloss and went to a hobby shop to buy another brand; Model Master "Gloss Clear Lacquer Finish" and it didn't seem to work so well. Led me to believe that I wasn't using dope to begin with. So I'm not sure if certain brands work better than others, but I think i'll try the elmers glue-water mix.

I also bought the p-40 warhawk, spitfire, avenger, and hellcat. All 500 series. Thanks again for the info, very helpful.

-Ig

[supercruiser]

Gloss Lacquer is an entirely different animal from dope. Gloss in this case just refers to how the coating looks. You may see gloss enamels at the hobby shop, still another different type of coating. If you had Aerogloss , then you had dope. I hope you are doing this outside or in the garage, your room must smell reeeeeaaal good with those dope and lacquer fumes.

[Xanadu]

WARNING..........


Do not use different brands of dope, they are not compatable and do not work well togeather!

Use only the same name brand to use through the entire project.
Also be careful to buy the same type of dope as well, either butyl or nitrate. Nitrate is not fuel proof believe.

Sig brand is a large supplier as well, most hobby stores also carry them.

The Model Master is like not a dope product, but more of a laquer paint similar to an enamel usually for painting plastics, etc.

Unfortunatly you will usually have to purchase dope from an actual hobby store, as most dept. style stores do not carry these products. They tend to only sell the paints for plastics.

Read the articles that David Duckett has posted concerning painting with acrylics. No smell, a lot cheaper then dope, and work very well. He has converted me over to them with great success.
The only problem is that the are not fuel proof, so a fule proofing clear coat must be put on over them.
I bought my first acylics in nice size bottles for $1 each at a local craft store (Micheals) made for craft projects, and they work great!
David is an advanced painter and he uses profesional quality acylic artist paints, but the principles are the same.

Take the time and read his articles, they will be extremly helpful for you.

[fychan]

Also be careful to buy the same type of dope as well, either butyl or nitrate. Nitrate is not fuel proof believe.

The dope they sell over here in Blighty is called "cellulose dope"... Is this a third type?

[fychan]

Thanks David.

I've got J.Perkins "Hi Grade Cellulose Dope" here, that's listed as
"Rapid drying, resists petrol, oil, boiling water, Durable - flexible - strong."

"Perkins Hi Grade dope is an almost colourless shrinking dope for tightening aircraft covering tissue, nylon or other fabric (not plastic) prior to finishing with paint"
I'm guessing that means not to put a layer on the plastic parts before painting with acrylics

The only other thing of relevance is that it "Contains Xylenes/Toluene"

The (not so) local hardware store - which is the only place other than the local model railway shop that sells dope - sells exactly the same stuff, allbeit in smaller bottles. I guess there aren't that many companies in the UK making dope anymore, so our choice is somewhat limited...

[Hank]

Dear igneus13

Aerogloss makes by "Midwest products" makes buterate dope for model airplanes. If you are building a small Gillows model you may want to spray or brush a light coat of it on your plane after you have shrunk your tissue with water or alcohol. It is a good idea to thin out the stuff in the little glass jar about 50% with Aero Gloss thinner or you can use Acetone from Lowes hardware stores. By the way Acetone will soften cyanoacrolate glues such as ZAP and super glue.

Good balsa and Bad balsa usually refers to the softness of the individual piece of wood. You can do a simple test with your fingernail. Softer is usually lighter but weaker. Hard balsa will be hard to mush with a fingernail, and is good for wing spars and leading edges etc.

Good luck with your kit and please let us know how it comes out and how it flies!

[Tee Bee]

I have used the Sig Supercoat and AeroGloss dopes with success. They are butyrate dopes as mentioned before.

As far as the balsa goes. I have an old die-cut Triplane kit from the 80's and was missing some parts and plans so I bought a new laser cut kit so I could get back to it and finish it. The quality of the wood in the new kit was far better than the old one. Much harder wood so I just rebuilt the entire plane from the new kit and used the older wing and fuse frames I had built for testing covering techniques. The laser-cut kit parts just popped right out without any cutting. The 1/16th stringer wood was better quality as well and more resistant against breakage. Just my experience.