Wet tissuing and glue stick

[John G. Jedinak]

Used the glue stick with satisfaction on dry tissuing. How about the glue stick with WET tissuing??? Seeking guidance......Thanx, JGJ

[supercruiser]

JGJ,
I was hoping somebody like kittyfritters would answer this. I've used wet tissue covering with glue stick once. It worked out fine. I wetted the tissue with alcohol. Don't know if that makes a difference and it was esaki tissue.

[John G. Jedinak]

Supercruiser...Appreciate the reply. I am going to be using medium silkspan and water. I'm going to give that a go on the stab or the rud...that way replacement, if necessary, will be easy. Thanx, JGJ

[kittyfritters]

John and Supercruiser,

Sorry, guys, but I haven't done wet tissue with gluestick, yet. I can understand how the alcohol would have worked since the Uhu gluesticks are alcohol soluble, but with the evaporation rate, Boy! Supercruiser you are fast at covering!. From my experience, Esaki is the only tissue you can use wet.

The last time I did wet tissue or silkspan on a model I used Dupont Duco cement. You put it on the frame, only in the spots where the tissue is to stick, apply the damp tissue, pull it to shape and run your finger along the glued framework to force the glue through the fiber of the covering. If you are covering a concave surface you should pin the tissue or silkspan to the frame while it dries. I have done the same thing with full strength AeroGloss dope and it worked although the dope blushes. Probably not the recommended technique with what we know about the toxicity of these things now.

I have been planning to do some larger models with silkspan and gluestick to get back into practice with wet covering, but haven't had the time. You probably can get some current advice from the static builders at Virtual Aerodrome,

Howard

[John G. Jedinak]

Kittyfritters.....Appreciate your input and all the detail you provided. Expect to start the tssuing by this weekend. I'll post results. Thanx, JGJ

[John G. Jedinak]

Used the wet tissue with the glue stick today on Rudder and stabilizer. Worked O.K....but....not comfortable with it.....because tissue is wet, glue stays tacky a little long. When trimming tissue I always end up with feathered spots of tissue that need to be glued back down...glue stick worked...but, using Elmers 50/50 is better. Back to Elmers 50/50 with wet tissue.

[kittyfritters]

John,

Back about 30 years ago, in an issue of Model Aviation, there was an article about making flying models by carving them out of styrofoam like solid models. Then you would embed a minimal balsa structure in the styrofoam model with the balsa just even with the surface of the foam. The whole thing was covered with a layer or two of wet silkspan using a mixture of diluted white glue and Knox gelatin. The gelatin makes the white glue easy to sand when dry. After the resulting "silkspan mache" model was dry, sanded, and in some cases even painted, the styrofoam was dissolved with a solvent and poured out of the model. The result was a very light, semi monocoque structure that was very strong for it's weight and looked very realistic when doing a model of an all metal airplane. I've never done this but it sounds like an interesting technique. It might even be a way to make light replacements for some of the Guillow's plastic parts. Silkspan still has a long way to go.

Howard

[John G. Jedinak]

K/F.......Very interesting piece. 30 yrs ago I was in between my boyhood modeling and my senior return to modeling. My fondest memory of grade school modeling was.....bought a balsa and tissue kit (surely less than a dollar)...looked at the plans and had no clue. My Father worked at the local fire station, so I took it there help. Between about 10 firemen, no one had even a remote idea on how to proceed. I am not sure what happened to that kit but, from there on it was solid models until the War cut-off the balsa supply.

[kittyfritters]

OK, I tried it myself today on the tailfeathers of my 400 series Bf-109. I used the silkspan the came in the kit and a Uhu, purple, gluestick.

The tail and stabilizer were prepared using a 50/50 nitrate dope and thinner mix wth talcum powder in it. This was painted on all surfaces where the tissue would touch the wood as a sanding sealer and sanded with 600 grit sandpaper when dry. I cut the silkspan a little oversize, wet it and left it between the folds of a terrycloth towl while I applied the glue stick to all the places I wanted the tissue to stick. Then I applied the damp silkspan and pulled out the wrinkles while pressing it into the glue with my fingertips. In my case it worked out faster and easier than with dope. I used a piece of 180 grit to cut off the edges of the tissue when it was not quite dry and the fine feather edge pushed back into the glue and smoothly disappeared.

I have been dry covering since I started back into the hobby when I began using gluestick instead of dope because of my wife's allergies. I didn't think the gluestick would work with wet tissue, but now I find that it certainly does, and I don't think that I wll go back to dry covering now.

Now if I can find something that will work as well as dope based a sanding sealer, that is non-toxic and odorless so it can be applied indoors I will really have a method!

[SteveM]

Do you really need to seal the wood when using a glue stick? I've covered a few planes using a glue stick and didn't seal the wood yet they came out ok.

But if you do want to seal it try Future floor finish instead of dope. It does have a mild oder but is nothing compared to dope. You can also seal with a white glue mix, but I suspect you are aware of all this already since you say "...will work as well as dope...".

[kittyfritters]

Steve,

The dope and talc mixture, when sanded, gives a surface that feels like glass. Although this smooth surface makes for better adhesion and smoother covering the main purpose is to seal the wood against the moisture of the wet covering. although with the strucure I used on these tail surfaces (See pics at virtualaerodrome.) the potential for warppage was proably small.

To be honest, I just think it works better that way when wet covering. When covering dry with glue stick and shrinking the tissue with alcohol I don't bother to seal the wood either.

Howard