Guillows Spirit of Saint Louis build

[ADW 123]

2 things. i am gonna pull out the tissue that looks bad after i airbrushed it (any one know why that happens?)

and, i am still STUCK on figureing out the piston details and the wing strut caps. the instructions are terrible in that regard.

[flash52]

Good Job. A real piece of aviation history. Silver is one of the hardest colors to shoot. It shows up the slightest imperfection. Google the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. Good pictures of the real Spirit of St Louis. An excellent place to find the littlest details.

[dbcisco]

I have found that the shinier the paint, the more imperfections show up.

[ADW 123]

i like the color of my spirit now, although i do think it is supposed to be a little lighter. i have also had trouble with silver paints. i dont know why it happens, but it is hard to avoid and pretty annoying. before i painted that, the covering was really good looking, and i spent a lot of time making sure that it looked good. just means im gonna have to fix it.

[lukebozek1]

I have been there and done that. I did find that letting it completely dry between coats worked best. But I also started thinning out the dope a little more and the buildup between the tissue and the frame was reduced and some of the ripples on the tissue on the ribs were eliminated. By the way, the plane looks great. Silver is one of the worst colors I have ever tried. I tried colored silver tissue, poor results; the shrink plastic covering in silver on a P-38 worked marginally well because the thing was framed like a tank. Airbrush was best, if the covering is perfect. I also like using the Krylon Sprays, cheap, quick and very good results at a very affordable price. True patience is saying that I don't like what I have here and strip it off to start over. I used the Krylon yesterday and several stress wrinkles actually disappeared. Go figure?

[ADW 123]

whats krylon?

[lukebozek1]

It is a brand name of Acrylic spray paint that works just fine on Tissue after a coat or two of clear dope. Ace Hardware carries it in two sizes, didn't see it at Home Depot, but any acrylic base paint works. I used a Rustoleum primer on qa bearcat. It was 2.99 in a small can and 3.99 in the nice large family size. I read about it here or on Virtual Airodrome. One of the best ideas I picked up, in addition to the tissue tips that were posted here. I actually used the tissue training yesterday and impressed myself. I keep coming here and learning about joint compound and bondo instead of Balsa filler. Good luck!

[scigs30]

Shooting Silver is tough because it does show all the imperfections that the naked eye cannot see. If you are going to fly the plane it is even tougher since you have to keep it light. Here is some advise. If you are not going to fly the plane, then prime it first. Use a sandable primer such as Plastikote. Prime it, wait a couple of hours and begin sanding. If there are still problem areas you can fill them in with wood filler or hit it again with primer. Once the plane is all smooth let it dry for 24 hours. Then you can use silver paint. If you are going to fly it then there are a couple of tricks. The easiest being cover it with gray domestic tissue and don't paint it. Of course that may not sit well with you and if so then there are 2 paints you can try. The first being silver dope. You will thin that 50/50 and use an airbrush and paint very lightly to keep the weight down and to avoid too much paint. The more silver you apply the more the faults come out. You can also use Design Masters Silver paint, great stuff but hard to mask without lifting. Here is my P-38 shot with very light coats of thinned down silver dope.

[John G Jedinak]

Scigs30...you da man!!!! This p-38 is outta sight. BTW, who is the lady on the nose...Shirley Temple.......

[scigs30]

I took an old family picture and made a decal.

[ADW 123]

ive decided to make the wing strut caps out of balsa, instead of using the plastic parts in the kit. i will try to post pictures later.

i also decided to lighten up the paint color. ive added a few more coats, and it looks a little better. it does seem like the more paint you add, the less imperfections show, which makes sense.

[cliffm]

When you cut out the plastic parts if you leave 1/16-1/8 inch of the material on the edges you have a stable surface to join your pieces together and are able to line them up easier. Put the glue on the inside and make sure air can get to it or you will end up with a piece of jelly. After it has thoroughly dried trim off the excess material and sand the seams smooth. You may have to reglue some spots and touch up on unwanted gaps here and there but this method has worked well for me . Hope this helps.

[lukebozek1]

I always wondered how someone could fly across the Atlantic in a plane that had no front window. Am I the only person who dwells on this trivia? It could be related to several incidents that took place in the late 60s. I mean did he mimic my Boston terrier and go down the road with his head out the side window for 3000 miles? Does he drool like my dog? Was there a mirror in the roof or something? And if there was, did it make look everything upside down" Can you imagine trying to land upside-down? I thought it was an odd choice for Lindbergh but maybe the other planes didn't have a mirror? By the way, I like that door! Keep up the good work!

[ADW 123]

there is a periscope hole on the left side next to the window.

[ADW 123]

clifm, i have looked into that, and i have always had some trouble with sanding too much. the plastic parts that came with it for the wing strut caps dont work so well. i dont really ever replace the plastic with balsa, but i found that the best solution to my problem with this one. i am still deciding on how i want to make the pistons. i want to use the plastic parts, but the plans do not have very good detail on the engine, so im not sure how i will do that. i do not want to make it too complicated.