Resonstituting Butyrate dope

Made it to back of the garage today, found two gallons of clear butyrate dope, the consistency was like honey. With butyrate thinner scarce, what success would there be with a commercial thinner?

LAST EDITED ON Nov-26-04 AT 06:19 PM (CST)
 
Christ Rigoti recomended to me Dupont 3602S Lacquor Thinner. And I've been having good luck with it. I cost 19 bucks a gallon at the auto paint store.

I Micheal you stated you have been using Dupnt thinner with good results. You haven't had any problems with the Dope not wanting to stick are peeling up?

I've been using Dupont 3608S for years in Sig and Aerogloss both nitrate and butyrate. Works great.

>Christ Rigoti recomended to me Dupont 3602S Lacquor Thinner.
>And I've been having good luck with it. I cost 19 bucks a
>gallon at the auto paint store.

Mike,
I hope you had a typo. I use 3608S thinner.

hey zeke
some time ago I found my nitrate dope fully hardened in the bottom of the can ...I poured acetone on it and in a few days it was fresh again...( I must say that I use it in my free flight models...and not tried in a control liner finish)...enrique

I could only get V3608S out in California, it did not work in butyrate dope so be careful. You can also buy a Gallon of Randolph butyrate thinner from an aircraft supply store. This does work just fine.

You can also buy Randolphs online from Aircraft Spruce. I just bought a gallon of non-taunting dope and 2 gallons of thinner. The thinner is 15.00 a gallon, but of course, you have to have it shipped.

>hey zeke
>some time ago I found my nitrate dope fully hardened in the
>bottom of the can ...I poured acetone on it and in a few
>days it was fresh again...( I must say that I use it in my
>free flight models...and not tried in a control liner
>finish)...enrique

The big problem with acetone is speed. You need to control the depth into which it "bites" into the lower layers and how quick it sets up. On a free flite where you may be working with clear dope only and no filler coats, etc., it is not so important. But when working on that front row finish, I would be very careful of the type of thinner I used. Both 3608S and Randolph thinner should be fine, as well as SIG or Brodak. You might experiment with other stuff at the auto supply store (there are other brands that are the equivilent of 3608S) but beware that some of the stuff is faster drying (not enough bite) and some slower (will melt down through the layers and take ages before you can sand). It is all a compromise.

Hi, Greg. Is your dope from my 55 gallon drum ? If it is then I would recomend that you get Randolph Butyrate Thinner as I do not like to mix brands. I still have some retarder , just bring a jar over and I will fill it . JIM

>Hi, Greg. Is your dope from my 55 gallon drum ? If it is
>then I would recomend that you get Randolph Butyrate Thinner
>as I do not like to mix brands. I still have some retarder ,
>just bring a jar over and I will fill it . JIM

Yes it's in those antique Fox gas cans, that means it's really old.

I think that Hazmat fees could be more than the product.

Hi, Greg. The dope you got from me is Real Butyrate Dope and it comes unthinned. You will need to get at least 4 gallons of thinner. The Model companys thin their dope and repackage it for us modelers. When we were recovering airplanes in the shop I always got thinner by the 55 gallon drum. You might try Pete Jones at Air Repair in Cleveland MS. as he still uses Butyrate Dope on his Stearman restorations. JIM

I recently opened a can of Brodak/Randolf clear that was several years old. The dope is fine. All it needed was a bit of thinner BUT it had yellowed considerably.

Check your stuff before you use it as a top coat!

BIGS

" What constitutes the dignity of a craft is that it creates a fellowship, that it binds men together and fashions for them a common language. For there is but one problem - the problem of human relations."