pre finish prep.

Sorry if this shows twice. I swear I already posted but don't see it antwhere.

Anyway, I'm just about ready to finish a ship that I designed myself (475 sq in flapped with a Fox .35) with a lot of help from the great folks on this board. Even if it doesn't fly, I've had great fun building! It had better F@3?**&!@ fly!!

My plan was to cover the entire plane in Japanese tissue and then apply the final finish. I want to try and achieve as close to a glass finish as possible.

I've found some great info about the final finish in the archive but could use some input on how best to get to that stage.

Two questions off the bat: what do most of you use to fill all the dings and dents?

How many coats of dope should I expect to use to seal the tissue prior to painting? Note I sheeted the entire wing - no open bays.

Any and all tips and/or pointers would be helpful.

Thanks,

There are three posts! You might go in and edit them yourself to remove the text and whatever else you can, and/or email Leonard and plead with him to delete the extra posts, so that answers won't be posted to all three.

Q: What finish are you going to use? Dope? What brand? Real Japanese Tissue, or some kind of substitute? Brush, spray,sponge, roller? Ok, the roller is a joke, but the sponge is not. Are you going to sand between coats, and how far do you plan to go with the sanding, as far as grit goes? My (boughten) Humongus has 8 coats of Brodak clear brushed on medium silkspan, wet sanded with up to 2000 grit, and it appears to shine like a new Mercedes. On top and everyplace but the bottom of the wing, which is as brushed, for contrast. It's amazing. Brodak dope good! Other dope not so good. Sanding, with the correct grade and technique is key to the quality of finish, near as I can figure out. Steve

I don't know much about tissue & dope, but you can get rid of most dents in balsa by laying a damp (not wet!) cloth over the dent & lightly pressing an iron over it. It doesn't take much. I use my covering iron but a regular iron will work. Anything that's left I fill with lightweight drywall spackle from the hardware store. It's the same stuff as Model Magic at about 20% the price. Be sure to get the "lightweight" stuff. Btw, don't try to use it for wing fillets.

A little bit of the ole' table variety white vinegar goes a real long way in removing dents and dings of construction and hanger rash. I dab it on to the un-treated wood with "nose blow paper" a.k.a. Kleenex tissue, or a Q-tip. Let dry, re-apply if needed. Will take out even some of the larger dings, ..you may be amazed at how well it works before fill is needed. Don't let it run all over the place, as it will raise the wood along it's path of travel.

Hi Drew. The best way to apply Japanese tissue is to sand the entire wood area, obviously, get it as smooth as a new babies bum. After sanding, take a damp, not wet, damp cloth and wipe the sanded area. Note all the dust. After it dries, sand again with 400 grit dry. Use Sigs Nitrate dope and at a 50/50 mixture, brush on three coats. Let each one dry two days. Sand lightly in between coats. Then cut the tissue to fit and apply using thinner. Rub it with your fingers and it will lay down nice and flat. Any dings before doping are best removed with, as noted below, vinegar (white), water and heat, or fill with Spackle compound (the light white variety by Dab). After the dope has dried, give the paper two or three light coats of Nitrate. Let this sit for a week. Sand and then apply two coats of clear (Brodaks) thinned 50/50. After this has set for a week, sand, tack rag it, and apply your base color, or a filler coat, well sanded. Some folks use silver to find any dings etc, sand it all off except the low areas, fix the dings and apply the silver until it is smooth. Then apply the base color and let each coat dry for a week before doing any trim colors. Be sure to apply a "dry" coat of clear over the edges of the tape before applying the trim colors. Remove this tape after about ten minutes by peeling it back onto itself. This will or should keep the paint from lifting. After all this, give it several thinned coats of clear. Let each coat sit for a week. Nitrate takes 30 days to really settle and Butyrate takes 90 days to settle. I learned a little code about paints on this board. EBAN= write it in a vertical column. E= Enamel over all. B= Butyrate over acetate and nitrate. A=Acetate over nitrate. N=nitrate over nothing. By using nitrate dope, you will fill the wood better and it does not shrink to the point of ripping the tissue. Butyrate never stops shrinking. Guess how I know! If you can get the book by Harry Higley called "There are no secrets". It has more info on prep and painting than you can ever use, but it sure has helped me. Later, Ty