Silkspan

Where can I get fresh silkspan? I refuse to wrap plastic wrap around my vintage balsa. Also its been several years since(30)
since I've applied it and wonder what method you find works best.
Your help would be appreciated.

LAST EDITED ON Mar-06-02 AT 09:54 AM (CST)

On the where, Brodak sells it, I have got it. (SIG sells it, other dealers sell it.)

We use it and apply it just like you used to with dope. Some use nitrate dope to stick it down, but I don't like it. Nitrate is not fuel proof, and if you get a crack or split in your covering and just a little fuel seepage it could turn into a major disaster.

We have gone to Brodak dope exclusively. It is quite thick, covers and fills quickly, and we have had no problem with sticking the stuff down with the Butyrate.

Leonard --

You didn't give your lecture on weight -- medium, heavy, and light. Do it again.

Larry Full

I've done plenty of planes with the nitrate base, and never had problems, much less a "major disaster".

The stuff I've been using from Sig is called 'plyspan'. It is very silkspan-like and comes in a variety of colors. It is pretty tough. I have a couple of plyspan-covered airplanes that have survived several major crashes with little damage. I generaly stick it down with nitrate, but I have found that Sig buyterate clear dopes do not go on well of the no-name nitrate I have. The new Aerogloss goes over it fine, amazingly enough. Also epoxy goes over nitrate with no problem.

I cover wings with it sopping wet. One tip, over wood, cover dry and sick it down only around the edges, then watershrink and dope. It will be much smoother than if you dope it down first. Silk goes around curves much better.

One thing you might try, if you are going to paint over. Put it on with thinned down titebond glue, and put a little titebond in your wetting water. You can get a nice smooth hard base with titebond if you sand it gently. You might try using steel wool over open bays rather than sandpaper.

>Leonard --
>
>You didn't give your lecture on
>weight -- medium, heavy, and
>light. Do it again.
>
>Larry Full

I don't know what lecture you are talking about, but you don't need to go with the heavy stuff. The new dopes are not brittle like the old dope was 30 years ago. Then silkspan and dope would shatter. Today you can "thump" a good doped silkspan finish over the open bays and not worry about punching through. Quite strong.

However, for lightness, the medium silkspan wlll fill quicker and take less dope than the light stuff (too porous), and, if done properly, will actually result in a lighter finish. Some of the top guys (Gieseke) will use Japanese tissue to make for an even lighter finish (this fills better than the light silkspan). For most people, however, medium weight silkspan is all you need over all areas of the plane.

A couple of years ago I needed some medium weight silkspan and tried a half dozen LHS. No one had any. They all said, "No one uses that stuff anymore."

I finally ordered a package of 30 medium (GM)and 25 heavy (SGM) sheets of KS silkspan from Tower. Now I finally have enough to last awhile.

fleetbob,
If you've been using plastic for awhile, don't forget that silkspan has grain which should be applied spanwise.