Silk Span, Thin Medium or Heavy

I plan to put silk span on my next airplane wing. Which is best, Thin Medium or Heavy?

Depends on what size plane and its intended use. For .15 through .60 size stunters, I prefer medium. Anything smaller, I use light. Never had need for anything heavier than medium.

In my own experience, on wings the medium weight takes less material to fill. This would seem to suggest that the finish will be lighter.
If it is light weight only that you're after, and a super slick finish is not important, then use the light weight
Using light weight on solid surfaces doesn't seem to matter as much.
Bill <><

if you're mainly trying to fill the grain use the lightest silkspan or tissue available. On open bays light SS is kind of marginal. Regardless, the weight added is pretty much proportional to the thickness of the painted paper. I found this out with polycrylic. The paper thickness kind of sets the finish thickness, and hence the weight. Dope adds less weight than PC, but the same holds true. Medium SS is about 25-30% thicker than light and the finish, whatever it is, will weigh 25-30% more.

Back in the '60's, I used heavy silkspan on a few combat models. It is pretty tough, as in a silkspan bag filled with balsa bits after a crash. It did help keep the field neat & tidy. Steve

>if you're mainly trying to fill the grain use the lightest
>silkspan or tissue available. On open bays light SS is kind
>of marginal. Regardless, the weight added is pretty much
>proportional to the thickness of the painted paper. I found
>this out with polycrylic. The paper thickness kind of sets
>the finish thickness, and hence the weight. Dope adds less
>weight than PC, but the same holds true. Medium SS is about
>25-30% thicker than light and the finish, whatever it is,
>will weigh 25-30% more.

Windy had done some testing and with the silkspan he had available he reported that the medium silkspan took less dope to fill and ended up being lighter than the light silkspan. If all you want to do is give a coat of clear as in covering a light weight rubber powered ship, then maybe the light weight is OK, but for filling the grain, the medium may, indeed, provide a lighter finish.

I have found that, for most applications, .15 sized models through .40s, that Medium is the way to go. Medium provides reasonable lightness without undue tradeoff of strength. It also fills a bit more rapidly, especially if you start off with Nitrate, which I usually do.

Some here at SSW probably use it for .60 sized ships, too.

Currell,
I use medium for covering all my ships over 1/2A.
I would have to disagree with Phil C. for the reason you stated about the medium filling faster. If I am going for a very good finish the medium doesn't need as much "filler" so it comes out lighter for me. This doesn't seem to be as bad if "00" is used over a solid surface.
Bill <><

>
>Some here at SSW probably use it for .60 sized ships, too.
>
>Currell

Yup, even for a .65. It seems more than adequately strong, and produces a lighter finish.