Tissue Trim?

Stuka Stunt Main Forum · 6 of 6 known posts recovered

VolvoBird · Sep 02, 2000 07:43 PM

In the interest of saving time and weight on some stunt trainers that I am building, I am going to use colored tissue, instead of colored dope, for trim over clear silkspan. I will apply the tissue trim after the first three coats of Brodak clear. Question: To avoid the risk of puckering from the tissue shrinking, should the tissue be preshrunk before doping it over the silkspan?
Thanks for your suggestions.

faif2d · Sep 03, 2000 04:54 PM

#1 source

LAST EDITED ON Sep-03-00 AT 04:54 PM (EST)

Just cut out the tissue, position and flow thinner through it to apply. Then put on several coats of dope to finish. This works very well over silk so it should do you just fine.

Jim T. · Sep 03, 2000 08:55 PM

#2 source

I'd put the tissue on after the first coat of dope. Make sure the tissue is smooth (you may have to iron it.) put your cutouts in place and stick them down with thinner, working from the center to the edges. On large pieces, you may want to stick them down around the edges with thinner then water shrink them. Then continue doping after the thinner dries. For cutting out numbers and the like, tape the tissue between two sheets of paper and cut all the way through the paper with an #11 blade or sizzors. You can stack several sheets of tissue and cut multiple copies. Try the tissue you get at gift shops. The couple of colors I have tried were both water and thinner fast. The gift shop tissue seems to have more pigment and doesn't fade as fast in the sun. It's also cheap.

Jim Thomerson

Randy Ryan · Sep 08, 2000 09:35 PM

#3 source

LAST EDITED ON Sep-08-00 AT 09:36 PM (EST)

Hi Bird,

I'm actually a Free Flighter disguised as a CL Stunt pilot and I've done alot of tissue trim work.

To answer you question, no, you need not preshrink the tissue.

A few suggestions to make it go smoothly:
1. apply the tissue with thinner and rub down with your fingers
2. after the thinner dries swab the edges of the tissue with a damp cloth of cotton ball. You'll see it pucker some where it's wet but never fear. Apply thinner again or maybe some very thinned dope and rub down again. What this does is allows the tissue to conform to the curves.
3. Compounds are a bugger and take practice. With experience you will find that by wetting strategic parts of the tissue you can make it conform the a compound curve. Learning the points is the trick along with learning not to try to pull it tight, only to get it to the point where the edges all seal down without wrinkles.
4.Jap tissue has a wonderfull shrink rate and will continue to shrink with subsequent wettings 5-6 times. Heat from a plastic film iron will also work some minor wonders on wrinkles and puckers.
5. the tissue will still wet after it is thinnered into place, so it will still shrink should you find loose spots.
6.Do not dope it until you have it edge sealed and conforming to your liking, once you put dope on it, your stuck with what you started with.
7.Last, if large areas are trimmed over, only seal the edges down, then water shrink the tissue, it will conform beautifully.

This makes for a georgeous finish when doped well. Get ahold of George Aldrich and get a bottle of UV blocker to add to your dope, otherwise your beautiful tissue trim job will lose a little life every time you take it out, and will be faded to a mere ghost of it's glory in one season's time.

Randy

Steve Helmick · Sep 12, 2000 09:26 PM

#4 source

I've built and flown a lot of free flights also, and learned a lot from Randy Ryan's info on the subject. However, as for cutting out the trim, the best thing I found was to draw out what you want on cheap typing paper or brown wrapping paper. Lay several stacks of colored tissue on top of at least 6 layers of newspaper, and put your pattern on top. Tacking it to a board with thumb tacks or map pins would be good, or masking tape. I used a lot of pinstripes, stars, and the model name and my AMA
numbers, NFFS, etc, with a splash of day-glo red and a couple of strips of chrome mylar (3m) tape. It really was quick and easy to do. I recommend using what is called "cartoon-style" letters and numerals, a kind of funky shape that doesn't have to be perfect to look terrific. One of my favorite techniques is to use two colors of numbers or letters, layered, but offset slightly to look a bit like a shadowed figure. Some colors look better than others for this use. Blue/yellow is good, red/yellow is not. I
should try black/red, I think it would look good with black over
red, maybe with red over black. It makes a difference. You can do a little testing with this and decide what you like on an old wing or piece of scrap balsa or plywood. One thing of interest is that I weighed my wings and stabs on an Ohaus triple beam balance and found that the first coat of clear was the only one that added any significant amount of weight. Subsequent coats would only add TENTHS of a gram (for a doped area of about 460 sq. in, counting both top and bottom of a wing half). There is something to this "clear dope is lighter" theory! Easy to fix, too. Steve

Randy Ryan · Sep 12, 2000 10:10 PM

#5 source

Steve and Peter,

I forgot slick about cutting the stuff. I tape 8"x10" pieces of tissue to half a manilla folder and then a sheet of heavy bond paper over that with the artwork on it. I cut more then I need and usually different colors in the same batch.

Use a fresh Xacto #11 blade and try this trick,wipe the blade off with lacquer thinner, dope thinner, naptha, or any other solvent that cuts oil. Believe it or not they cut much better, on paper this helps but on balsa you qotta' try it.

I have taken to doing my art work on my computer where there is a treasure trove of neat fonts as well as draw and other graphics programs that are reasonably priced.