First Balsa Build. Guillows 504 Spitfire

[Ketchup]

A while ago (Monday) I decided to try building a balsa plane, which is something that I have been wanting to do for a while, so I got a guillows spitfire kit and started building. So far I finished the horizontal stabilizer, wing, and most of the fuselage (there are 2 parts labeled l2 that I do not know the use of). Here are the pictures of the build.

 

[Jackson T]

Nice! I absolutely love spitfires. One of my friend's dad used to work at a warbird museum, and he let me sit in one! Are you going to make it rc or free flight?

 

[Ketchup]

I am making it free flight since I want to figure out how these planes build before doing an rc conversion.

 

[JTarmstr]

Just a tip, when covering, make sure that the glue you use is not water based. Also its ok if the skin is not the tightest, if you use a spray bottle with some water on the tissue paper, it actually tightens up pretty nice.

 

[Ketchup]

Thanks for the tip, I will be covering it soon. I did have a question though, how do I cover the plane? Some people just use glue sticks to stick on the tissue, and others use dope. Also, the instructions for the plane says that I should give the covered parts a few coats of dope to strengthen the tissue and to make the plane a bit more water resistant. Do I have to do this?

 

[JTarmstr]

My guillows skyraider (link is in my signature) build I did, I used water soluble gluesticks, which went pretty poorly, however the glue itself stuck fine, I would say a non water based gluestick would work. Dope would probably be the best choice but from what I have read of it, its got some pretty nasty fumes and I cant seem to find any locally (I haven't searched that hard though).

 

[Ketchup]

I just finished the vertical stabilizer. I will try to find either some good dope or uhu stic glue. I would use a simple Elmer’s glue stick but I think it washes off with water. I have also heard of a mix of white glue and water being used as dope, but that might wash off too. Also, do I need a water resistant glue, because the only water that this plane would encounter would be dew on grass (and even that would be rare).

 

[Jackson T]

James Whomesly (the FT article writer) made a great tutorial for covering with tissue.

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[Ketchup]

Thanks for the video, it was very useful and helped me a lot to understand covering. I am still not sure which method to use though.

 

[rockyboy]

Hooray more balsa dust in the world!

 

[degriz]

In the past I have used dope and recently used glue sticks. If you plan on paint and having it around a while I would go with the dope.

Yes fumes suck, but for longevity, strength and accepting the paint dope is the best in my opinion.

 

[Ketchup]

I want to have the plane around for as long as I can, so I will probably be using dope. I would try painting but I don’t know what type of paint to use and I don’t know if I should use spray paint or brush paint on. Any suggestions?

 

[degriz]

Back in the day, I used Aero gloss dope & paint, applied with a brush. I would guess brush or spray is your call.

 

[Ketchup]

I don’t think that aero gloss paint is available at my local hobby store. I will just ask them what to use when I go there to get dope. Thanks for all the help though.

 

[TooJung2Die]

You might want to try Eze Dope instead. It's made for tissue, dries water proof, and doesn't have a solvent smell. I've used it and it works.

Jon

 

[Ketchup]

I just got dope from hobby town. I left right before @TooJung2Die left a comment, so I didn’t see it until after I came back. I decided not to paint the plane because I want to fly it and it should be as light as possible. As for the dope smell though, my building table is right next to a window and there is a ceiling fan right behind it so I should be safe from the fumes... hopefully.

 

[TooJung2Die]

Dope is excellent for applying tissue covering. Arguably the best way. I would use dope if I could. I don't mind the fumes. My wife gets sick from it. Don't apply paint to tissue if you want your rubber band powered airplane to fly well. Every gram saved makes a difference. I hope you got dope thinner. You use it straight from the bottle to glue down the tissue but you want to thin it 50/50 after you water shrink the tissue.

 

[Tench745]

You might want to try Eze Dope instead. It's made for tissue, dries water proof, and doesn't have a solvent smell. I've used it and it works.

Jon

If I'm not mistaken, Eze Dope is basically Water Based PolyUrethane (WBPU). I may be confusing it with another product in their lineup though.

 

[Ketchup]

I started covering last night and so far I stuck the tissue onto the horizontal and vertical stabilizers, bottom of the wing, and part of the fuselage. I will start shrinking the tissue after covering everything that is required. I watched a few videos on covering and I read a few articles and I decided to apply the tissue with the white glue mix, shrink it with water, and then coat it with dope to seal it.

 

[TooJung2Die]

If I'm not mistaken, Eze Dope is basically Water Based PolyUrethane (WBPU). I may be confusing it with another product in their lineup though.

You might be correct. It is water based. It doesn't have a sweet smell like white glue or Titebond. It has a sort of sour smell. I have not used WBPU so I can't compare.