new to this board, a story, and few questions

[zcoley]

when i was little i used to go to my grandpas house and look at his small plains and wonder why they looked the way they did, found out he used to build them when he was in the army. i thought that was cool so i asked him if he would help me build one. we went out and got a guillow's messershmitt Bf-109 kit 505. he wanted me to get something simpler but i wanted that one because it looked cool. so we built it. he did the fuselage and wings and i helped. then i did the tail section. it sat around and collected dust after we put the paper on it. after 4 years or so, now im tryen to finnish it. sry for the rant.

now for the QUESTIONS!!

ok so i doped it but i think i did it wrong.
i keep seeing things about mixing dope. but i used it strait out of the jar. is that bad?

and how do i but the nose cone for the propeller properly? not the cowel but the actual cone part.

also i think the surface is t ruff for the decals to work

help? also i love to see these models coming together on here! THANK YOU!!

[StefanJ]

Dope over tissue is traditionally thinned down 50%.

Is the nose cone a white, blow-molded styrene plastic piece? I haven't built a kit with one of those yet. I imagine you'd cut and sand slots to it fits over the prop, then cement it in place with careful application of liquid plastic cement.

It is possible to lightly (LIGHTLY!) sand sealed tissue.

[zcoley]

ok, so what do i use to thin it?
it is a white blow-molded nose cone.
also what grain of sand paper should i use?

thanks for your help!

[StefanJ]

Dope should only be thinned with the thinner of the same brand and type. E.g. Aerogloss Butyrate thinner with Aerogloss Butyrate dope . . . not SIG thinner. A good hobby shop will have have it.

What I did was find a jar with an airtight lid, poured half of my clear dope in it, and then fill both jars with thinner. So I ended up with two jars of 50% thinned dope.

For blow-molded styrene, you might use 220 or 320 grit sandpaper to cut and shape, followed up by 400 or 600 grit to smooth it. You should wet sand with the fine stuff; cut a strip of paper, wet it and the plastic, and sand away, pausing now and then to rinse off your work.

For sanding tissued planes, you'd only use the really fine paper, and gently!

Note: For you new planes, you might consider thinned white glue instead of dope. Guillow's includes a little sheet in its newer kits describing how to use it.

Others here have use "banana oil," which is new to me.

[zcoley]

real glad i signed up for this board thanks for your help StefanJ!
ill post pics on here when i finish an when i figure out how to post pics. lol
THANKS AGAIN!!

[zcoley]

thought id add some pics so u could see what i have. its my first build.
let me know what you think!

[Wildpig]

Nice job!

[ADW 123]

If you have aerogloss or another fuel proof dope, you can thin it with 100 percent acetone (nail polish remover), so you do not have to use the same brand of thinner in this case.

[StefanJ]

Really, just acetone?

I thought dope thinner was a weird cocktail of acetone, lacquer thinner and moonshine!

[zcoley]

i have sig dope.
that will be ok rite?
every one keeps saying aerogloss.
i have the 100 percent accitone to so i just have to 50/50 it?
this makes it much easyer.
thanks for the feed back every one!

[ADW 123]

the sig dope is fuel proof right? just try mixing a little bit 50/50. you will know when it has thinned out nicely. then you will be sure it can thin the rest of your dope. i keep a big jar of thinned dope so then i dont have to keep mixing the ratio. also, it doesnt have to be perfect. i just guess.

[zcoley]

cool! thanks for the tip