My 900 series Mustang

[joecrouse]

This was supposed to be entered into the Competition I just didn't get it covered in time nor flight tested.
No Decals and No Landing gear yet. And No Spinner on there yet but I wanted to show it off

Done up in Silver Tissue from Target.
This stuff is tricky, To Get it to work properly It almost HAS to be pre shrunk and you have to inspect it closely for tears and weak spots after pre shrinking.
I'm going to pick up a 2nd Mustang to re do with what I have learned with my experiments on this kit.
You can see where the hollow spaces it either shrank to much and pulled away from the edges OR it just didn't shrink in the right way.

[kittyfritters]

Stay away from wrapping tissue. Use Esaki or the domestic tissue supplied by Easybuilt. They have wet strength both for shrinking after dry covering and applying wet. The silver tissues are the hardest to work with and almost always have to be applied wet. I keep telling myself that if i ever do a "bare metal" airplane again I will use white Esaki and airbrush with aluminum airbrush ink or acrylics.

[joecrouse]

this stuff works pretty good it just has a propensity to over shrink sometimes.

Ive done a Hawker Hurricane and a Spitfire 500 series with it and it turned out great.

[twospruces]

great looking plane! Nice job; didn't know you could get silver tissue. That's a great idea.

I've been wondering if there was any difference really between the tissue supplied in the box vs wrapping tissue.

I am just about finished a Javelin done in red and yellow wrapping tissue and it is turning out quite well. It is fragile when wet that is for sure. Shrunk well though. I'll be doping it later today.

I've done a bit of searching and haven't really gotten to the bottom of the differences between wrapping, guillows and esaki tissues. I suppose I should buy some esaki and see. Then there is silkspan..

cheers, Steve

[joecrouse]

This tissue is just tricky. because of the coating.

The White tissue I get at Target or Hallmark Stores works a treat has a nice clayish shiny side that sticks really good. and it takes dope really well.
same for the the Black works really good too. Green worked really nice the red... works OK though the color runs a bit. The Yellow works AMAZING
So does the Dark Blue.

Silver works but is tricky like I said.

[Wildpig]

The difference between the Guillow supplied tissue and craft store stuff may not be much. Never done any real in depth comparisons. The craft store stuff is o.k. if you need a specific color but, you can get quality tissue in a wide variety of colors from places like Shorty's Basement and Easy Built.
Esaki is overall just better quality and it's lighter weight. The grain structure it better, I guess is a way to describe it. Not really sure, just seems better.

[kittyfritters]

Esaki is made from mulberry fiber. It has superior wet strength. The colors used in its production are colorfast in water and alcohol and have relatively good UV resistance (made better by the new UV resistant Krylon fixative). It has a shiny side that takes dope, Krylon Crystal Clear and other acrylic artist fixatives, Future and Armstrong Shine Keeper (the floor finishes), very well.

The domestic tissue sold by Easy Built and Sig are wood fiber tissues that apparently have some cotton or other fiber in them. They have decent wet strength and are made with colorfast dyes. They do not have a shiny side and usually take another coat to seal them.

Art and craft store tissues are NOT colorfast. They are made for collage work and are intended to bleed when wet. They usually have virtually zero wet strength.

Wrapping tissue is anyone's guess. I have found some that are excellent for model covering, as good as the Easy Built tissue, and others are so bad that they will cause you to swear. For example, the deep blue tissue that I used on my Skyraider is a wrapping tissue sold at Michael's. It was the right color and was calendared (shiny side) like the Esaki, but has absolutely no wet strength for wet covering, the color runs and fades in the sun, and even if you cover dry and shrink with a fine mist of rubbing alcohol, as I did, it has inferior strength even after being fixed with Krylon. The remainder of the package will be used for wrapping tissue. Oddly enough, some of the best wrapping tissues I have found came from dollar stores. (I don't know what you call them in the UK. They are overstock outlet/disposal stores where everything, no matter how high it was priced originally, costs a dollar.)

I know a few people who have gone completely over to the new "park flier", super light plastic films. These weigh about the same as Esaki with two coats of dope. The catch is that the plastic films, even when you shrink them tight, do not impart the additional strength to the structure that tissue does when it shrinks, so the people who do well with it are those that build a little heavy.

[twospruces]

thanks, that is a very informative post.
I've noticed the strength is less with the wrapping tissue. Well, live and learn.
I'll throw some dope on it and see how it goes.
and, will order some esaki for my next plane. thanks, Steve

[john8750]

Just wondering, what about tissue from the dollar store?

[kittyfritters]

Just wondering, what about tissue from the dollar store?

I've found some really good domestic tissue at the 99 Cent Store. The problem is that since they are selling overstocks they do not always have the same brands. Some is very good, and some is bad. I usually get the assorted colors packages to get a wide range of colors. For a dollar it's not much of an investment and I check for wet strength and colorfastness with a corner of a sheet I want to use. With the color range, even if the tissue is not good for primary covering, it may be useful for glue on trim. In the worst case I can use it for wrapping tissue.



The Beaver, you see here, is all tissue, the only paint on it is the tail wheel and the inside of the cowl ring. The white is standard Guillow's tissue, everything else, the green, silver, copper, and black is wrapping tissue from the 99 Cent store. The white was applied to the wings, tail and top half of fuselage wet. The green was applied to the bottom of the fuselage wet. Everything else was dry trim except for the cowl where it was all applied wet so that it could be pulled around the curves. Yes, even the air scoops and the exhaust stack are covered with tissue.

[twospruces]

Wow! nice stuff!

A couple of questions for Kittyfritters-
1) did you dope the entire plane
2) did you cover the wings entirely in white, and then apply the colored pieces? did you use dope to attach the 2nd layer of tissue, or glue?
3) what was the sequence - papering, shrinking, etc?

super nice looking plane!

[kittyfritters]

Wow! nice stuff!

A couple of questions for Kittyfritters-
1) did you dope the entire plane
2) did you cover the wings entirely in white, and then apply the colored pieces? did you use dope to attach the 2nd layer of tissue, or glue?
3) what was the sequence - papering, shrinking, etc?

super nice looking plane!

I seldom use dope, even out in the garage, because of my wife's allergies. I only use dope when the model has to be absolutely waterproof, i.e. an actual seaplane. I have not yet tried Krylon Crystal Clear, indoor/outdoor, coating #51301 which is supposedly completely waterproof and may be a complete substitute for clear dope.

When covering wet, the framework must be waterproofed. In this case I brushed on a coat of Flecto Varathane, water based, satin, polyurethane finish diluted 50/50 with water. When this was dry it was sanded with 400 grit paper leaving an almost glass like surface where the tissue was to touch the frame. (When using dope I mix nitrate dope, diluted 50/50 with thinner, with unscented talcum powder to make sanding sealer to get the same effect.)

The wings and tail surfaces were covered entirely in white. The top half of the fuselage was covered in white and the bottom half in green. Uhu purple glue stick was used to apply the tissue. Elmer's or 3M permanent glue sticks work as well. Since the parts were covered wet, they shrank smoothly with no wrinkles. When they were dry I misted on a coat of Krylon Crystal Clear, UV resistant fixative #1305. After that dried I applied the trim, dry, with the glue stick. The trim flash down the side of the fuselage covered the seam between the white and green. Even the small parts, struts, air scoops, exhaust stack and cowl were covered with tissue. Tissue was glued to the bond paper parts before they were cut out bent and attached. When all the parts were covered and dry another coat of Krylon was misted on and the model assembled.

http://virtualaerodrome.com/image_detai ... &offset=96

If any one can make it to the AMA EXPO in Ontario, CA on January 11-13, I will be doing demonstrations of wet tissue covering in the education area at the Blacksheep Squadron table.

[twospruces]

thanks for the great info there! My knowledge is increasing exponentially by hanging around here! Steve

[twospruces]

I just got a 900 typhoon..

I must say these kits are highly optimized. I'm impressed. looking at the body panels, I would think that they could be further lightened...it is convenient that some of the parts are taken from the centers of the panels, but surely the panels could have more removed.

Impressive though. All the pieces from 3 sheets. Great for Guillows margin, great for weight. I think this is the next one to build.

[Steve Blanchard]

Definitely a great choice. That is one of the best flyers in the group.