white glue, water and painting (t)issues

grinx76 · Post by **grinx76** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 8:03 am

getting ready to start the Hellcat, 500 series.
i use white glue for my tissues, i spray mist water to tighten

i want the hellcat to be dark blue and i have found no dark blue tissue, therefore, i need to paint the white tissue.

i don't use dope and don't want to. i don't want to use enamel paint, acrylic would be preferred.

do you just spray thinned acrylic straight onto the tissue? do you need to mist the tissue as you normally would and then paint or do you simply paint slack tissue?

after you paint it, or, even if you don't, how do you put the decals on? i assume you use warm water to remove the decal, and then you just lay it on the stretched/painted tissue and it sticks?

thanks all

=jc=

Cadet/Flyboy/Javelin/Hellcat500

lukebozek1 · Post by **lukebozek1** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 12:32 pm

Easy Built Lite Tissue in Dark or Medium Navy would do the trick at 60 cents a sheet. Acrylic is the only way to go, but I have never tried putting it directly on the tissue and have no idea what it would do. I usually apply two coats of clear dope thinned to 50% with thinner and it works well with Acrylics. Good luck!

grinx76 · Post by **grinx76** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 1:11 pm

thanks for the tissue reference.....that would save me painting everything but the canopy and the cowl =)

John G Jedinak · Post by **John G Jedinak** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 1:47 pm

Note: Elmers White Glue thinned 50/50 (as a substitute for dope) as a sealer will work quite well with acrylic. You might get a little sag from the glue and/or the acrylics but, it will tighten back up as it dries. I use this exclusively....Luck

grinx76 · Post by **grinx76** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 1:53 pm

i only 50/50/glue where the tissue meets wood

i don't brush it anywhere else. the water mist tightens everything up

can you paint acrylic on bare tissue unsealed/untreated?

thanks for the help, folks!

lukebozek1 · Post by **lukebozek1** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 3:06 pm

I have heard of that also, I think Guillows actually recommended it in a little brochure in the kit.

Phugoid · Post by **Phugoid** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 5:04 pm

I think that you'll probably need something to seal the pores of the tissue before you paint, sealing is the primary purpose of a dope. If you don't want to use cellulose dope etc then John's suggestion is the best alternative. A friend of mine used it and it turned out very well.

BTW, I use non shrinking cellulose dope ie all the shrinking is done with water before I apply dope, IMO Shrinking dope is a no no on small delicate models as it will distort the structure

kittyfritters · Post by **kittyfritters** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 6:59 pm

Try Krylon Crystal Clear artist fixative, #1303 or 1305, to fix the tissue instead of dope. It is less toxic than dope but should still be sprayed outside. A couple of misted coats should do to seal the tissue. I have models that I built in 2004 using Krylon that are still flyable.

Airbrushing acrylic paints or acrylic artist's ink over Krylon works very well. Krylon fixative is water resistant, not waterproof as dope, so the large load of water carried by the acrylics will cause tissue to sag after spraying but it will tighten back up again in a few minutes to hours depending on the temperature and humidity. Obviously, you have to let it completely dry between colors and changing masking. You can mask with airbrush frisket or Guillow's tissue sprayed with three or four coats of Krylon then cut as masking and applied with a repositionable glue stick (Post-It note glue).

This Guillow's 500 series Spitfire is an example of a model done this way,

Hope this helps.

grinx76 · Post by **grinx76** » Fri Jan 21, 2011 7:57 am

thanks for the Krylon idea also

any tricks for putting decals on non-painted tissue surfaces?

do you need to Krylon the tissue (or use dope, etc.) or can you place a decal on raw unsealed tissue?

kittyfritters · Post by **kittyfritters** » Fri Jan 21, 2011 12:00 pm

If you put a water slide decal on undoped tissue the tissue will shrink under the decal when the water dries and the decal will wrinkle. Unfortunately, since Krylon is water resistant, not waterproof, the same kind of thing will happen if you put a large decal on a Kryloned surface. In this case the tissue sags under the water when the decal is applied then shrinks tight again when dry wrinkling the decal.

I scan my decals and print them on tissue, then cut them out and apply them with a Uhu glue stick. The markings on the Spitfire are "tissuecals" not decals.

Bean · Post by **Bean** » Sat Feb 26, 2011 12:31 pm

kittyfritters wrote: I scan my decals and print them on tissue, then cut them out and apply them with a Uhu glue stick. The markings on the Spitfire are "tissuecals" not decals.

How exactly do you do this?