Jump to content
Please be aware of scammers when using the Sale/Wanted forum areas

John Laird

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    84

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Everything posted by John Laird

  1. John Laird
    It does - I give it 2 or 3 coats of 50/50 dope thinners- which is enough to water and dirt proof it.
  2. John Laird
    I have used doped polyster dress lining - that was quite heavy - would have been a bit lighter over mylar but still on heavy side. I then moved onto chiffon - much lighter material - over mylar. I doped it on dry - might have been better doping on wet to minimise wrinkles. The blue vagabond came out very nice with that covering. The cerise red enlarged vagabond was also covered with chiffon but it wrinkled slightly. Finally, I now use polyester faux silk - probably lightest of all. Also a very close weave, so it doesn't need much dope to weather seal especially over mylar. Cost of the silk is about £2 / running metre 40/60" wide. Shrinking thinned dope used was 40% dope/60% thinners or thereabouts. I covered my big 96" span Cumulus with polyspan - the wings were very strong and stiff - and the light covering was quite adequate for the large model. However thru time, the doped polyspan gradually shrunk and the top covering started to split. Being naturally lazy, I put a layer of doculam - mylar - over the top of the polyspan and that did the trick and also gave instant waterproofing. I am not sure about putting it over a material such as faux silk as shrinking the doculam over the material might cause material underneath to wrinkle. I attach a link to my blog on RCGroups vintage forum which illustrates some of my models with the coverings described above. There are links in the blog to some of the model builds for more detail. Note that all the materials are polyester based which goes well with dope. I think all the solartex coverings were polyester based. You can heat shrink the material to tighten it up before doping and also after doping if any wrinkles develop. https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/member.php?u=153227 hope this is useful John
  3. John Laird
    I agree with above comments re the slec one - too flexible. I use a biro to mark slot , cut the slot and then reuse the biro to indent the balsa to partially inset hinges . The more solid slot marker in Goldberg kits works quite well as well, doing both the marking and the hinge insetting. john
  4. John Laird
    Any comment on Popham ? . I am going there today
  5. John Laird
    I got my white faux silk at fabricland - priced at £1.45 / metre 114 cm wide. might be one near you , if not they do mail order but check postage against amount purchased.
  6. John Laird
    Attached are some photos of my Frog Zephyr enlarged to 66" span for R/C. It is covered in doped on polyester faux silk over laminating film. Less dope is required over the film which reduces the amount needed to seal the silk which has a close weave anyway. Laminating film is used as it comes with a light coating of glue to attach it to the frame. I then heat shrink the film to tighten up to stiffen the frame and take out any wrinkles. The faux silk is cut oversize and doped directly onto the film using thinned dope. Dope onto the excess material since when it dries, I cut it off leaving about 1/8" excess. I smear a tiny amount of Impex fast tack onto this excess and press it onto the frame. It wont stick. This is simply to ensure both sides have the smear of tack. Allow to dry - at least 15 mins, then use a modelling iron to heat and press the material down onto the frame to seal the edges. Another coat of thinned dope (30/70 dope/thinners) just to dirt proof the covering. Any wrinkle can generally be shrunk out with the iron. I iron - low heat - any wrinkles on the faux silk before using it. The impex glue is a dress making glue and has a spout to apply it - use a thin pin to pierce the nozzle to minimze the amount applied. Easier then balsaloc. One wing of the Zephyr had been covered with doped on white tissue and you can see the difference in translucence
  7. John Laird
    I have moved on from poly dress lining to polyester faux silk - a bit lighter and easier to work with. the white is stunning. I will post a pic later. price is much same at less than £2 per running meter.
  8. John Laird
    test ignore this entry
  9. John Laird
    Is the WBV fuelproof against diesel or glo fuel ??
  10. John Laird
    try doped lightweight over doculam or mylar - it will be both stronger and lighter as the combined cover needs less thinned dope
  11. John Laird
    Sal, agreed john
  12. John Laird
    Sal, I am thinking of selling mine as part of downsizing on models. It has an OS 70 4 stroke engine and will have 3 servos and battery but not Rx, I live on edge of new forest near southampton. Model can be seen here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iu1GnqOwC_4
  13. John Laird
    Transparent red shows all the way up into the thermals - great colour
  14. John Laird
    Now I have the hang of loading utube videos, I thought i would slip in the one of the standard size Vagabond covered in blue chiffon over mylar which came out very nice and as you can see is nicely translucent mirroring a doped tissue covering but very much stronger. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=957ylA8daZU&t=244s
  15. John Laird
    I thought I had loaded the links properly using the link icon - trying again https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4gQV4tYLWg for the Outlaw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oS758KRCXII&t=8s for the big Vagabond
  16. John Laird
    I have used doped polyester dress lining but 2 drawbacks - it needs more dope to fill weave and material needs to be stuck on - i used impex material glue which is similar to balsaloc and activated with heat. Apart from dope, materials are lo cost. I have now switched to polyester faux silk doped on over doculam ( similar to mylar but with adhesive already on it ). 2 coats of 50/50 dope thinners are sufficient to tighten and weatherproof the covering and is fairly light covering ( 0.17 ozs / sq ft ) Slight wrinkling will respond to hot covering iron as per solartex which I believe was also polyester based material . I have still to try it with ezedope which is reputed to be fuelproof. The silk is about £1.20 per running metre 48" wide and is semitranslucent - see photos of my Keil Kraft Outlaw - video of which is on utube Video of outlaw is here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4gQV4tYLWg I have also used polyester chiffon over doculam - see photos and video here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oS758KRCXII&t=386s Hope this is of help on your recovering. john
  17. John Laird
    Erfolg Ebay lets the kit find its own price and I have never been disappointed particularly for older kits. The Mercury Sedan is both rare and in my opinion one of the best kits produced by Mercury - I built one a long time ago and if I wasn't slowly and reluctantly disposing of kits I never got round to building, I would have been interested in the Sedan. It fits in well with the vintage collectors and builders. When I have put a kit up, I posted a notice with the link in several forums incl RcGroups vintage forum with the ebay link included. Good luck with the Sedan john
  18. John Laird
    Erfolg, PO asks for wt in kgs and dims in cms. - you appear to be inputing gms and mms. earlier reply quotes about £8 which is what I would expect for UK deliveries. I never paid more than about £20 for larger and heavier boxes and that was for recorded delivery and generally next day. I also used ebay/ppal and was pleasantly surprised by the prices I got. john
  19. John Laird
    Erfolg, check out the parcel post - royal mail - for their rates - you input size and weight and postcode of destination and the cost is given. I have used them for even larger kits than the Sedan and the local PO where i took it to post took it OK and usually quoted a little under PO quote. Send it recorded delivery etc. john
  20. John Laird
    I have and continue to use Sullivan rods in my big vintage models and always anchor them along their length as flexing here reduces the throw at the horns. I recall reading somewhere that these rods ( and any of similar material ) are subject to length expansion in hot weather - never bothered me with my vintage models but it might affect trim on aerobatic models. I also use 1/8" OD carbon tubes as the hole is a slightly slack fit for the quick link threaded wire ends. I bend the wire slightly to get a friction fit then when I have the length right with the link on, I drip thin cyano down the tube to glue the wire in position and also bind the end of the carbon tube - the cyano wicks thru the "bundle" of fibres making up the tube and strengthens it. Roughen the wire first. I also support the carbon tube along its length it it a long rod.
  21. John Laird
    Yes I think its the same Colin Usher. Sorry to hear that he has died.
  22. John Laird
    thanks, Martin, I had already tried the email link on that posting but its no longer valid. I have messaged him on that forum and waiting on a reply before I phone him john
  23. John Laird
    Hello, I believe Colin Usher built Mick Smith's Mercury IV. I would appreciate contact info for him and suggest sending me an email thru the forum messaging rather than on open forum thank you john
  24. John Laird

    John Laird posted a gallery image in Member Albums

  25. John Laird

    ARF kit - not foam

    John Laird posted a gallery image in Member Albums

    ARF kit - not foam
×
×
  • Create New...