Ray Litten Posted June 4, 2010 Share Posted June 4, 2010 I want to apply a covering of glass fibre and epoxy resin (SIP113) to an airframe I've just finished building. As I've never done this before is there anybody out there who could give me some tips on the best way forward. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks, Ray Litten Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marko Posted June 4, 2010 Share Posted June 4, 2010 Hi ray maybe l can help l guess you airframe is balsa , first don't use any sanding sealer or filler on dents as the epoxy will not stick! Step one : apply a coat to the air frame and leave to cure then lightly sand to remove any hairs or wood fibre then apply another thin coat and lay your woven cloth down and pull the resin through the weave with a brush but don't add any more resin at this stage after it's cured a light sand again and then you can start to build up the coats to fill the weave sanding in between lt does sound likea lot of work but once you get the hang of it you could cover a lot in a very short time l hope this helps it is hard to explain by text Cheers mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Litten Posted June 5, 2010 Author Share Posted June 5, 2010 Hi Mark. Thanks for the advice and yes, the airframe is balsa with some ply used to strengthen the undercarriage. I haven't used sanding sealer but I have 'filled' a couple of areas that were a 'bit low'. Should I sand these back to the bare wood or leave them as they are? There are two of them and they measure about 50mm by 20mm. The rest of the airframe is untouched at this moment. Regards, Ray Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marko Posted June 5, 2010 Share Posted June 5, 2010 hi ray it all depends on what you have used to fill the "low spots " as some fillers are a bit waxy and the epoxy wont stick on some fillers, what might happen over time is an air bubble could appear under the filler ,you will have taken ages on this and it could look unsightly l wouldnt worry to much but more coats in between sanding and you will fill the low spots,anyway by the way what plane are you building ? keep asking as this is my field of work cheers matey ......................mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Litten Posted June 5, 2010 Author Share Posted June 5, 2010 Mark, the filler I used was 'Red Devil OneTime'. It seems to be OK although I couldn't give an opinion on whether it's waxy or not. The plane is an Acro Wot. Fellow club 'flyers' have suggested that using a film covering would be sufficient but the blurb I've got from Chris Foss suggests using an epoxy/glass cloth covering to increase the airframe's strength. It would also be beneficial to me to try this method and hopefully learn a new skill in the process. I would then paint it what ever colour scheme I fancied at the time. By the way, what's the best way of applying the first two thin coats, using a brush or possibly a small 100mm roller? Thanks, Ray Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marko Posted June 5, 2010 Share Posted June 5, 2010 Hi ray l would use a 4" foam roller like the ones you can get in D I Y stores as they don't load with to much resin then lay off with a brush a bit of caution , if your using any thinners be carefull as the wings will soak it up and it could melt the foam underneath !!! Not good . Have you bought the gass cloth yet ? This is going to rock hard , nice one are you going to do a build blog ? Cheers .............mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Litten Posted June 6, 2010 Author Share Posted June 6, 2010 Hi Mark. I gather using either a brush or roller will mean the end of that item once the resin has gone hard. Do you know if it's possible to 'clean' the brush or roller after use and if so, what do you use (I'll be using SP113 resin). I didn't intend to apply the same covering to the wings and tail feathers but to use tissue and dope instead. I haven't tried this either so there's lots of possible mishaps about to take place. Still, if you don't try these things you never learn. Do you have any idea on how much resin should be mixed when applying the different 'coats', bearing in mind I'm covering an Acro Wot fuselage? Yes, I've already bought the glass cloth. It's Flairs 17g/0.6oz per metre/yard squared.Do you know if this will be suitable before I start? With regards to creating a building blog, I've been asked by my flying club to put something together for our web site so I see no reason why this info couldn't be copied onto the RCM&E site. Regards, Ray Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marko Posted June 6, 2010 Share Posted June 6, 2010 hi ray use either the roller or brush for the first wet coat then lay the cloth down and use the brush ,if you use the roller all you will do is pull the cloth off and add air bubbles ! we use what is called "acitone "to clean our tools ,its a solvent l dont know where you could buy it other than a yacht chandlers but be careful it will melt foam and its very volatile 17 oz cloth is more like silk and you dont have to use much resin so l couldnt guess how much you would need, thats not to say you couldnt mix more as you go ,but why not cover the whole lot in cloth, tissue isnt that good for paint and you would see a difference, getting back to the cloth what you have bought its no thinner the the iron coverings but loads stronger with the resin !!!! good luck cheers ...............................mark keep asking questions if you get stuck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Litten Posted June 7, 2010 Author Share Posted June 7, 2010 Hi Mark Thanks for all your help, just one last question before I get started. It occurred to me, after I sent the last posting, that where should I start applying the cloth. With film I'd start at the bottom of the fuselage then do the sides and lastly the top, overlapping as I went. In the case of cloth the overlapping may cause 'high spots'. In what order do you apply the cloth and using a thin cloth as specified, how do you get over the possibility of ridges where the cloth overlaps. Cheers, Ray Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marko Posted June 7, 2010 Share Posted June 7, 2010 Hi ray l shoulnt think it would matter what side you started your going to have slight over laps anyway but as the cloth is so fine they are not going to be big and anyway when is been lightly sanded they should go when you build up the other coats of resin before you start sand smooth and Hoover everything to remove all dust as a grain a sand size grit will only get bigger as you go and no amount of sanding will remove it once you have got as far as painting if you use a high build primer that will improve the Finnish work slowly take your time preparation is every thing good luck cheers ...........mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grahamd Posted June 8, 2010 Share Posted June 8, 2010 Have you read Phils excellent leaflet on epoxy covering ? Phils covering guide Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Litten Posted June 9, 2010 Author Share Posted June 9, 2010 Hi Graham, No I haven't but that will soon be done. Thanks for the info. Ray Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marko Posted June 9, 2010 Share Posted June 9, 2010 hi ray how are you getting on ,you have gone quite l hope everything is going ok if you get stuck you can always pm me you know lm happy to help cherrs........................ mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Litten Posted July 6, 2010 Author Share Posted July 6, 2010 Hi Mark The reason I went quiet is because I've been working on skinning the fuselage. I decided to leave the wings 'as is' and just apply a wood filler then paint on this. In hindsight not the best of decisions as the finish leaves quite a bit to be desired. The fuselarge 'skinned' easily enough although it took a lot of rubbing down to get a good surface. I painted the model using cellulose but now I've read that this isn't glow fuel proof. Having dropped some fuel onto a pre-painted piece of balsa, showed this to be true, so now I'm looking into what type of varnish to use that will be reasonably easy to spray and will protect the plane. I thought spraying it would be difficult but using a 'Devilbiss MP' spray gun has been anything but. Cheers, Ray Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lazygit Posted July 6, 2010 Share Posted July 6, 2010 I clean brushes in thinners or meths, though if it's started to thicken meths is not much good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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