Solly Posted November 20, 2020 Share Posted November 20, 2020 Does Liteply contain Balsa wood? The importers and distributors of Liteply (which is incidentally a patented trademark), in the USA is the North American Plywood Corporation. According to their website the composition of Liteply is Poplar 87%, Ureic Formaldehyde Resin 12%, Ammonium Chloride 1%. No Balsa. Perhaps there is a European version containing balsa? Edited By Solly on 20/11/2020 21:38:47 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff S Posted November 20, 2020 Share Posted November 20, 2020 I must admit I always thought the core was balsa but I'd never checked properly. I bought a small sheet of Liteply (at least that's what I ordered) from SLEC and I'm almost certain it said poplar ply on it whenit arrived. I though it may be something to do with the balsa shortage. It didn't bother as it is light and I was still able to cut it with a few strokes of a scalpel (one of the things I like about it). I''m sure some knowledgable forumite will put us straight. Geoff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leccyflyer Posted November 20, 2020 Share Posted November 20, 2020 Blackburn Model Centre certainly used to sell balsa ply - three or five ply balsawood. I don;t think anyone ever claimed that liteply was balsa. Edited By leccyflyer on 20/11/2020 23:56:00 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Miller Posted November 21, 2020 Share Posted November 21, 2020 Mantua models used to manufacture balsa ply. Not sure if they still do. I just checked and they only list normal ply and poplar ply Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solly Posted November 21, 2020 Author Share Posted November 21, 2020 Leccy Flyer, There has been a couple of posts recently claiming just that, hence my post. Edited By Solly on 21/11/2020 08:31:59 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leccyflyer Posted November 21, 2020 Share Posted November 21, 2020 It's a while since I last bought balsaply but it definitely exists, I have a few sheets somewhere. It;s very nice, but IIRC more expensive than liteply at the time. Have been using liteply since the 1990s and havenpt detected any difference in it's composition, It;s always been that sort of material and I haven't noticed any replacement of a balsa core with anything else- don;t think it was there in the first place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Engine Doctor Posted November 21, 2020 Share Posted November 21, 2020 As I understand it true light ply is made from Ceiba wood , similar to balsa but with a long open grain .It can be very light and sometimes brittle. Another feature is that cyano glue can travel down the wood structures and glue you to the wood some distance way from the application site a bit annoying at times.The other types of light ply sold is made from poplar and it is a lot heavier than the proper light ply . It should be called Medium ply or Poplar ply as it certainly isn't light. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Former Member Posted November 21, 2020 Share Posted November 21, 2020 [This posting has been removed] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kc Posted November 21, 2020 Share Posted November 21, 2020 The important thing to us is not what they make it from but a. whether it's available, b, what it weighs, c, is it strong enough So what do the actual samples we have weigh per square foot? We can weigh whatever samples we have and calculate what the weight would be for a sq ft........ Then compare it to balsa - a 4inch by 36 inch sheet is of course a square foot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Former Member Posted November 21, 2020 Share Posted November 21, 2020 [This posting has been removed] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Dance 1 Posted November 21, 2020 Share Posted November 21, 2020 It seems that there is several types of light ply using different materials. Poplar is one timber in use but that seems to be sourced from different Poplar species. Mantua models stock light ply, beautiful stuff, white in colour and dead flat not all light ply is like that. Snag, the pieces are only 200mm wide, so could be expensive to make fuselage sides from it. In the 79;s Graupner used a balsa ply in some of their kits, again beautiful stuff, don't whether they sold it as a sheet material. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kc Posted November 21, 2020 Share Posted November 21, 2020 The point is Liteply is made from Poplar which grows all over. The balsa suppliers often list it as Poplar ply anyway. SLEC list both Poplar ply and Liteply. You can buy 8ft by 4ft Poplar ply sheets from timber suppliers and some state it's from European sustainable sources. 4mm by 8 x4 sheet 24 pounds I think VAT goes on top of that price so the prices balsa suppliers charge for tiny sheets seems pretty fair. Edited By kc on 21/11/2020 11:54:44 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Former Member Posted November 21, 2020 Share Posted November 21, 2020 [This posting has been removed] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Former Member Posted November 21, 2020 Share Posted November 21, 2020 [This posting has been removed] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solly Posted November 21, 2020 Author Share Posted November 21, 2020 The clue is in the spelling. LIGHT PLY can be made from anything, balsa included. LITEPLY is a trademark with a patent and is made from poplar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leccyflyer Posted November 21, 2020 Share Posted November 21, 2020 Posted by Martin Dance 1 on 21/11/2020 11:22:47: It seems that there is several types of light ply using different materials. Poplar is one timber in use but that seems to be sourced from different Poplar species. Mantua models stock light ply, beautiful stuff, white in colour and dead flat not all light ply is like that. Snag, the pieces are only 200mm wide, so could be expensive to make fuselage sides from it. In the 79;s Graupner used a balsa ply in some of their kits, again beautiful stuff, don't whether they sold it as a sheet material. I think it might have been Mantua Models who made the balsa ply that I sourced from Blackburn Models some years ago. It was definitely balsa and definitely different than the commonly available Liteply and lightply, including that in Flair kits. A completely different material. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Former Member Posted November 21, 2020 Share Posted November 21, 2020 [This posting has been removed] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solly Posted November 21, 2020 Author Share Posted November 21, 2020 You will note that Slec are careful not to infringe the patent by spelling it as Lite Ply, with a space between the words. Also the proper poplar Liteply has a small circe with an internal "R" at the end of the word. I suppose that anyone can manufacture Lite Ply, or Poplar Ply, whatever, but cannot use the official logo as decribed above. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leccyflyer Posted November 21, 2020 Share Posted November 21, 2020 It was indeed Mantua Models who supplied the balsaply available from Blackburn Models. I found the post that I made in 2003 describing the material and it even had a picture attached. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Former Member Posted November 21, 2020 Share Posted November 21, 2020 [This posting has been removed] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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