Covering woes

[GrumpyGnome]

This has been covered (excuse the pun) elsewhere, but this will help me have all the info in one place.

 

I recently acquired a used Spitfire. It's all sheet fuselage and fin, with open/part open wings, tailplane and control surfaces.  I've now reached the stage where all structural issues are fixed, the petrol engine installed, and de-installed, so I'm thinking of covering it.

 

This is a cry for help.  My plan was to cover the sheeted areas in glass and water based Deluxe Materials 'resin', sans, paint with B&Q tester pots, varnish.  Cover the open areas in laminating film, gently sand it, wipe it down, paint it with B&Q tester pots, varnish it.  That's exactly what I did with my P47 but after minimal use, there are a number of areas (wings) where the paint has flaked off.

 

So I'm happy to repeat my plan for the sheeted areas but wonder if it would be better to use something else on the open areas? E.g. 'normal' heat shrunk, tissue over lam film, a 'tex' film (preferably one that doesn't cost an arm, leg and kidney)....

[GrumpyGnome]

Sorry, I used RCWorld Poly-C over glass....

[Frank Skilbeck]

Diacov is a less expensive alternative to say Oratex. Or you could go old school and use doped nylon.

[Paul De Tourtoulon]

Nothing like Silk and dope, but finding fuel proofer, 🤐,,,

[leccyflyer]

On 29/05/2023 at 10:24, GrumpyGnome said:

This has been covered (excuse the pun) elsewhere, but this will help me have all the info in one place.

 

I recently acquired a used Spitfire. It's all sheet fuselage and fin, with open/part open wings, tailplane and control surfaces.  I've now reached the stage where all structural issues are fixed, the petrol engine installed, and de-installed, so I'm thinking of covering it.

 

This is a cry for help.  My plan was to cover the sheeted areas in glass and water based Deluxe Materials 'resin', sans, paint with B&Q tester pots, varnish.  Cover the open areas in laminating film, gently sand it, wipe it down, paint it with B&Q tester pots, varnish it.  That's exactly what I did with my P47 but after minimal use, there are a number of areas (wings) where the paint has flaked off.

 

So I'm happy to repeat my plan for the sheeted areas but wonder if it would be better to use something else on the open areas? E.g. 'normal' heat shrunk, tissue over lam film, a 'tex' film (preferably one that doesn't cost an arm, leg and kidney)....

I'm just mod-process covering a model and prepping for paint using that Deluxe Materials Eze-Kote for the first time and, so far, I've been impressed. I must admit I was skeptical with the video showing the cut-back of the impregnated glasscloth along the edge with a few strokes of a Permagrit block, but blow me down with a feather, that's exactly how it worked.

 

Main reason for posting though is I'm interested to learn where the paint has flaked off your P-47 - was it in the areas covered by laminating film and did you use the gloss or matt film?

 

I'm going to have a second departure from my positive experiences with B & Q tester pots and will be trying some Warbirds paints from Fighter Aces that I bought ages ago and which have been languishing in a cupboard. I haven't used them because I had it in my head that they were solvent based, but found the instruction leaflet and invoice the other day and it was a nice surprise to find that they are water based.

[GrumpyGnome]

1 hour ago, leccyflyer said:

 

 

Main reason for posting though is I'm interested to learn where the paint has flaked off your P-47 - was it in the areas covered by laminating film and did you use the gloss or matt film?

 

 

 

Gloss lam film, cleaned with acetone, following a good sanding back to a matt finish.  On the open structure part of the wings.

[leccyflyer]

Hmmm, I wonder if the lam film might benefit from a blow-over with some primer, prior to using the B&Q match pots?

[Ron Gray]

In my experience yes, a primer makes for a better finish.

[GrumpyGnome]

Sorry, bit of a (nother) brain fade. I used some grey spray primer from Halfords. The final colour stuck to that just fine...... probably better if I'd used a 'flexible' primer?