| Antony silk finishes have the advantage of being very strong,but be warned they have many disadvantages and can be a trap for the unwary,firstly the pores are very wide and these sap up the dope like it was going out of fashion,one the dope is heavy,and two beware as it can warp your structure out of all proportion,a tip when using silk covering is to pre-treat the silk prior to doping to try and fill those pores,a lot of things from ground millet ( also used to dope up that famous Colditz glider ) to thinned glue size can be used,even highly thinned PVA adhesive,however once again these things do carry an heavy weight penalty.
Perhaps one of the best areas to use silk is on the fuselage of the model,it is superior to lock the grain together on balsa structures,best way is to dope the wood first,allow to dry,then lay the silk flat onto the wood and spray on water,then dope straight through the silk,it will then go cloudy but do not worry as a wipe with a thinners cloth ( lint free remember ) or another thin coat of dope and it will soon vanish and return to normal.
What you have to ask yourself is a/will the model take the extra weight and b/ is the effort worth it in view of perhaps better more modern materials which are much lighter ?
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