Tissue covered solid wood structures.

**wonwinglo** · 12-06-2004

Most people know about tissue covering for lightweight models but did you also appreciate that tissue has other uses ? although iron on covering materials have all but overtaken tissue as a covering for wooden parts you just cannot beat a properly covered balsa structure with a finish second to none,to go about the job you will need some lightweight tissue akin to a product called Modelspan,this is a wet strengthened tissue of porous manufacture,Jap tissue is not really suitable for this process.
Prepare the surface with a sealing coat of sanding sealer ( instructions to make this if you cannot obtain it are in the turtorials ) allow to dry for 24 hours and then sand down with silicone sanding paper,now prepare your tissue by cutting it slightly oversize to the part to be covered and place it onto some newspaper,spray it with water and close the newspaper to get rid of excess moisture,now offer it to the surface and carefully smooth out any wrinkles and once again spray with water,next take a fully loaded mop hair brush and with thinned clear dope paint straight through the tissue,with a scrap piece of screwed up tissuie smooth it out working from the centre outwards,overlap the edges and seal these with dope as well,everything will go milky white but dont worry as a succesive coat of dope will remove the whiteness,with another coat the surface will look like glass and certainly not give any indication that there is wood underneath especially when given a coat of enamel or other favourite finish.
I know that modern films have overtaken these old methods but they still have there uses,with the tissue covered tail surfaces they are both strong and rigid as the tissue holds the grain firmly together.
PS- If you dont want to use clear dope or other cellulose finishes then turn over to thinned Polyvinal Acetate ( PVA ) which can be suitably thined and above all used indoors as there is no smell attached to this product !