About painting aircraft

[Tim Tim]

My second question of the day...

What paint is used to paint balsa aircraft tissue?

Is it suitable to use Humbrol enamel paints if it is thinned? I can see where and why you could used colours tissue, but some planes I make need camouflage - but not because I want to lose them! What ratio of thinning should you use?

Does dope come in different colours? I only remember clear dope that smelled very strongly of bananas.

Thanks,

Tim

 

[duncan]

I know Barry will be advising but before painting you must tauten (using light spray of water after covering)and seal the tissue. Cellulose or byuterate "clear dope" is sold in most model shops. Thin this to about 50/50 and give two coats, allow an hour or two between coats to judge the shrinking effect. Weight wings and tail down while dope dries, leave air gap under while doing this. Leave over-night.The dope you mention that smells of bananas is a non-shrinking type called , strangely' "Banana Oil". One thinned coat of this should be enough for most small models. A useful dope called "Sanding Sealer" should be used on largely balsa sheeted models, it fills the grain and can be sanded to a very smooth finish. Coloured dope is heavy unless "misted on" with a spray gun. Using Humbrol enamels for small details is OK but you will have problems if you have to repair tissue as the cellulose dope will "pickle" the enamel. You can avoid all this complication by using an artificial "tissue" called Litespan, attached and shrunk with a simple domestic iron. It comes in various traditional model colours plus silver and camoflage drabs. Very light,no smells, stronger than tissue, worth looking into. If using Depron ignore all of the above and use only water based paints (thinned with water). Weight is the enemy. If I/C powered, your `planes will have to be fuel-proofed as most fuels attack painted surfaces, fuel-proofer available in model shops. More weight ! Are you building from kits? If so are they small , say under 20"/25". This size although they look as if they might be good to cut your teeth on are in fact quite tricky to build and trim for flight. Lots of books on the subject, try local library. Happy building,winter is the time for that.:thumbs-up:

 

[wonwinglo]

Duncan has covered the subject of doping and painting very well,this is sound advice,I will only add a few thoughts of my own to assist and give inspiration to your quest -

1/ Enamel can be used but as Duncan points out will be a problem if you need to repair tissue rips,but there is a simple dodge here,instead of using clear dope to patch your models use well thinned down PVA adhesive,this way no attacking of the enamel will take place,when you thin the enamel instead of using white spirit use cellulose thinners,this is lighter by evaporation and helps the enamel dry quicker.

2/ The ultimate answer for a nice camouflage finish is to invest in an air-brush,these instruments give micro atomised lightweight films of paint and I have seen some really first class camo jobs done with them.

If you dont want to invest in one of these an alternative is to buy tins of spray Humbrol aerosol which although not as fine as an airbrush give a reasonable finish,but do not overload your model with paint of any type,best to use coloured tissue or the lightspan mentioned by Duncan.

Another method which I have used is to cover the model with white tissue,water-shrink up,then apply thin coats of artists watercolour paints,then clear dope which seals everything and shrinks up the tissue at the same time,the effect is slightly translucant if held to the light.

There is one other method of finish which is mentioned on Smallflying arts,this is to use artists pastels rubbed into the grain of the tissue before application to the model,one modeller even applied a lozenge pattern to his model in this way using templates,it looked wonderful and the results are in SFA on the picture page.

Building these small models really is an art form,it requires care and patience but the end results when mastered are fulfilling.

 

[Malcolm Fisher]

When I used tissue, I used to apply using a "cellulose" type wallpaper paste e.g. Polycell. I used the paste as the "shrinking medium as well.

This sealed the tissue with negligible weight increase and gave a good surface for any paint finish.

Modern water based paints seem relatively fuel proof - especially if given a final coat of water based polyurethane varnish

Malcolm