O.T. Flying Model Planes.

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ChrisKH

Guru
Location
Essex
When the water dries it stretches the tissue membrane so it's nice and taut. I would imagine.
 

Arch

Married to Night Train
Location
Salford, UK
Yes, from what I remember of what Tom told me, the damp tissue shrinks as it dries, tightening. I think the dope stuff is mixed with the water?

You can also get a type of heat shrinking tissue these days, which you glue with PVA to the ribs etc, and then very gently heat (hairdrier, or holding an iron close) and that shrinks it. Tom used both, I think he said the heat stuff worked best over larger flatter areas, than the little fiddly bits... But less fumy and smelly than dope and water... Can't remember the name, but I must still have an old cataolgue knocking about at home, I'll look it up.
 

TheDoctor

Europe Endless
Moderator
Location
The TerrorVortex
Arch said:
Yes, from what I remember of what Tom told me, the damp tissue shrinks as it dries, tightening. I think the dope stuff is mixed with the water?

You can also get a type of heat shrinking tissue these days, which you glue with PVA to the ribs etc, and then very gently heat (hairdrier, or holding an iron close) and that shrinks it. Tom used both, I think he said the heat stuff worked best over larger flatter areas, than the little fiddly bits... But less fumy and smelly than dope and water... Can't remember the name, but I must still have an old cataolgue knocking about at home, I'll look it up.

Would that be solarfilm? Sort of shiny plasticy stuff ?
 

red_tom

New Member
Location
East London
My Dad has a scar on one of his fingers from trying to adjust the throttle on on of his model planes with the engine running. I rmember the propeller making a 'flymo hitting dog poo' kind of sound (:ohmy:xx()and then my dad swearing a lot
 

LLB

Guest
I got a pair of micro 'duelling' Picoo2 indoor micro helicopters at christmas like the one in this vid except mine have an extra function where you can zap the other one with an IR beam which sends it spiraling to the ground :sad:



Great little toys ;)
 

llllllll

New Member
TheDoctor said:
Would that be solarfilm? Sort of shiny plasticy stuff ?


That's the stuff, though you can get matt finishes as well. I built a radio control plane a few years back and I used solarfilm, much easier than paper and dope. It's almost like sticky back plastic, you just stick it in place and run a hair dryer or non-steam iron over it.
 

gbb

Legendary Member
Location
Peterborough
It used to be dope years ago...but i dont remember mixing water with it !!!!!!
Cant think that the two would mix....
 

Arch

Married to Night Train
Location
Salford, UK
TheDoctor said:
Would that be solarfilm? Sort of shiny plasticy stuff ?

Yup, that's the one.

Maggot, be very careful. This sort of thing (making model planes) can be as addictive as cycling... One look at a WestWings catalogue and you're hooked...
 

Arch

Married to Night Train
Location
Salford, UK
User76 said:
Bloody hell Arch, now you tell me!!! It's a WestWings glider I am building, having found their website. Oh well, hopefully it'll be a little cheaper than cycling, having said that maybe if I go radio-controlled.......:becool:

I think the stuff is getting cheaper, proportionately - tiny motors and all the electronics and so on, which would have been unheard of a few years ago. Or just stick to rubber motors...
 

byegad

Legendary Member
Location
NE England
Back in the 50s and 60s you glued the tissue as evenly as possible and then painted on Dope. The Dope was very smelly and definitely not mixed with water. The more you applied the tighter the tissue got (within reason). I spent many hours flying (and repairing crash damaged) planes and gliders.
 
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