Korda C Stick II

The Korda “C” airframe covered with the same material used to make The Emperor’s New Clothes, 1/4 mil clear mylar. I have never kept track of weights much as a model progresses but decided to do it once before the final thermal. I will weigh everything again after the Japanese tissue is applied over the mylar. This is a fiddly, somewhat frustrating thing to do, tissue over mylar, but the end result is worth it. You definitely have to think long term to suffer doing this. Here are the weights, before mylar and after the mylar is applied. Before mylar, fuselage, 14.0 gm/.49 oz; wing 13.8/.48 oz; stab, 4.4/.15; rudder, 1.7/.08 for a total of 33.9/1.18oz.. After mylar: fuselage 15.9/.56; wing 16.9/.59; stab, 5.6/.19; rudder, 2.1/.07 for a total of 40.5gm/1.41 oz. So the mylar did not add much weight, 6.6gm/.23oz. If I want to reach my goal the tissue plus front end cannot be more than a hair over an ounce.

Cheers, Karl Gies

Korda C Stick I

My Korda “C” Stick already to cover. The weights so far: fuselage 14.0 gm./.49 oz.; wing 13.8/.48; stab 4.4/.15; rudder 1.7/.06; prop 6.3/.22; nose block w/bushing 4.8/.17 for a total of 45 grams/1.57 ounces. I hope to have a finished weight of about 2.5 ounces. I will cover it with Japanese tissue over 1/4 mylar and the prop will be fiberglassed. It already has 25 lb. nylon leader material glued around the edges. Good tip from Phil Klintworth, rough the nylon leader material up by pulling it through a piece of sandpaper folded over. It is then glued it to the prop edges with Ambroid, Duco or some other model cement. This will keep the blades from being nicked up. The motor will be twenty strands of 1/8 FAI and this might sound like a lot but this is a 17” diameter prop. This model was built from a Holman/O’Reilly short kit with excellent wood. I might build another wing and see if I can get the weight down a little bit. This seems a little heavy for the wing to me. It is prime building weather here in Lewistown, Montana, last night got down to 32 below zero and tonight it is down to 18 below at 9:15 p.m. 

Cheers, Karl Gies

THE VERY, VERY BEST TO ALL FOR A HEALTHY AND BOUNTIFUL NEW YEAR FROM CAPTAIN CORNELL CRAWFORD, NEIGHBORHOOD HERO

This is my Earl Stahl “Gypsy” 8 Ounce Wakefield off on a thrilling flight to win the Montana Open 8 Ounce Wakefield Championship for 2013. This picture is a selfie as I am the only contestant and spectator at the contest. Cheers, cccnh
(Karl Gies)

P-30 Blue Ridge Square Eagle

This is my 1982 Blue Ridge "Square Eagle" P-30 at the Lewistown International Airport at about 5:30p.m today. I only got two flights in; the first with 250 turns and the second with a hair over 500 turns. There were hordes of little black flying ants and I had to leave. I drove down-a-ways and they were there also. So, I left. This model has many flights on it and is always a stable, good flying model. I hope PAL Models and Bob Langelius resume kitting this model. 

cheers, cccnh.   

 p.s. I hit that tower in the background coming in on the second flight but no harm done.

BALSA PROPS & BRAIDED RUBBER MOTORS

I am an ardent, always searching reader of model airplane literature that pertains to free flight models, particularly rubber powered model airplanes. I do not possess much knowledge about the highly technical aspects of the science of model airplanes but I read it all hoping to take something away from what I have read. What I like best are stories about famous model airplanes and the modelers who designed and flew them. And of course looking at the plans. Reading model airplane magazines is a passion and the ones that have a lot of content about free flight are mostly read. Some years back Earl Van Gorder wrote an enjoyable monthly column “Flyin' Things for Fledglings” on sport free free flight that was aimed at beginners, duffers like me and everyone else. This column and others should be scanned on put on a cd or dvd disc and not lost to the model airplane world. I ran out of space and got rid of all of my Flying Models magazines and had kept them mainly for Van Gorder’s very interesting monthly column. Model Builder, Model Airplane News and AeroModeller magazines were also sources of superb columns on free flight model airplanes. The short lived (6 issues) of Sig Air- Modeller magazine was a very enjoyable magazine for the articles, pictures and plans. Model airplanes can be written about from many vantage points and we have some excellent examples from contributors to the various model airplane forums and excellent club newsletters and journals such as Sam Speaks, Flying Aces, the NFFS Digest and Free Flight Quarterly. When you live in a place totally isolated from other free flight modelers like Montana these aforementioned newsletters, journals etc. are a godsend. There is much on the internet about model airplanes besides the forums. There are sites like The Building Board, Sticks & Tissue, The Pensacola Free Flight Team, Endless Lift, Tailspin, and many, many other fine sites. Sadly, there is little written about free flight modeling in the few magazines left. Flying Models stands out in this regard with fine columns by Mike Myers, Larry Kruse and Don Ross. Model Aviation has some good columns also and when you figure the membership numbers we are doing well to have one or two free flight columns every month by Gene Smith, John Kagan and Dennis Norman plus others such as David Gee’s safety column, Bob Angel’s Old-Timer’s column and Red Scholefield’s The Battery Clinic. Most, if not all of these columnists are members and contributors to various free flight forums. I can get most of the model airplanes I build to fly quite well. This is a result of using tried and true methods of adjustment and it often takes me more than a few flights to get a model dialed in. I am not in any way much of an aeronautical engineer. I know the standard, time tested and true methods of adjustments and have learned the hard way to only do one at a time. I probably have a lot of company in others that possess intermediate skills in building and flying model airplanes but have a most fervent passion for this insanely great hobby. Modeling is in many ways a training in mystery. I doubt if anyone of us will ever forget the first model ever lost in a thermal and the time frame and place. For me it was a Jim Walker catapult folded wing all ready to fly glider. I was about eleven and had just bought it at Shull’s Tire and Hobby Shop. This was a smelly place back in about 1948 ran by Old Man Shull and dedicated to vulcanizing tires ect. Back then getting your tires retread was part of owning and operating a car. All of the snow tires were retreads and the ones with sawdust in them would occasionally catch on fire if you were going to fast. Shull’s grandson, Bobby a high school kid and pretty good modeler, opened up a hobby shop in this dirty, smelly place. After purchasing this Jim Walker catapult glider along with other kids we went to fly them on a close by empty lot. It was a spring day and we watched a dust devil swirling around and I shot my glider into it. It sort of rode the edge of it up until it was out of sight and the entire gang of us boys were dumbfounded. At this magic moment I was hooked on model airplanes for life. There is much about those long ago days that is not remembered but when it comes to model airplanes I can remember most everything whether it happened or not. What appeals the most to me now at seventy-five is building the models that I built as a boy and never had much luck with in regards to flying well. It is a real rush to build the model and of course stare at it for long periods of time before going out to test fly it. Most of these models were not or ever will be great flyers. They were designed to be sold to young boys for say twenty-five cents. I built all but one of the Scientific thirty-five cents series which featured twenty-five inch wingspans. These were the Hornet, Major, Windsor, Royal, Ranger and Bantam. The only one I did not build was the Royal and suspect that was because it was not sold in my little town. I have built all of them again save the Royal. The Windsor, Hornet and Bantam flew the best for me the second time around. Carving a good prop is a source of much enjoyment and excitement for me as well as building the rest of the model. I cite carving a good prop first as this was a major mystery to me as a beginner. p.s. The morning was dead calm and our hero, Captain Cornell Crawford Neighborhood Hero, left early for the flying field with his Scientific "Major" and Scientific "Victory." These were models that Cornell had built as a lad and now at sixty seven he was alive with excitement. The "Major" had been a well, major disappointment at age ten. It looked good in Cornell's young eyes but did not fly much at all. The "Victory" had been his first success as a young model flyer and this one was a proven flyer. But this was the maiden flight of the "Major" and Cornell had woken up thinking about it, hoping that it was not to be like Charlie Brown kicking the football. Cornell had made up a four strand motor of some good old 1/8" FAI Tan II for the Major. Some right thrust and down thrust had been added to the model. On the first flight Cornell gave the “Major” about 300 turns and turned it loose over the wheat field. It flew but had too much right thrust and needed some up stab. On the next flight with less right thrust and 1/16" negative in the stab it climbed well on a short flight. Cornell decided to go for it and wound the motor to 850 turns. The Major climbed sharply and gained good altitude before going into the glide pattern. Cornell watched the model float down and and disappear into the fully ripened wheat field. Combines were devouring wheat furiously in the opposite field. The model was not that far away but panic set in as Cornell searched vainly for the model. The model was finished in red with black trim, Japanese tissue over mylar and a hand carved 8" prop. Cornell decided to crisscross the area in ten foot intervals and finally stumbled upon the model. Tears welled in his eyes as a vision of himself vainly trying to get the Major to fly fifty seven years ago appeared to him. Life is good. Cheers, Captain Cornell Crawford N.H., aka Karl Gies

I was remiss in not mentioning Hip Pocket Aeronautics, a truly great site. GOTO: http://www.hippocketaeronautics.com/ cheers, Captain Cornell Crawford, N.H.

Earl Stahl "Gypsy" 8 Ounce Wakefield, covered entirely in regular polyspan, Higgins Fade proof ink used for the color. Site is a little over 7 minutes from my house

I did not have anyone with me to take a launch picture. I weighed the motor, 36" long, 24 strands of 1/8 FAI Tan II from the 90's and it was (I think) 2.83 ounces. I put in a little over 200 turns on the first flight and it flew well actually getting up there to my surprise. My second and last flight showed 472 turns on the winder and it got up quite high, picture in the air to follow. The glide can best be described as "floaty" or superb. Cheers, cccnh out in the Rural American West, Lewistown, Montana, home of The Greater Central Montana Co-Prosperity Sphere p.s. this model was built in about 1997 or '98 and this is the second prop which is much better than the first one. Very little vibration. Having a swell gin and tonic and basking.

The "Gypsy" still climbing, the air was dead calm

Karl Gies

Tissue over mylar

The following is a recent email from Karl Gies

TISSUE OVER MYLAR - ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW In addition to the instructions below put the tissue on the mylar fairly wet (I spray it with rubbing alcohol or water). If the tissue is thoroughly wet when you brush the thinned down dope over it (50/50) it will really smooth out. I use nitrate dope only to adhere it and have never tried butyrate. I think butyrate would shrink it too much. The mylar shrinks quite a bit. On smaller models like rubber jobs I use 1/4 mil mylar. Graham Knight uses this method on his big gas jobs but he uses a heavier mylar for this. You can get the 1/4 mil mylar from FAI, Mike Woodhouse or Model Research Labs. Here is the url for MRL: http://www.modelresearchlabs.com/ FAI url: http://www.faimodelsupply.com p.s. you can get the velco cement at any sewing shop, it comes in small tubes. It is just a finer grade of contact cement but does not clump up much. I use nitrate dope thinner to thin it down, about 50/50. If you have any questions let me know. I hope your back is o.k. This is a compilation of what Graham Knight and Thayer Syme do plus experience. You cannot go wrong following this. Oh, yeah! Tissue over mylar has many advantages over just straight tissue but still retains that great Japanese tissue look. Others more empirical than me have done weight tests and tissue over mylar is generally lighter or about the same as just doped tissue due to the fact you do not need much dope. Cheers, Captain Cornell Crawford, Neighborhood Hero This is not ony a lot tougher than just tissue but as light or lighter because you only need one or two coats of dope. Dope is heavy. Subject: TISSUE OVER MYLAR (YOU GET THE GREAT JAPANESE TISSUE LOOK!) This is what I learned from using mylar covered with tissue and it is a great way to go. I did not use the self stick stuff on the advice of others. I made some test panels and I highly recommend this before trying it on a model. DO MAKE SOME TEST PANELS FIRST, IT WILL SAVE YOU A LOT OF GRIEF! I just used scrap balsa, stout stuff like 1/4" square to make some squares. I tried balsaloc but once you hit this stuff w/the heat iron or others like it say Sig Stickit you cannot reposition the mylar. I used thinned down contact cement - it gets globs in it, hard to thin, you have to avoid getting the globs on the balsa wood. Oh, give the balsa area to be stuck to a couple of coats of thinned down dope first. I HAVE USED THE VELCO CEMENT THINNED WITH DOPE THINNER IT WORKS GREAT. ANOTHER REFINEMENT TO COVERING WITH MYLAR, GET THE BACKING FROM MONOCOTE, NOTHING STICKS TO IT, I GOT SOME FROM A LOCAL RC MODELLER, AND BEFORE YOU PUT THE MYLAR ON LET THE VELCRO CEMENT GET PRETTY DRY AND(NEW INSTRUCTIONS, JUST LET THE VELCRO CEMENT GET REAL DRY AND YOU WON'T HAVE TO PUTZ AROUND WITH THE MONOCOTE BACKING AND JUST TOUCH IT WITH A TRIM IRON ON MEDIUM TO ADHERE IT) PUT THE MYLAR BACKING OVER WHATEVER YOU ARE GOING TO PUT THE MYLAR ON AND KEEP THIS MONOCOTE BACKING BETWEEN THE MYLAR AND FRAMEWORK BECAUSE THE MYLAR GRABS ON TO EVERYTHING IT TOUCHES. I PULL BACK THE MONOCOTE BACKING ON SAY A FUSELAGE SIDE AND PUT THE MYLAR ON AND THEN WORK ALONG PULLING THE MONOCOTE BACKING OUT OF THE WAY. THIS WILL SAVE YOU A LOT OF AGRAVATION. Brush the contact/velcro adhesive onto the balsa. THEN WHEN IT IS PRETTY DRY PLACE THE MONOCOTE BACKING IN PLACE. Plug in your iron, on medium. I use a monocote trim iron. Let the adhesive pretty much dry, just a slight bit tacky and lay the mylar over it. Pull and tug until you have it fairly even and tight w/out too many wrinkles. Then go over the top of the mylar w/the iron and it will adhere. After a few minutes go over the mylar, not touching it, until it shrinks and it will shrink. Mylar will not work on lightweight stabs and fins, it will twist them. You can use it, just don't shrink it on the tailfeathers. Now for the tricky part, putting the Jap tissue on it. I was told that on the longerons you had to leave part of them bare to get the tissue to stick. Well this will not work very well w/say 1/16" square longerons, too tricky. On my test panel I went around the edges of the balsa square w/a bead of full strength nitrate dope. (do not use butyrate, because it will really shrinks the heck out everything) Let the dope dry ( OR USE A BEAD OF PURPLE GLUE STICK WHICH DRYS CLEAR, THIS WORKS REALLY GREAT). I then cut out a larger square of tissue, laid it on a towel and lightly sprayed it w/water, got it too wet and leaving it on the towel lightly blotted it w/another towel. Pick this up and lay it over the test panel covered w/mylar. Pull and tug until it looks pretty good and then brush thinned (50/50) NON SHRINK nitrate dope over the area avoiding the edges. Then brush straight thinner on the edges. This got everything stuck down for me and I let it dry, came out good. I then tried a test panel rubbing the edges w/a purple UHU glue stick instead of the straight dope. Went through the above process again, brushing thinner through the tissue on the edges to adhere to the glue stick. As a precaution I lightly went over the edges w/ the trim iron. This worked very well also. When I covered the Scientific "Major" I covered the entire fuselage sides, cabin area included w/mylar, this made it easier. After I put the tissue over the mylar including the cabin window area I let it dry and then w/a sharp blade (I use double edge razor blades to cut the mylar with) I cut out the tissue/mylar where the windows would be. I then made a pattern where the windows are, laid it over a piece of mylar and cut it out to fit except for the fuselage edges, let this be oversize to have something to pull on. I then very carefully went around the window edges w/ the purple glue stick, let it get real tacky, then positioned the mylar correctly, rubbed w/my finger and then again touched the edges w/ the iron on medium. I then used the iron to shrink the window area and ended up w/windows that were perfect and light, much lighter than celluloid. I could see the colour of the tissue underneath the mylar but then cut out thin strips of tissue, put some glue stick on the uprights and window edges, and laid the cut out stips down. I use a pattern to cut curved stips if there is a curved area. After rubbing the strips down I again lightly touched the tissue w/the trim iron on medium. This turned out to be the best window job I have ever done. The combination of mylar/tissue is tough, probably 50 times tougher than just tissue. I did not do anymore doping but you could if it does not look good. It is not necessary except from an aesthetic standpoint. For models just coloured with mylar and no tissue over it make a test panel of mylar and after shrinking it spray it w/Design Master Floral paint w/the colour you intend to use on a model to see how it looks. I just laid the test panel on a newspaper and gave it several light coats of Design Master. It will never be opaque, and the end result looks like clear monocote. It will definently not have a vintage look! I just built another AMA Maxi Jr. a simple solid stick fuselage model (like the standard ROG but w/no landing gear). This model has a wing w/ribs. I did not worry about the vintage look, not a vintage model, just wanted it light and of course not invisible w/clear mylar. I sprayed it w/the Design Master and it came out very light, somewhat lighter than the Japanese tissue covered one that I lost last summer. I covered the tailfeathers w/mylar but only hand tightened it. The iron would pretzel these parts and of course sprayed them w/Design Master. The end result is a very light, good looking, highly visible model. I can't think of anything else - if you have questions just ask. Cheers, Karl p.s. when you dope the tissue onto the mylar use non-shrink nitrate if possible. Heating the mylar will give it all the shrink you need. NEW TECHNIQUE ON SPRAYING DESIGN MASTER FLORAL SPRAY OVER MYLAR - PLACE A PIECE OF MYLAR ON A FRAME, STUCK TO THE EDGE OF THE FRAME AND DO NOT HEAT SHRINK IT, JUST PULL IT TIGHT. SPRAY IT WITH DESIGN MASTER FLORAL SPRAY, SEVERAL LIGHT COATS AND WHEN DRY CUT THE MYLAR OFF THE FRAME. WHEN USING THIS TO COVER PLACE IT SO THAT THE COLORED SURFACE IS ON THE INSIDE - I DID THIS ON A WING AND IT WORKS WELL. THIS WAY THE COLORED SURFACE IS ON THE INSIDE SO THAT THE PAINT CANNOT BE RUBBED OFF. Design Master Floral spray paint can be obtained at a Michael's Craft store (nationwide chain) and comes in a lot of colours. It is mostly propellant and is light stuff. You can spray some Krylon clear over it as a fixative w/out adding any appreciable weight. Tissue over mylar instructions - I have never used anything but Japanese tissue. The other tissues tend to rip and tear when used wet.


Hi Hans, David & Tom, a cautionary note, do not try to cover too much mylar with tissue at a time on larger models. On a recent 8 Ounce Wake with a 44" ws I cut out the tissue and laid it over the wing. I covered 2/3rds of it with a paper towel or something and just sprayed about 14 iinches of tissue, brushed the thinned down dope through and got the wrinkles tugged out and then moved the cloth/towel down and did another 14 or so inches. cheers, Karl


http://cmac.synthasite.com/tissue-mylar.php

Tissue over Mylar

I have been asked about this process a number of times even though, I've never tried it.   It appears from the reviews I've just read that the two materials compliment each other very well in achieving strength, puncture resistance and rigidity.   If we are to believe the claims, the process takes less time than tissue alone and the finished product ultimately weighs less because less dope is used.

Here are some of articles I've found on the subject:
A PDF from the New England Wakefield Group
An online description by Mike Woodhouse of Free Flight Supplies in the U.K.
A build report on the Keil Kraft Senator seen above by Craig Limber.

A forum discussion at Flying Small Arts.
A PDF from the Pensacola Free Flight Team and another.
A Tony Tomlin article in PDF
And, last but not least, a review by Karl Gies of Lewiston, Montana.

Update from Karl Gies  (6 Aug, 2011)

Hi Thomas, a couple of caveats, when you lay the tissue over the mylar don't try to wet a large area. Just a few panels and cover the tissue below it with something like a lightweight cloth. Then you can use kleenex to blot some of the water off the wet tissue if you get it too wet. You want the tissue to be wet when you brush the dope over it. You will get some blushing but one coat of thinner or real thinned down dope will get rid of it. Do not try to stretch the tissue until it is real tight and looks perfect. Just get out the big wrinkles. I go over the mylar that is on the model with dope on the edges or better yet a purple glue stick, let it dry and then put the tissue over it. After I get the tissue stretched out I go around where I put dope or glue stick and brush thinner through and rub a finger over it. That way it will not curl back on you. cheers, karl p.s the velcro cement is the only way to go to attach the mylar to the model. Thin it down 50/50 with nitrate thinner. Let it dry real good and then lay the 1/4 mil mylar down. 

TISSUE COVERING OVER MYLAR - ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW

Rubber Power Model Airplanes

This following covering method is a compilation of what many modern day old-time rubber modelers now use, plus my personal experience. You cannot go wrong following this. Oh, yeah! Tissue over Mylar has many advantages over just straight tissue but still retains that great Japanese tissue look.  Others more empirical than me have done weight tests and tissue over Mylar is generally lighter or about the same as just doped tissue due to the fact you do not need much dope. The combination of Mylar/tissue is tough, probably 50 times tougher than just tissue, and the tissue won’t sag in high humidity or early morning dew.

Cheers, Captain Cornell Crawford, Neighborhood Hero

               Aka: Karl Gies

Subject: TISSUE OVER MYLAR (YOU GET THE GREAT JAPANESE TISSUE LOOK!)

 This 2-step covering method is not only a lot tougher than just tissue, but as light or lighter because you only need one or two coats of Nitrate dope on the tissue. Dope is heavy.

This is what I learned from using Mylar covered with tissue and it is a great way to go. I do not use the iron-on self-stick Mylar on the advice of others. I made some test panels and I highly recommend this before trying it on a model. DO MAKE SOME TESTPANELS FIRST, IT WILL SAVE YOU A LOT OF GRIEF! I just used scrap balsa, stout stuff like 1/4" square to make some squares. On smaller models like rubber jobs I use 1/4 mil (.00025) Mylar. Others use this method on big gas jobs but use a heavier grade of Mylar.

First, give the balsa area that the Mylar will cover a couple of undercoats of 50-50 thinned nitrate dope. 

For the actual Mylar adhesive I first tried thinned down contact cement - it gets globs in it and it’s hard to thin. You have to avoid getting the globs on the balsa wood.  Next I tried Balsaloc, also Sig-Stix-It, and brushed onto the balsa to adhere the Mylar, but once you hit the Mylar applied over this stuff with the heat iron you cannot reposition the Mylar.

I now use Velcro cement thinned 50-50 with nitrate dope thinner, it works great. You can get the Velcro cement in small tubes at any sewing shop. It’s just a finer grade of contact cement but does not clump up much. I use nitrate dope thinner to thin it down about 50/50.

Plug in your iron set on medium. I use a Monokote trim iron. Brush the Velcro adhesive, thinned (50-50) with Nitrate dope onto the balsa. Then when it is pretty much dry, just a slight bit tacky, lay the Mylar over the portion of your structure to be covered. Pull and tug until you have it fairly even and tight without too many wrinkles. Iron on the Mylar with the iron set on medium heat and it will adhere. After a few minutes go over the top of the Mylar with the iron- not touching it, until it shrinks, and it will shrink. Mylar will not work on lightweight stabs and fins, it will twist them. You can use it, just don't shrink it on the tail feathers.

Now for the tricky part, putting the Jap tissue on the Mylar. I was told that on the longerons you had to leave part of them bare to get the tissue to stick. Well this will not work very well w/say 1/16"square longerons, too tricky. On my test panel I went around the edges of the balsa square w/a bead of full strength non-taughtening nitrate dope...do not use butyrate, because it will really shrinks the heck out everything. Let the dope dry...or use a bead of purple glue-stick which dries clear, this works really great. 

I then cut out a larger square of tissue. I put the tissue on the Mylar fairly wet, by first laying it on a towel and spraying it with rubbing alcohol. I’ve also lightly sprayed it with water, if I got it too wet I’ve left it on the towel and lightly blotted it w/another towel. If the tissue is thoroughly wet when you brush the thinned down dope over it (50/50) it will really smooth out. I use non-taughtening nitrate dope only to adhere it and have never tried butyrate. Butyrate would shrink it too much.

Pick up the moistened tissue and lay it over the structure covered w/Mylar. Pull and tug until it looks pretty good and then brush thinned (50/50) non-taughtening nitrate dope over the area avoiding the edges. When you dope the tissue onto the Mylar use non-tautening nitrate dope if possible. Heating the Mylar will give it all the shrink you need.  This gets everything stuck down and then I let it dry. I then tried a test panel rubbing the edges with a purple UHU glue stick instead of the straight dope. Went through the above process again, brushing thinner through the tissue on the edges to adhere the glue stick. As a precaution I lightly went over the edges w/the trim iron. This worked very well also. 

When I covered the Scientific "Major" I covered the entire fuselage sides, cabin area included, with Mylar, this made it easier. After I put the tissue over the Mylar including the cabin window area I let it dry and then with a double edge razor blade I cut out the tissue/Mylar where the windows would be. I then made a pattern where the windows are, laid it over a piece of Mylar and cut it out to fit except for the fuselage edges, let this be oversize to have something to pull on. I then very carefully went around the window edges w/the purple glue stick, let it get real tacky, then positioned the Mylar correctly, rubbed w/my finger and then again touched the edges w/ the iron on medium. I then used the iron to shrink the window area and ended up w/windows that were perfect and light, much lighter than celluloid.  I could see the color of the tissue underneath the Mylar but then cut out thin strips of tissue, put some glue stick on the uprights and window edges, and laid the cut out strips down. I use a pattern to cut curved strips if there is a curved area. After rubbing the strips down I again lightly touched the tissue w/the trim iron on medium. This turned out to be the best window job I have ever done. I did not do anymore doping but you could if it does not look good. It is not necessary except from an aesthetic standpoint. 

For models just covered with Mylar, and no tissue over it apply a piece of Mylar snugly over a test panel spray it w/Design Master Floral spray paint with the color you intend to use on a model to see how it looks. I just laid the test panel on a newspaper and gave it several light coats of Design Master. It will never be opaque, and the end result looks like see-through colored Monokote. It will definitely not have a vintage look!

I just built another AMA Maxi Jr., a simple solid stick fuselage model (like the standard ROG but w/no landing gear). This model has a wing with ribs. I did not worry about the vintage look, not a vintage model, just wanted it light and of course not invisible in the sky from using just the clear Mylar. I sprayed it with Design Master floral paint and it came out very light, somewhat lighter than the Japanese tissue covered one that I lost last summer. I also covered the tail feathers with colored Mylar but only hand tightened it as the iron shrinking process would pretzel these parts. The end result is a very light, good-looking, highly visible model. 

Here’s the technique to use spraying Design Master Floral spray paint over Mylar. Place a piece of Mylar on a frame, stuck to the edge of the frame, and do not heat-shrink it, just pull it tight. Spray several light coats of the Design Master Floral Spray and when dry cut the Mylar off the frame. Apply the Mylar to the structure so that the colored surface is on the inside. I did this and it works great. This way the colored surface is on the inside and the paint cannot be rubbed off. 

Sources: (as of June 2010)

Mylar:

FAI Model Supply Box 366 Sayre, PA 18840 Phone (570) 882-0366 

Email: faimodelsupply@cyber-quest.com
Website: http://www.faimodelsupply.com/

   Model Research Labs - Online Store Website: http://www.modelresearchlabs.com/

Mike Woodhouse   mike@freeflightsupplies.co.uk (This is probably the best source that I know of with terrific service)

Nitrate Dope:

Sig Nitrate Dope is non-tautening - available at hobby shops or online direct from http://www.sigmfg.com/cgi-bin/dpsmart.exe/MainMenuFV5.html?E+Sig  Email:  mail@sigmfg.com

Phone: (641) 623-5154  Sig also offers Sig Dope Thinner

Randolph Nitrate Dope available in both clear taughtening and non-taughtening plus Nitrate dope thinner, both available in quarts or gallons from Aircraft Spruce and Specialty Co.   http://www.aircraftspruce.com/index.html

Aircraft Spruce West (Culver City, CA)      Phone 1- 877-477-7823

Aircraft Spruce East   (Peachtree City, GA) Phone (770) 487-2310

Design Master Floral Spray Paint can be obtained at a Michael's Craft store (nationwide chain) or art supply stores. It’s available in a lot of colors. It is mostly propellant and is light stuff. You can spray some Krylon clear over it as a fixative without adding any appreciable weight.

cheers, Karl Gies

131 13th Avenue South

Lewistown MT 59457-2808

406-538-8503

17 June 2012 updates:

 http://www.newg.info/tissue_mylar.html 
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1547584&highlight=tissu+over+mylar&page=5
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1457843


http://cmac.synthasite.com/tissue-mylar.php

Building your own model

What endures in this hobby of building model airplanes are your feelings about your work and creations. You would not trade your models for anybody's, not even the best models ever made because they were made by someone else. To buy a model implies that I would have to trade my life for his which means living a whole new complex of pain and joy. One of those per lifetime is enough. I remember the late Joe Macay entering an old time rubber stick model w/a one bladed folder (help me here - it was designed by Charlie Werle) in the Concours d'Elegance at Muskogee. He showed it to me and as I looked at it he read my thoughts. (Joe was not a pretty builder but a person I will never forget. Joe let it all hang out and was a totally honest person). Joe said to me “I know that it will not win but to me it is the most beautiful model in the world because I gave it my all and I am entering it for myself."„ Later on, he flew it for me. It was a great performer and a Jonathan Livingston Seagull moment for both of us. As we struggled to get it out of a downwind tree, Joe said, “"Isn't this just great.”" I recognize being a builder of intermediate skills in all respects but I can narcissistically stare at a model that I have built over and over. This would never happen with a model that I did not build. I will admire another's model analytically trying to learn from it and be motivated by the craftsmanship. But it will never be mine at rest or in the air and my spirit will never soar with it.

CHEERS, KARL GIES, LEWISTOWN, MONTANA, THE CENTER OF THE RURAL AMERICAN AMERICAN WEST

Pair of Tomboys by Karl Gies

This is my just finished Tomboy built from a Bob Holman laser kit and Jim O'Reilly plan. They both did an excellent job on this model in all respects. This is the second one I have built as the first one was built 44 years ago and is still in service. I recently converted it from a Cox Baby Bee .049 to an MP Jet Classic .040 and it is a 44" ws version.  This is a 36" wing span version powered by a CS Boddo Mills .75cc. The fuselage is covered with Japanese tissue over polyspan and the black trim is black tissue. The flying surfaces are Japanese tissue over 1/4 mil mylar and black Japanese tissue trim. The tyres, and this is a British model and correct spellings are in order, are not the tyres going on the model --- I have some coming on back order that will be much lighter. I am also going to build a 44" wing for it to see how much different it flys. 
Cheers,
Karl Gies

Karl Gies' 1949 Keil Kraft "Gipsy Wakefield"

This is the model that I built in 1967 and hit a car with it at the 1991 SAM Champs destroying the fuselage. I kept the remaining parts and twenty years later resurrected it. I almost never throw any model stuff away. This model is now almost finished except for bending the free wheeling prop mechanism with tensioner, glueing on the sub rudder and attaching the d.t. fittings. The covering is Japanese tissue over 1/4 mil mylar, The prop is a 17" diameter freewheeler finished with lighweight fiberglass cloth using Z-Poxy and colored with Design Master Floral Spray. I also have a 17" folding prop for it and have yet to make a nose block for this prop. I did this in the spirit of empiricism. I have been told by a couple of expert modelers that it will climb higher with the freewheeler but of course glide better with the folder. Horses for courses. cheers, cccnh