Klass Kote on Comet Sailplane II

This morning, I sprayed the top of the stab with one coat of satin clear Klass Kote and brought it in and sat it on the model room work table for 24 hour drying as shown below. One point I want to make is that very little if any overspray got on the top of the stab from when the bottom was sprayed yesterday. This will also be the case for the wing as well.

An awfully lot of thought was put into how to hold the wing for spraying. The final solution came out unbelievably simple as shown below. Two fresh rolls of Viva paper towels were tied across each end of a long box with string as shown below. A folded rag was placed on top and at the end of each roll for trailing edge shims also shown below.

The Sailplane's wing was place upside down onto the rolls. The wing was gently pushed down into the rolls to form a kind of depression for a pseudo cradle as shown below. Then the air supply was attached to the empty spray gun and mock spraying was done to see if the wing was going to move under the spray gun's air pressure. The wing was as solid and did not move or rock at all.

Then the wing was turned over and placed onto the rolls without the two rags on the end as shown below. Again the air supply was attached to the empty spray gun and a mock spraying was done to the top of the wing to see if it was going to move under the spray gun's air pressure. Again the wing was as solid as rock and did not move at all in the upright position.

This is some good general information for spraying any big wing. Anyway, tomorrow afternoon I will get set up and spray the bottom of the wing first and then the top on Monday.......................Tandy

Photos taken at Shelby Airport on August 13 & 14

Hi Guys,

Two nice days at the Shelby Airport.

Attendees on the 13th: Jim Keppler, Cliff Riedel, Ted Williams, Tom Ryan, & Bucky

Attendees on the 14th: Gil Morris, Ted Williams, Joan Walter & hubby Bucky.

The corn fields took its toll. Cliff's towline glider after one beautiful flight. Ted's CO2 model. Tom Ryan's delta wing rubber job.

Gil was making adjustments on the model he flew in the world FAI Contest. Gil did not win, but what a whale of time and honor to attend and fly for the USA. Gil had quite a few stories he told about the contest. My wife Joan was all ears.

Jim Keppler made a great flight two minute flight with his California Champ. It stay on the field and out of the corn field. Any flight which stays out of the corn field is a very great flight. You have to wait for the right wind direction and use a very short fuse for the DT. Also hope you don't hit a thermal.

The two Earl Stahl models were built by Bucky. Bucky gave them to Jim Keppler to fly at the FAC contest. Bucky does not chase after rubber models anymore. Neither does Jim, but he can get the younger guys to fly the models and chase them.

The two gas jobs are an Ascender and a Brooklyn Dodger.

Enjoy the photos,

Bucky

For Measuring Klass Kote taken from the cans

Try:

EZ Dose Spoon Dropper, probably available at any drug type store.

Larry Davidson

Klass Kote on the Comet Sailplane

Today I started the involved process of spraying satin clear Klass Kote on the Sailplane components. I moved our cars out of the garage and into the carport and swept out the garage floor thoroughly. I mixed up an 8 oz batch of Klass Kote epoxy consisting of (a) 2 oz of Epoxy Clear #40, (b) 2 oz of Satin Catalyst #463, and (c) 3-1/2 oz of Reducer #500 (thinner). Typically, I like to air brush Klass Kote, but the Sailplane's fuselage is so large, I used my DeVilbiss automotive touch up spray gun shown below. If you ever use one of these, you will love it. For air, I use a standard small air compressor unit equipped with a regulator and a separator/dryer shown below. I adjust the regulator to a pressure 30 psi for the DeVilbiss gun. I intentionally took this picture very soon after spraying the edges and bottom of the stab so you could see the atomized Klass Kote epoxy particles still suspended in the air in the closed garage. This is a stupid funny looking picture I know, but I wanted you to see the North Safety (Model No. 3001) mask I have on below that I always wear when spraying any kind of epoxy. It has multi stage filters, including the all important charcoal stage, to help filter out and prevent inhaling the atomized Klass Kote epoxy particles that get suspended in the air. This is an interesting picture of the Sailplane's fuselage after it was sprayed with satin clear Klass Kote and the atomized particles allowed to settle out of the air. Several years ago I made a power rotating device that allows me to rotate the fuselage to any position while I am spraying it. I used a slow grill geared rotisserie with pipe on the end that the fuselage painting mandrel plugs into as shown below. Once the fuselage has been sprayed, it transported, by holding onto the mandrel, from the garage into model room and allowed to dry/cure for 24 hour. Several years ago I also made up a simple paint drying stand so I could store the painted fuselage vertically using the painting mandrel, which is shown below. This picture shows all of the Sailplane's components that I sprayed with satin clear Klass Kote today. They are sitting on the model room work table for overnight drying and they will not be handled or touched until tomorrow. All of the little support fixtures are so important during the extending drying time. Of course, only the edges and bottom of the stab were sprayed today. Tomorrow, the stab will be turned over and mounted on a different support fixture shown below and the top of the stab will be sprayed with satin clear Klass Kote. I called Nate Dickerson (612) 243-1234, owner of the Klass Kote company info@klasskote.com, this afternoon and discussed how to keep the remaining 6 ounces of satin clear Klass Kote I have mixed up for use tomorrow. Nate said to put the mix in a jar and seal it tightly with a lid. Then place the jar in the refrigerator, which will remove heat and essentially stop the mix from curing. He said the mix can be used for up to two or three days. However, when the mix is removed from the refrigerator, it must be allowed to come up to room temperature before it is usable again. He said if it seems a little viscous, just stir in a touch of the Reducer to thin it out again for spraying. Nate went on to say that you can also store the mix in the freezer to extend the number of useable days.....................Tandy

Eut's Sylph

Eut Tileston's Sylph

Sylph. Bunch Mighty Midget (kit) powered. Original design 1940.

I designed the Sylph during the Christmas vacation (high school) 1940. It was inspired by a picture of a flying wing model that appeared in Model Airplane News (photo by Kulick). That model was the "Bobtail Contender." It is surprising how much the Sylph looks like the Bobtail Contender. The original Sylph was powered with a Bunch Mighty Midget that I bought as a kit for $7.85. I really don't remember too much about it or what became of it. The plans were drawn in ink on shelf paper (I still have them). They were copied and approved as Old Timer by SAM. Jim O'Reilly has the plans and Bob Holman kits a 1/2A Texaco version.
I have since built one that I flew in 1/2A Texaco and another powered with a Burford Elfin for A ign. LER (the yellow one).
That's all I have off the top of my head.

Eut
SAM Hall of Fame

The model has recently been built by a flying wing enthusiast in Germany (surprise) and featured at R/C Groups

Sylph. Bunch Mighty Midget (kit) powered. Original design 1940.

FAI World Championships for Free Flight Model Aircraft 2009

Bjelopolje - Croatia

See if you can spot local modeler Gil Morris in this slideshow