Dope free build

White glue and water mix, glue stick.

OhBee,
I discovered "Deft Clear Lacquer Sanding Sealer for Wood" in quart cans at my local Mom and Pop hardware store. It cost me $12/qt with a next-day delivery from warehouse.

The stuff behaves like nitrate dope. I have NOT checked it for fuel-proofing, but use it just as I would nitrate. The frame gets "Defted" and then tissue adhered with more Deft. I imagine the glue-stick method of sticking tissue would work quite well on a "Defted" frame.

Once covered, seal the covering with Deft. Then move on to fuel-proofing as usual. I imagine pulyurethane can be sprayed over Deft just fine. I have topcoated two models with  butyrate dope over Deft successfully.

The stuff dries fast, sands well, and sticks tissue down phenomenally. It also seals/shrinks tissue. It thins with lacquer thinner, and cleans up the same way as nitrate. Paint it In a closes-room environment for that old-school headrush we got as kids while doping models in the bedroom!

https://www.ppgpaints.com/products/interior-stain/deft-interior-clear-lacquer-sanding-sealer

From RC groups ( Curtis, as Steve mentioned, perhaps a sensible answer is needed here. I've used an Avery acid-free glue stick when attaching tissue to a model with great results over the years. I wrote about this back in the mid '80's in the First Steps column within Model Airplane News magazine if you want to read the article. Once the framework is tissue covered I then pin down the individual model items, i.e. wing panels and separate tail parts and such, to a flat board and spray everything with lite mist coats (do not soak the tissue) of water using a good atomizer and when all is shrunk as required and dry I then go over the parts with White Rain unscented extra hold hairspray (or similiar) and let the pinned items dry thoroughly. Usually I give the model items two or three lite coats of the hairspray and it does the trick. When everything is dry you can assemble the model and head on out for some trimming flights. It's a nice method that has given great results without stinking up the house or warping fragile model parts. Hope this can help you.)) https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?1374412-Any-substitute-for-Dope

Very interesting Eric. Good little article.

Iron on covering, not only is it easier, it's 100 times more durable. In addition, you have less warping issues. If a warp is induced, you just twist and heat in the opposing direction. Anyone who suggests that it's too heavy for 1/2A has never used it. I personally wouldn't use polyurethane on a 1/2A, it's heavy and it's weight doesn't go away like dope. Not only is dope important in terms of tightening the covering, it's also a plasticizer which offers it flexibility. Enamels and urethane doesn't offer that. The only urethanes that offer that are used on car bumpers and are two part examples which have a lot of flex additives. If you tear a dope finish silkspan, all you do is brush additional clear on top to repair it as it melts right in. This is not the situation using polyurethanes or enamels. Your essentially up the creek when this happens and nothing your going to do aside from using CA is going to adhere a patch. Iron is inexpensive, faster, lighter and stronger. It's a win win.

Y use iron covering film for m'y model is possible To Find very light film just cant remember Witch chose at the time build for .020 tee dee litle plane very light ken cook its true dope and tisue some time color fade change like wite film if water on plane very bad now new matériel is best Welcom To 2020 build wit new matériel cnc parts laser cut super light film micro Reciver so meny new technologie as3x Reciver long range fpv in very smal stuf now very light old am rc gear stuf is for collector

I wouldn't even attempt an iron on covering. Way above my pay grade...and have no special tools. Not even sure I can pull off any kind of wing covering anymore. It's been a few decades since the last one!

Jim...I just happen to have a quart of that deft sanding sealer I used on the fuselage! I was serioulsy looking at it and wondering?...... I do have some "docspan"!    
.....scratch that......mines Varathane sanding sealer...like water with a white filler pigment mixed in! Nothing sticks to it!......

.

Do I mist the tissue before sticking it down ?...or after its applied dry?    Do you do the wing in 4 pieces...or 2..full span top and bottom?  I'm half scared to even attempt it and ruin all the previous hours of work!

OhBee,
I never concerned myself with trying to do a wing/fuselage in one piece. I like to do my tips first, one end at a time with top and bottom done one after the other. Then I do middle sections in pieces as big as possible... again top and then bottom.
If the tissue will lay down straight, then I lay it dry. But that tends to only happen when doing one bay or section at a time.

If the piece won't lay down smoothly, say, as over three or four sections/bays, then I mist the tissue for some stretch.
Each section is secured only at the perimeter of a section...no doping middles/open structure until the entire part is covered.

I usually won't start doping open bays until the entire part is covered. That way no ribs/bulkheads/formers get pulled out of place by tissue shrinking over different sections at different times.

Thanks Jim!.....pondering my next move...

Give me a bit of time. I'm about done building a wing...and will capture the steps in covering it. The bell tank is mounted, and the mid-section sheeting remains to be glued on. The fuselage is almost done from firewall back...the engine cowl needs to be built. Both will be done with Deft, and sealed with old Pactra AeroGloss.

Sounds good! Whatcha building now?
I'm just putting sanding sealer coats on my wing framework.....not sure where I'm going from there. I never get to town,and near everything is limited and masks required. I ain't into masks.....I can't breathe!

I'd say the Deft thing is gonna work! Took a lot of driving to stores and phone calls to even find that! This area is a hobbyists desert when it c
omes to any kind of supplies

Shoot OhBee that looks Great !!

OhBee,

Looks great.

As you have already figured out the days of local hobby shops have gone the way of the Dodo. Like it or not, but everything is still available online. It doesn’t give you the instant reward, but it’s what we have to deal with. Don’t give up, just adapt and overcome!

OhBee,

That looks fabulous!

That is Tidi-brand PN 98-1004 office exam table paper in "Every day" crepe. Also possibly McKesson 18-1004...colloquially known as "Doc-span" for its origins.

I bought some around a year ago by the roll. Now the vendor no longer sells by the roll. It is available in 12 rolls per box.

Problem is you need a computer and a credit card to purchase online....I have neither...just this damned phone. .......and the wife is adamant about no card info on the internet,due to hackers and theft. ....so I'm basically screwed as far as parts and supplies go.  I would never have gotten THIS far without help from  you guys on this forum!  My last build was 53 yrs.  ago.  That's why I started with a simple kit,that really wasn't that simple trying to relearn everything. Its been one screw up or mistake after another. Tomorrow is my birthday.....and I'll then officially be too old to finish this thing. Didn't FEEL old in my 60's.....70 is another story!...it SOUNDS old!

Don't give up!

Well, I must say that you have done a great job with the wing covering, and model overall in general!

OhBee wrote:I'd say the Deft thing is gonna work!  Took a lot of driving to stores and phone calls to even find that! This area is a hobbyists desert when it c
omes to any kind of supplies

That's looking alright OhBee, I'll have to look for some of that Deft and try it out. keep plucking away, that's what i do, I'm not very good at great detail but my planes fly. I think it's because i don't have a lot of patience. keep it up it's lookin good.

I'm TOO fussy with this stuff!....and I STILL screw up!.....driving myself nuts!

Love the color , to olds Butt LOL it takes longer but well worth the effort when all is done ,, i haven't built anything in several years now just not had the ambition and that peas me off I really thought after getting my disability and all the time i have i would bee all into it and its not like i don't have enough supplies . Planes 1/2 done , repairs needed planes ready to fly , engines out the wysue ......