1/24 scale DH Mosquito for rubber power.

[Prosper]

Yeah I leave all that stuff to Dave Dputt7 and his ilk! Actually making the blades three at a time was no drag. In theory one could stack the blanks six high on the blade former, but my instinct was that that might cause problems. As it was I found that three blades took 2+ hours to dry in my electric incandescent bulb hotbox.

Nothing done over the weekend - but later yest. and early today I finished the other freewheel by adding the vertical post, and made the locating tabs for the spinner caps.

It's starting to look like an aeroplane .

Stephen.

[ramses]

What a beautiful Mossie, Stephen!!
I very much like your building technique.
Seems very light too!
Following with great interest,

Cheers, Ramses

[Piecost]

Fantastic workmanship and innovative approach. I am really enjoying this build thread.

[dputt7]

   A real credit to you Stephen, it looks fantastic!

[Flygrimm]

Stunning!

Stuart

[Prosper]

Ta chaps - I just hope that I can get over the main hurdle - tissue covering . . .

Seems very light too!

I forgot to mention that the model as seen in the photo weighs 43g. Hmmmm . . . I just hope the covering is light!

Now, about that covering. One of the jobs of the test model was to discover whether I could cover relatively complex curved surfaces with tissue. That's not really my thing. In fact from memory it's a first - for curvy fuselages and nacelles I use balsa/aliphatic sheet as a rule.

Well, yes, I could cover relatively comp. . .dah dah dah . . . but, I was using Asuka tissue.

I don't like Asuka tissue. Unless I've used Asuka from a dodgy batch or something, there's no remote way I consider it to be a like-for-like replacement for Esaki. It's rough (no shiny side, and even Esaki's rough side is smoother than Asuka); it's more porous than Esaki. However, it's sloppier than Esaki, and it occurs to me that my ability to cover compound curves could be down to that sloppiness.

I don't want to cover this Mosquito with Asuka. I have a few Esaki sheets left but certainly won't be uusing them for experimentation. Much (most) of the airframe is single-curvature. So, I'm pondering how to do this job - Esaki and Asuka for different parts? Meantime, it so happens that I've nearly run through the few Asuka sheets I bought, so I need new tissue good or bad. There's an online shop offering 'lightweight Japanese tissue'. I guess that will turn out to be Asuka, or perhaps the twice-as-heavy type tissue, that people who don't specialise in small FF modells consider to be 'light'. But I'm ordering some anyway.

Stephen.

[ramses]

Have you tried Dilly tissue?
Richard Crossley gave me a tip about Dilly tissue.
It has a dull and a shiny side like Esaki.
I myself  haven`t worked with Esaki, but Richard says Dilly tissue is a very good alternative.
I recently tried the Dilly tissue and liked it so much i ordered some extra sheets.

Cheers, Ramses

[PeeTee]

Hello Stephen

Have you tried the Dilly Jap tissue perchance ? I have some in my loft somewhere but haven't used it since my stroke ! If you look at the back pages of the New Clarion ( see the SAM 1066 website) you'll find it advertised and from what I recall it isn't expensive. It also featured in HPA (Mk 1) about 3 or 4 years ago.



Peter

ps Ramses beat me to it !!

[Prosper]

Okay fellas, thanks for the tip. I'll get some Dilly tissue too.

Stephen.

[lincoln]

I'm not sure you should consider covering compound curves with Esaki "experimental". It works fine if you put it on wet. I admit I haven't done it much.

If you are going to paint, would it work to use really thin mylar over the sheeted parts?

[Prosper]

I'm not sure you should consider covering compound curves with Esaki "experimental". It works fine if you put it on wet. I admit I haven't done it much.

If you are going to paint, would it work to use really thin mylar over the sheeted parts?

Thanks for the advice Lincoln. I meant that it's experimental for me. I know others can cover pool balls with tissue and without a wrinkle or a seam - but I ain't one of 'em. My test model showed me that I can cover a Mosquito nose with Asuka, but my feeling is that Esaki might be less accommodating. Mylar - hadn't thought of that. It's so far outside my knowledge that I'll probably leave it for this model.

I looked into Dilly tissue a bit last evening. Two sources - Mike Stuart's site and a thread on RC Groups - mention that Dilly tissue has little wet strength. I think that puts it out for me as my whole covering system is predicated on water-soluble glue and damp or sometimes wet tissue.

Stephen.

[cvasec]

Also available direct from Martin...
You cannot view this attachment.

[Prosper]

Finally - I've ordered the 'lightweight Japanese Tissue' I mentioned up the thread. It took me so long because of umm-ing and aaah-ing about what to do, and then it takes me days to get the padlock and chains off my wallet (anyone remember The Goon Show?).

It occurs to me that I haven't mentioned why I'm making this model's fuselage and nacelles from moulded balsa sheet with tissue covering, as opposed to my usual wheeze of using balsa/aliphatic sheet. Largely it's because making sufficient BA sheet for a model this size is choresome. I can't remember how I felt turning out the sheet for the 24.5" Spitfire I made a few yrs back, but I didn't relish the idea regarding this 27" model, with its two big  nacelles as well as fuselage. I think the weight of the two different methods ends up about the same for 'bodies' (fuselages, nacelles), but wings made from BA sheet are typically about half as heavy again as S&T wings. BA sheet looks better for imitating stressed-skin subjects as it can be scribed, embossed, and have holes cut in it. But for the super-smooth Mosquito that doesn't apply.

Stephen.

[Prosper]

The 'Japanese lightweight tissue' arrived  today - no good. Gift wrapping only. It has a distinct wrinkly finish, and in seeing whether this might flatten out with wetting-stretching-drying, I found that it has little or no wet strength, depending on how you'd define 'strength'. It weighs just under 18gsm, by my measure. I did buy a new razor saw and some larger-bore al. tubes though, along with the tissue, so my order wasn't completely wasted.

So . . . looks like I'll have to love Asuka. I will also experiment with the heavier tissue I use for binding balsa to forms/plugs/moulds - this has shiny side; crisp texture; wet strength, and weighs 20gsm as opposed to Asuka's 14gsm (my measurements). This heavier tissue might disqualify itself by soaking up more paint than the thinner Asuka, thus compounding the weight penalty. But then maybe not - it appears less porous. Then the question of how powerfully it shrinks . . .

Stephen.

[Prosper]

My normal practice is to pre-stretch tissue by laying it on glass, wetting it so that the tissue is pretty much floating on a film of water, and - using a wide brush, along with fingers and thumbs - to stroke all wrinkles out of the tissue. At this point the tissue has stretched a good deal above its original, dry, dimensions. Then the edges are clamped down so that the tissue can't shrink back to its original dimensions as it dries.

Then I airbrush or hand-paint the tissue on the glass, and use it for covering.

The sheet of Asuka on the glass in the pics is from last summer - intended to cover a Piper Pacer. I dug it out to photograph - and remembered that a) it's a coarse, matt finish - and b) that when using the wide brush the brush scuffs up the tissue (worsening the coarseness and presumably weakening the tissue). This doesn't happen with Esaki. The last pic, shot at a shallow angle to the surface, shows the gritty texture.

What to do? I could go back to using a frame like the one in the photo - tissue is taped to the edges of the frame, wetted thoroughly, and then those wooden battens can be pressed downwards, which stretches the tissue. This works, but is clumsy. And this frame is too small to produce the Mosquito's wing panels. I'm just drifting around half-heartedly mucking around with Asuka and the heavier-but-smoother tissue, trying to come up with a new idea.

Stephen.