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Molt Models Hellcat by SteveM. Viewed 11399 times.
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SteveM16-Jan-10 23:36
After spending close to an hour struggling to cover a few square inches of the wing with Doculam (the stuff I used on the Tyro) I got demotivated and gave up as I have done on many previous occasions. Then I decided that having it covered in silkspan was better than not having it covered in Doculam so I got busy. As I was preparing to cover the last two spots of the fuselage it suddenly dawned on me that I was not using my medium grade silkspan, but had somehow grabbed a spare sheet of domestic tissue and was too dense to notice the difference for a few hours.What do you guys think, leave the tissue on or strip it off and redo with silkspan?
David Duckett17-Jan-10 03:49
It looks fine. Leave it on and land gently, away from tall grass.
poppy17-Jan-10 06:15
It looks fine to me also.
SteveM17-Jan-10 06:50
"Land gently" being the problem with me, that and hanger rash. It will be a fairly light plane, but I still have a knack for breaking off motors. For now I'll proceed to cover everything else with silkspan. After all, the wings probably could use the tougher skin more than the fuselage.
John Cooper17-Jan-10 11:07
I suggest leaving the domestic tissue on and adding some silkspan where it is more likely to be torn, like the bottom and the very front. You can even apply the silkspan over the tissue.
SteveM17-Jan-10 16:43
Hmm, that's a good idea. I'll also try to find a relatively simple color scheme just in case I need to do a lot of patching.
jgood18-Jan-10 05:01
Looks great Steve. Is that an IPS in there? If so, you should be able to have around an 8-9oz AUW, which will make it nice and slow and easy to land. I used to love doing touch and go's with my Hellcat. I hope to build a new one soon, maybe I'll try tissue for covering. I wonder how the covering weight compares with Solite?
SteveM18-Jan-10 06:27
Thanks James. It's a brushless Feigao of some kind in some sort of gearbox. Funny what you forget about a plane that has been on the building board for two years. When I get home tonight I'll have to track down the specifics of the motor and try to get a better idea what sort of weight I am up to once it is all covered.
jgood18-Jan-10 06:40
Ah, I have one of those motor/gearboxes too. They're good. Same weight almost as the IPS, but much more power. Should be good!
SteveM18-Jan-10 16:21
James, the motor is a 12mm Feigao 1208436 in a 5.86:1 gearbox. Both were purchased from BP Hobbies but are now both out of stock. For the DH-89 I'm thinking to also use 12mm inrunners and a suitably geared gearbox.
SteveM19-Jan-10 21:57
When I sprayed water on the tissue to shrink it not only did it become glaringly obvious that I put the grain the wrong direction on several pieces, but it dried all bubbly and looser than before I got it wet. I've no idea what went wrong, but I'll not be happy till the tissue is off and silkspan on in its place.
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