Real cloth covering?

[NcGunny]

Has anybody tried any real cloth covering? Upcoming Stampe builds are just begging for some form of covering non tissue paperish.

[Skyediamonds]

Without shrink films that have fabric weaves, it would seem that very fine silk might be your answer. Has beautiful weave patterns in scale. Not cheap but you can probably obtain some at apprx $10.00-$15.00 per square yard. Silk comes both natural & synthetic, & even a mo tyre of both. From my own experience because of their chemical properties, the synthetic silk resists most dopes & adhesives. So your best bet would be to go all natural. Be mindful that there is a lot of open space between weaves, even on the extra fine style with tight weaves per square inch. I didn't have much luck on my biplane before giving up & went the tissue route, but you're welcome to give it your best shot. Suggest you try a small sample on a frame made from scrap wood. Cheers! Skyediamonds

[Brenda]

I've used real silk before on larger gliders (Goldberg Gentle Lady) and it worked fine. Looked great as well. I shrank it with plain dope. Flew it for 3-4 years and many a crash without much damage.

[NcGunny]

My wife has some rolls of painting canvas but the weaves are to big. I have some silk but not sure if it can.handle paint and weathering needed for the 2 tribute planes. I did see some canvas sometime ago that was in the doll house supply section. If worse comes to worse..shudders...i will in fill em..

[BillParker]

I use cotton muslin, and either butyrate dope, or lacquer...











Little planes made of 1/16" balsa, are not going to be very happy with cotton muslin, (think bed sheet) shrunk up on em. My blown up planes are made of 1/4" pine plywood. It shrinks plenty, and it's HEAVY... When I first got started, I was asking the same fabric questions that you're asking. Howard told me to buy a book for fabric covering airplanes... I did:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0891000771/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&condition=used

Don't worry it's cheap.

The other material is Dacron Polyester. You glue it down with epoxy, and the shrink it with a heat gun, then dope it. Cotton is cheaper and easier.