Do you laquer the balsa first, then add the silkspan, or use adhesive to attach the silkspan to the balsa and then laquer? Johhny, you are my hero when it comes to wiring and batteries, as Bob will tell you I tend to "brew up" a battery or two...
I tend to lay the silkspan on the balsa dry (or slightly dampened) then laquer from the middle outwards. A key with laquer is not to try to spread it out ... lay the stuff on so that it soaks through the silkspan into the balsa. Also, a couple layers of silkspan won't hurt anything either ... it'll still pass the drop test easily.
I find the best way is to take a big swig and swish it around reeeeel good and then spit it on the balsa. Oh! You said Laquer.. sorry. Use a brush.
One of the copper tubes was bent and there was no easy access to to repair, so this was a chance to use flexible tubes. Not fun doing this type of rework so close to the battle, but necessary. Had to cut the bottom (the grey area) so that I could get to all the copper tubes. Tubes installed Wires are installed so that the walls don't deform when adding the foam. Stern gun holder, holes are to lighten weight. The assembly connects to the hull with two screws, so the entire assembly can lift out. Glued the rail that will hold the blast sheild fabric (tent material).
Be careful of Rustolem! We had to strip a ship and recover because the combatant used spray Rustolem and his ship really did not pass the drop test.
Mike, I did my balsa that way and it didnt pass the test at Nats. I did discover however that I needed to thin the weldwood and I had painted the entire sheet with weldwood (unthinned) which made it hard. Still it was easy to shoot through but now I only paint the ribs and I thin the weldwood. I will have to cross my fingers this time.
Weldwood is a different matter when it comes to sticking on silkspan. The few times I use it, the weldwood gets thinned about 50/50. I've stopped using it because it wrinkled the silkspan. Still use it to stick the sheeting on the ship though.
Sorry, I use weldwood to stick balsa to hull, a special mix of dope for the silkspan. I get no wrinkles!! I call it Big J's Wacky Dope....
I use thinned weldwood to put silkspan to balsa and 3M 77 (or 90 when i can find it) crazy spray adhesive to stick the balsa to the boat. Haven't failed a drop yet. *knocks on wood*
Someone tried using nothing but 3M 77 to stick silkspan on balsa. It didn't hold very well and started separating from the balsa.
Finished the new stern layout, wire are run as well as gun tubes. Still have to mount the test switches and get everything wired together. The foam under the guns will be trimmed once the guns get in place and I have an idea on how much clearance is needed.
I love that foam. I did my bow, using the poured foam for the first time, and love it. Just pour, cut, sand, epoxy, sand, thin fiberglass mat, epoxy... smooooth... I will do the same in the stern as you did but will epoxy it each night until its done. Lou it looks like we will both be running down to the wire here!
I am using the smooth on product, a 10 times expanding foam. Then I take a bandfile and quickly shave off the height, place a straight edge from side to side to make sure it is level. Then use 1/32 inch fiberglass sheets from McMaster to get a smooth finish on the top, attaching it with west system mixed with adhesive promotor (sp?). By changing from copper tubes I was able to save a pound, which is not much but important for me in finding the center of the ship. With everything in place I was a little stern heavy and didn't want to move the batteries forward to counter balance.
As I want to have better than average guns, heading over to Mike's this weekend for a build session. Also want to finishing the wiring of the brushless system as he has been running his Erin for a while and I will have less a chance of letting out the blue magical smoke.
When using the Laquer, regular latex paint ok to use on top? The stuff you can get from HD or lowes is ok?
Yup. Exterior latex paint works well. I like Behr paint myself, but any exterior latex should work fine.
