DH VAMPIRE

Glassed the underside of the vampire leave to cure overnight, do the same on the panther

OK then chaps! It's 07.25 and I'm in the garage already, must be mad.Anyway the resin has dried and time to trim the cloth.The only and best way to do this is,using a medium sanding block gently sand the edge using downward strokes until the cloth falls away leaving a crisp faired edge.Once done it will have a sand with 400 grit paper and a second coat of resin.

Pete, how much extra weight does glassing add to a model? And how much extra structural strength do you gain?
I.e. do you build the model lighter and with thinner balsa if you know you are going to glass it?

Good question John! As with many things it's a compromise, what size model and the type and what you hope to achieve. There is no getting away from it a glassed finish is heavier than say profilm or solartex.The system I am using is 49 gramme cloth and 2 coats of resin which will give a ding proof finish and will add a bit of strength but not much heavier, and a glass like finish with little extra weight. On the other hand if you want a bullet proof finish you can use 150 gramme cloth and 4/6 coats of resin which will turn a wooden airframe into a glass fibre model but the weight gain would be horrendous. To answer your other question I would never skimp on balsa thickness and rely on the glass to make up the strength.
My preferred finish is to cover a model in solartex and painted but as with scale jets they have more scale detailing than most and a glass finish is an excellent base to set out the detailing.

Pete

Had a good day on the vampire and panther, trimmed the cloth on the underside, sand and second coat of resin. Sealed top of wings,glassed underside of outer wing panels and canopy on both models.
Hopefully glassing will be done early next week and a coat of primer and then the fun starts with hours and hours of cutting back with wet and dry 400 grit paper.The purpose of the first coat of primer is a guide to highlight high and low spots on the air frame.The idea is to remove the primer coat with wet and dry which will remove all the high spots and any primer left after rubbing down will highlight low spots.Two options to fill the low spots,first is a very very fine automotive stopper filler or my preferred method is a coat of good quality high build filler primer.

Pete

It's always sods law! 1sq foot of glass cloth short to finish glassing the vampire so had to order more which hopefully will be here tomorrow /Tuesday. started rubbing down the top hatch and a coat of primer