Speed 400
Cloudster Project
I still have a supply of "Model Covering Company"
white silk that I chose for the Cloudster's second covering. In the picture
below, a piece of the white silk has been cut to cover the right side with.
I spent yesterday and most of today covering
the Cloudster's fuselage, cowl, and vertical tail with a second covering
of white silk. The picture below shows the these components covered with
silk and one coat of 50/50 clear nitrate dope. Again, the four side
windows will get cut out later after the second covering of silk has had
all of its coats of clear dope.
This shot shows the silk covering on the bottom
of the fuselage. The light and dark colors of balsa used to make up the cowl
are going to show through the silk as you can see below.
This picture also shows the bottom of the
fuselage. You can see how the nicely the silk flows over the stringer
fillets that were added at the stringer attach point on the forward planking
as well as how the scolloped bulkheads that do not contact the bottom
coverings.
The bare fuselage structure weighed 64 grams as
reported in Report No. 79. The Cloudster's fuselage with three coats of
50/50 clear dope on the structure, covered with Polyspan lite, and three
coats of 50/50 clear dope on the covering weighed 69 grams as reported in
Report No. 80. With the second covering of silk and one coat of 50/50
clear dope the weight is now 74 grams. So the silk and one coat of clear
dope has only added another 5 grams or (0.18 oz). The two coverings and a
total of seven coats of dope weigh a total of 10 grams or a little over a
third of an ounce (0.35 oz).
Tomorrow I will mix up 40% dope with 60% thinner
and a small amount of retarder for penetration and start applying multiple
coats of dope to these components to build up a finish on the
silk.........................Tandy