To prime or not to prime?

[Tinkerman74]

I'm gradually getting close to finishing my B17. All the tissue (silkspan) was used with dope and then a minimum of two coats of un-thinned dope. (after reading stuff in the forum and other resources, I will start using 50 to 50 thinned dope). The rudder came out really well. I'm using Testors spray enamel. The stabilizer, on the other hand did not come out as well as the rudder. It looks as though the paint went through the silkspan and didn't cover in several spots. Did I not put enough coats of dope on or should I prime it before the color coat? This is the first time I used spray. All other builds have been with brush. This one is so big that I don't really want to try to brush it on.

All thoughts greatly appreciated.

Tinkerman

[lukebozek1]

I have never used any enamel paints over dope. I have had excellent results with the Krylon or other Acrylic paints. I try not to mix any of these like Acrylic and enamel, and I do know what happens with Dopes over paints. Very, very bad results. Post some pics of the tail surface, curious to see what happened.

[Tinkerman74]

I have found out that my basic problem is that the silkspan was not sealed sufficiently. I have read elsewhere that silkspan, while strong is very porus and apparently my none thinned dope did not do a good job of sealing. I have a small amount of tissue to put on around the tail gun area and I'm using the thinned out dope, It works great.
I need to apply several more coats of the dope before I try to spray any more.
I apologize for no pictures but I don't know how to put pictures into my posts and the FAQ was not much help.
Oh, one more question what is the best glue to use with the white vacuu-formed parts?
Your comments greatly appreciated.
Tinkerman

[ADW 123]

i just use ca glue. not super thin. but a thicker kind. the super thin is very messy and just sticks to your fingers. if you do get ca on your fingers, twist, dont pull. thats my 2 cents.

[lukebozek1]

I always use Testor's plastic cement for the plastic to wood. Never had any problems with that. The silkspan that I remember is very heavy, and therefore I always used the dope at 100%. Tissue is a little different.

[Tinkerman74]

The silkspan that i have is of a medium weight. Its pretty easy to work with. I have some of the real heavy stuff, could use it for kitchen floor covering. Don't really know where I got it but I found it in a draw the other day. I have quite a bit of the silkspan (4 sheets). So I'll probably use it for some of my other builds. I have 3 or 4 more of the giant Guillows series to build.
Thanks for your thoughts. I will get some thicker CA and work with that. We finally have LHS here in town, yea! Will stop by and see what he has in the way of glues.

Thanks for your thoughts and suggestions.

Tinkerman

[lukebozek1]

Don't use any CA on clear parts, it will fog them up pretty bad. I have used this on the white plastic and it is okay, but the Testor's Plastic always worked the best. Let it dry overnight before you sand.

[Tinkerman74]

In the "for what it's worth department" as it turns, out priming the silk span probably would have not helped. My basic problem was the I did not "SEAL" the silk span enough!
So, lesson learned. Thanks for the input.
Tinkerman