The formers didn't get attached yesterday evening...I was feeling terrible (I suspect it's bronchitis). As often happens with me, I took the opportunity to see if I could do anything to make my re-do go better. This time I used one of the L2 pieces to set the required distance between the formers. Hopefully all glue holds, and I will be getting the right side together in short order. Construction on the right wing will also commence soon; my efforts to straighten the warped piece appear to have been successful.

I think you might be able to do this with MSPaint if your computer has this program.  Might have to experiment a bit to get the results you want...
Sky9pilot

Here's a follow on to the sagging tissue note in my previous reply. I consider this to be too much sag in the shrunk tissue and is a result of not paying attention to the previous post and allowing the tissue to go on chord-wise. Not too concerned here as it is in the center section and will be inside the fuselage but need to pay more attention going forward.
Mike

Dan - There are about as many ways to do the covering as there are people, however, there are discussions and not too many pics showing the discussion, so here is an example of the tear test on the corner of the tissue sample. The rather ragged tear is against the grain and the smoother one is with the grain and I usually mark the full sheet at that corner with an arrow reminding me which way it goes as we usually cut up the tissue and sometimes it gets lost. When you cover the wing with the tissue going chord-wise, you will have considerably more sag than if the tissue grain ran span-wise. Your tests will soon show you which method you want.
Mike

Dan wrote on Oct 10^th, 2019 at 12:04pm:


You want 70%.  It's the water contained in the alcohol that does the shrinking.  The alcohol causes it to evaporate faster giving good taughtness but not taking all the "shrink" out of the tissue.  If you find a wrinkle at a corner after you shrink the tissue with alcohol you can wet a finger with water, rub it on the wrinkle and it usually the "shrink" remaining in the tissue will pull it out.  I only do this when I cover dry and then shrink.

When I cover "wet" I float the tissue in water in an aluminum roasting pan or a deep cookie sheet.  I pull the tissue out of the water, lay in on a terrycloth towel, then fold the towel over it to dry it to dampness while I put the glue on the framework.  I use permanent glue stick to adhere the tissue, applied only on the edges of the area I'm covering and to the parts of the frame where the tissue will later be cut for inserting another part or for window openings.  You have about 90 seconds to work the edges and pull the tissue or silkspan taught, then sit back and watch the miracle of "wet" covering shrinking to a beautiful finish.  Of course, the preparation of the frame must be pristine before you do this because as the damp covering shrinks it will reveal every divot and bump underneath.

Hope this helps,

KF

Dan...AK's advice is right on.  Just a note additional, when we say applying the tissue wet, understand that what we mean is that the tissue is damp not dripping wet.  I use Isopropyl Alcohol in a used hairspray pump bottle my wife has finished using the hairspray.  I rinse with hot water and fill it with the alcohol.  This doesn't shrink the tissue as much a water does and with the hairspray atomizer it's easy to re-dampen the tissue if it starts to dry out before complete application.  It also activates the gluestick on the framework.
Tom

The side keel looks great!

The Guillows tissue is not the best nor is it the worst. Usually these kits were designed to be covered in the traditional way, meaning small pieces applied dry. The traditional adhesive was dope but these days we have a wide range of choices such as glue sticks, thinned white glue, even commercial products. Glue sticks are very popular, convenient to use, and work with both dry and wet tissue.

Typically, the individual components are covered first and then the model is assembled. Determine the direction of the tissue grain by making a small tear at one corner. Is the tear straight or does it sorta angle off sideways? Straight tears show the grain direction, use that direction to align the tissue with the longer dimension of the piece being covered. Opinions vary but usually this means wing/stab root to tip and nose to tail for the fuselage. For squarish shaped pieces, not sure that it really matters.

But before we start covering, be sure to spend some time sanding everything smooth to remove glue or wood that isn't flush. The tissue will stick to smooth surfaces much better than ones that are rough.

Finally, if this isn't too basic, make yourself a small frame out of scrap and practice covering it. It's a learning process and better to make a mistake where it doesn't matter!!

The idea I mentioned in the last post didn't quite work. I thought I came up with a nifty little Lego wing-support jig, but it kept walking around on the scrap balsa I set underneath it. However, the half-height formers are actually doing a pretty good job of staying in their intended positions without jigging or extra clamping.

Former B5 was a little off at the top, so it got adjusted. I intended to install former B2, but positioned the red Lego against the outline for former B3! However, I caught my goof, wiped the glue off B2, and installed B3 instead.

Earlier today, I checked side keel slot alignment with an inner 550 cord strand. It looked okay, and the side keel itself seemed to fit pretty well. I might have to take a dollar store emery board to a few slots, but it seems to be going much better than the PC-6's fuselage did!