In 1974 you paid 35 cents for a small jar.
Today, a 1 oz. jar of Aero Gloss Clear Dope retails for $9.49!!!
Butrate dope has gone out of fashion, it's hard to find at the dwindling brick and mortar hobby shops. Few people take the time to build "stick and tissue" Guillow's style models. Most all R/C planes are ARTF or RTF. Some websites now recommend using a glue stick to apply the tissue.
When I started, C engines were the limit, D engines were coming. You brush painted your rockets with Dope. If you only had A and B engines you were concerned about finished flying weight. NAR competitions were popular and everybody was reaching for the highest flight.
Spray paints are heavier than a dope finish. Brushed on dope never looked as smooth as a spray painted model.
I use balsa fillercoat and/or sanding sealer on all my balsa nose cones and any balsa fins that will not be covered in paper. Besides the price and the smell, I like the finish it produces much better than CWF. The New Way nose cones I have done came out smooth as glass, at least until the first ding.
ReplyDeleteHi Metal,
DeleteI've used both and I get better results with one coat sanded CWF and a coat of sanded primer/filler. I can't use the dope, the smell about knocks me out!
Yep. Concern over fumes was one of the reasons why I've looked for alternatives to stuff with noxious fumes -- aside from concerns over my own health, but since I currently reside in an apartment complex, I'll need to be a bit more careful than I was when I was a kid living in out in the country.
DeleteSpeaking of stuff that might raise eyebrows today that were pretty common back when some of us were kids -- like using a bucket of gasoline to clean mechanical parts (e.g. bicycle chains and gears) -- cleans off old grease and oil and other gunk easily. Gloves? What gloves? There was the minor annoyance that your hands smelled of gasoline for the next day or so (though a good scrubbing with stuff like Dutch cleanser helps to reduce this).
Delete... and using finger to rub in model cement (similar to Duco) into wood and paper parts to stiffen them? (again, gLoves? What gloves?) (shudder)
DeleteHi Naoto,
DeleteI'm a little concerned about breathing in the dust from the Carpenter's Wood Filler. The warning on the package mentions "Eye/Mucous Membrane Irritant." My sense of smell is very weak, maybe that's from the sanding dust?
This gives me an idea for a new project: build and launch a rocket completely old school. Build a sixties-era rocket like an Alpha just how it was done back in the day with cardstock AR-2050's, school glue, rubber shock cord w/slit mount and hand-painted with butyrate, then launch it with a vintage motor and nichrome wire on a Porta-Pad with a car battery.
ReplyDeleteHi Lonnie,
DeleteWe'd all like to go back and do it old school. Now if I could only find three C6-5s in a blue tube for $1.20.