Use of Balsarite

[Randy Bayuk]

Hello!

Building my Tower Kaos and will be covering with Ultracote. Third plane,
second kit, did the first kit with monokote and it went ok. Thought I would
try ultracote on the Kaos to compare the two. My Eagle II ARF is ultracote
and a wing repair I did last year went very well with the ultracote I used.

Question concerns the use of Balsarite. Is this needed prior to covering
with film? I didn't use it on my other plane and the monokote seemed to go
on ok and isn't peeling or bubbling. What is the stuff? Is there something
commercially available that is the exact same thing, sort of how CA debonder
can be substituted by acetone.

Thanks!

Randy
CAMS

[Topgun1342]

Randy,
I tryed "Balsarite on one of my planes several years ago to see if it made a
difference when I applied the Monokote that I was using at the time. I found
that it made no difference at all other that creating two more operations to
completing the plane, ie applying the Balsarite and sanding the airframe again.
I see no value added in using Balsarite..... Good luck

[Dr1Driver]

>Question concerns the use of Balsarite.

I've never found Balsarite necessary on either Monokote or Ultracote. You
usually only need it with cloth coverings that don't have adhesive on them.
The one thing I don't like about it is it's a soft adhesive, and will let go
easily if reheated (like shrinking with a gun after ironing the seams.)
Dr.1 Driver
"There's a Hun in the sun!"

[Mike Grey]

I use balsarite whenever I recover a plane - usually oil gets into the wood in
some places and you can paint right over it with balsarite and the monokote will
stick without a problem.

Mike

[Michael Morse]

>Question concerns the use of Balsarite. Is this needed prior to covering
>with film? I didn't use it on my other plane and the monokote seemed to go
>on ok and isn't peeling or bubbling. What is the stuff? Is there something
>commercially available that is the exact same thing, sort of how CA debonder
>can be substituted by acetone.

I used Balsarite under Monokote on my most recent plane, only because
the manual recommended it. The only virtue I could see was that it
adds some fuel proofing to the wood that might be handy if the
Monokote peels. On the negative side, it did require additional
sanding, although it says on the can, "no sanding is usually
required." I probably won't use it again unless someone's who's a
really big fan posts something here.

Don't use it on anything but wood. I used it on the glassed wing
center section, and it didn't stick well, so I had to tediously peel
it off in tiny little pieces.

--Mike

[Information Systems]

I find that Balsarite helps where covering is difficult to stick, e.g. on
the fibreglass used on the seam between to halves of the wing. Otherwise,
it is not necessary for a good cover job.

John Soule
Austin, Texas

[Michael Morse]

>I find that Balsarite helps where covering is difficult to stick, e.g. on
>the fibreglass used on the seam between to halves of the wing. Otherwise,
>it is not necessary for a good cover job.

To repeat, my experience was exactly the opposite. The Balsarite not
only wouldn't stick to the epoyied fiberglass, but it made a huge
sticky mess.

--Mike

[bgc]

If I can remember right Balsarite is PVC (polyvinyl chloride, plastic)
powder dispersed in
strong dangerous (cancer warning) solvents. For one,me, I would not use it.

"Randy Bayuk" <rba...@efortress.com> wrote in message
news:ta6attq...@corp.supernews.com...

[Fred McClellan]

"bgc" <mer...@mediaone.net> wrote in message
news:GEVo6.4094$8d.6...@typhoon.jacksonville.mediaone.net...

> If I can remember right Balsarite is PVC (polyvinyl chloride, plastic)
> powder dispersed in
> strong dangerous (cancer warning) solvents. For one,me, I would not use
it.

Hmmm . . . the can here says Toluol and MEK. Nothing about PVC. No cancer
warnings, either,
although MEK and Toluol aren't exactly body-friendly things.
--
Cheers,
Fred McClellan

[JEFGEO123]

Balsarite is a good adhesive if the wood has oil in it, it greatly aids
adhesion of most any cover that you may want to apply (ever iron on silk?) over
an oil soaked airframe!
with most iron on films it is not needed and is just one, or two extra steps,
depending upon how smoothe you can brush it on (never tried spraying it?)
anybody want to buy the half a can i have out in my garage?
George

[Bill Archibald]

Will Balsarite also protect the wood against BECOMING fuel soaked if
used in the first place ?? In time, it seems that covering gets
little tears especially near engine and fuel gets into the wood. Would
precoating with Balsarite help this?

-bill

[bgc]

Fred, maybe, they have changed the formula, in the past, the product was pvc
with chlorinated solvent and other solvents.

"Fred McClellan" <the-p...@mindspring.com> wrote in message
news:981m5g$n55$3...@slb2.atl.mindspring.net...

[Allan Flowers]

Yes. It says so on the can. In my opinion it will take a couple of coats to
fuel proof the wood but it drys fast so it doesn't take very long.
Allan

Bill Archibald <nos...@myISP.com> wrote in message
news:WbqlOn2m33ZscI...@4ax.com...