Hi Pete,

If your ply is very thin, say 1.5 mm or less I would suggest using Eze-kote water based resin after covering the complete hull with the leg from a nylon stocking or pair of tights. If the ply is thicker you could dispense with the stockings and just use Eze-kote. Its very quick drying, brushes can be rinsed out in water and there is no appreciable smell. You will probably need about 5-6 coats over the stockings but since its quick drying and easy to rub down it wont take long.

If you want a really tough coating then fibreglass cloth or tissue with 'conventional' resin is an option but its more difficult to clean brushes, smelly and hard work to rub it down to a good smooth finish.

I have never used tissue and dope but some people swear by it.

Gareth

Modelling tissue should also work fine with EzeCote.

Colin

Hi ya Pete

If you wake up Mr Dave Milbourne on this forum, he did a brilliant article for the Model Boats way in 1746 when he was a wee laddy regarding cover the hull with tissue and dope and I am unsure whether this article is available on this website. No doubt an old age pensioner Mr Milbourne will have a copy of it and its a step by step easy to follow method; this if followed to the word will produce an extremely good finished hull; I myself have used this method on several models – one being the Swordsman build and the other one being an MTB build; but, I personally myself prefer using a product called ZEpoxy its a 2 part finishing Epoxy and if its applied firstly with a brush and then spread with an old credit card an extremely smooth and even finish can be achieved without very little rubbing down when it dries. I should imagine that the product that Gareth has mentioned in his thread will be of the similar type only his you can wash the brushes out with water; the Z Epoxy is a true Epoxy and the brushes will be destroyed if you dont wash them out with Acetone. I shouldnt think there would be a need to use a tissue or a stocking as this is only basically a re-enforcement to bind the outer coating but hey ho…look forward to seeing your build. Hope this is of some help.

aye

john

Edited By bluebird on 04/07/2014 19:51:50

As Mike says, there are a number of different ways to seal a ply hull. My method is to use fibreglass expoxy brushed on, rubbed down to give a smooth surface, and painted over. When rubbing down I use wet and dry paper wet, to stop the epoxy "balling" due to the heat caused by the friction of rubbing. It all depends on how vigorously you rub as to how much heat is generated. I usually coat the inside of the hull with epoxy as well, something of a "belt and braces" approach I suppose, but it's better to be sure than sorry. In the case of 1 to 1.5 mm ply, I lay some fibreglass cloth or matting between the frames inside the hull to stiffen it. It seems to works as I've never had a hull leak – yet

Peter.

Anything will work, lets face it. Virtually ALL my models have nothing more than paint on them.

Extra coverings will obviously toughen up a surface but the extra work involved should be balanced out by how much you think you need the extra toughness..

Ashley

Update: Colin now has a copy of the article. Watch this space.
DM

You're quite right of course, Ashley. When it's all said and done our models are usually in the water for a relatively short period of time, and a well painted hull should be adequately water resistant. However, I like to be sure, and given that we have some rocks at the water's edge at our club lake, I will continue to use my method, just to be safe, and for my own peace of mind.

Peter.