I don't know of any liteply which is 2.5mm thick – certainly not from a reputable source. If you want to buy the real stuff then there's certainly one place to get it Liteply

I'm frankly getting a little bit annoyed about what seems to be a campaign against the stuff on this forum. At the risk of becoming a bore I've been using it for over 40 years and I have no problems with it. If you don't like it or you can't get on with it then there's quite possibly more than just one reason for that.

DM

DM has pointed out in a few recent posts that lite-ply is like any other material, and the correct technique has to be used to get the best out of it.

However, simply cutting the stuff out on a fretsaw should not cause delamination, at least, it isn’t quite as robust as normal thing birch ply. You may get a few larger splinters than “normal” but the stuff is built for lightness and so is not as solid.

In what circumstance are you using the stuff? Big areas, thin strips, lots of holes cut out?

Ashley

I'm sorry if I came over as a grumpy old man – even though I often am one!

The problem Ian is having, as Paul says, is most likely because of an inferior product. There is some truly dreadful stuff out there, especially from the big DIY stores. All of my liteply has come from SLEC since the year dot – mainly because I'm one of their 'house designers' and thus get the stuff free issue.

Their liteply is made using a water-based acrylic resin and consists of three laminations of Ceiba wood. This is quite soft and straight-grained c/w birch. It should be handled more like hard balsa than birch ply, and I find it easy to cut with a Stanley knife. It was originally manufactured to replace cardboard in childrens' jigsaw puzzles because it's more durable and yet doesn't wear out the die-cutting blades as quickly. Its use for model kits stemmed from there.

Birch ply (resin-laminated) was traditionally used for model boats when they were powered by diesel or glowplug I/C motors. These created a lot of structural vibration and so the model needed to be strong enough to withstand it. It was also a fairly rigorous test of a model when it came to starting the things. Now that most of us use vibration-free electric motors that necessity has diminished. It remains easier to obtain a reasonable finish quickly on birch ply because it's smoother initially, and liteply must always be thoroughly water-proofed to prevent it delaminating if it gets wet. However for an excellent finish you need to spend a lot of time on surface preparation, irrespective of what material the model is made of.

Dave M

Dave

You! a grumpy old man……..never

Ian

There is a lot of 'liteply' coming from China which, like most things from China is cheap in more than one sense. It could be that your local model shop has quite innocently acquired through a third party importer. The shop will wish to protect its reputation and will be grateful for being told about this problem.

Paul

Chris. O er that’s a lot of questions and some of them will have subjective answers only.

As to continuing with what you have got, bash on or all that work will be wasted!

As to tidying up the cutouts and so on, I would harden the cut edges with something first (sanding sealer/ezekote/acrylic varnish, woteva) and than sand and fill, as this will stop further determination of the cut edges.

the term “thorougly waterproof” is no different to “waterproof”: any boat that’s not waterproofed will have issues, and all boats should have attention paid to these areas of the build. Anything soft like balsa or liteply benefits from a “thin” sealer being applied first, to soak well into the wood, so perhaps you could call that “thoroughly waterproofing.

if storing any thin stuff upright, I try and sandwich it between some more chunky stiff stuff, planks, 3/8 ply or whatever. I can’t see the need for anything other than that, barring the usual criteria for any thin ply…water/sun/excessive heat and so on.

Ashley

There's some comments on the 'Today's Boating' thread, commencing with page 298, and the thread started by Bryan Aston entitled 'Paint'. My article on Finishing Wooden Hulls includes two methods which I've found to suit liteply and can be repeated. If there is enough interest in the subject AND the magazine resumes then I might consider an expanded article on using the stuff.

Dave M

DM. I recon an article would be a great idea. It most certainly has its uses, and can be just the thing in certain instances.

As pointed out, it is the misuse/mistreatment that gets it a bad name.

Ashley

We will be starting our Huntsman builds next week, as this is the first time that either of us have used liteply for a complete build I have taken on board all the comments so far, I will let you know how we get on.

Regards.

Eddie.

Just received a big pack of wood from SLEC this afternoon, balsa and bass sheet and various sizes of bass stripwood. Beautifully packed and all material clearly of top qualit yas I found with their kits.

Colin