Fauxberglass for Thin, Strong Repairs

[Snake45]

I invented this method a couple years ago to fix the small, thin, delicate landing gear of a 1/72 airplane. It worked great and I always thought it would work well to fix bent or broken car model A-frames or window frames. Got a chance to fix a car this way last week and it worked as advertised. If you don't have any balsa model airplane tissue laying around, or don't know anyone who does, the kind of tissue used in gift packaging or sometimes for gift wrapping will work fine, as long as it's thin, flat, porous, and has a little stiffness to it (i.e., Kleenex won't work).

These links show the fix in progress, and the finished result.

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/hyperscale/viewtopic.php?f=578046&t=474182&p=1839420

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/hyperscale/viewtopic.php?f=578046&t=474278&p=1849007

Edited May 19, 2018 by Snake45

[Ace-Garageguy]

Used dryer sheet material works very well too.

[Snake45]

Used dryer sheet material works very well too.

Ironically, I was just doing the laundry and seeing a dead dryer sheet on the floor made me think of posting this today. I think it's a little thicker than model airplane tissue, but it should work fine.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Ironically, I was just doing the laundry and seeing a dead dryer sheet on the floor made me think of posting this today. I think it's a little thicker than model airplane tissue, but it should work fine.

I got the dryer-sheet idea from somebody else, and tried it when I ran out of my tissue-thin real fiberglass material. As with any repair of this type, the thickness of the final laminate needs to be taken into consideration...on real parts or scale parts.

[Snake45]

I checked again and we're both right. The NEW dryer sheets are thicker than the tissue, but the used ones are in the same ballpark.

I think this trick would work with newsprint paper, too, if that's all you had on hand.

[Dodge Driver]

How about coffee filters? They're porous and have a certain amount of give to them.

[Ace-Garageguy]

How about coffee filters? They're porous and have a certain amount of give to them.

Should be a good choice too. It's the longish cellulose fibers that give certain types of paper their strength and flexibility, especially when supported by a matrix of some rigid material (superglue or epoxy or polyester resin)

Interesting related historical fact...during WW II, Britain didn't have a lot of aluminum to make airplanes. As an experiment to find a viable replacement, a Supermarine Spitfire fuselage was constructed with parts made from linen cloth (also cellulose fiber) saturated with phenolic resin (think old-school brown circuit boards with a visible weave pattern in them). Though the plastic fuselage never flew (to the best of my knowledge) many Spits were delivered with plastic seats made with the same material, and these paved the way for the composite materials and related construction techniques we know in aircraft and race-cars today.

Edited March 26, 2017 by Ace-Garageguy

[Dodge Driver]

Should be a good choice too. It's the longish cellulose fibers that give certain types of paper their strength and flexibility, especially when supported by a matrix of some rigid material (superglue or epoxy or polyester resin)

Interesting related historical fact...during WW II, Britain didn't have a lot of aluminum to make airplanes. As an experiment to find a viable replacement, a Supermarine Spitfire fuselage was constructed with parts made from linen cloth (also cellulose fiber) saturated with phenolic resin (think old-school brown circuit boards with a visible weave pattern in them). Though the plastic fuselage never flew (to the best of my knowledge) many Spits were delivered with plastic seats made with the same material, and these paved the way for the composite materials and related construction techniques we know in aircraft and race-cars today.

Some of our grinding machines had phenolic resin/linen spur gears as part of their gearboxes. We replaced them with steel ones, but I have a couple in a drawer at work as conversation pieces.

[talon63]

The only issue I've run into using the dryer sheet method relates to the thickness of the "resin". If it's too thin, and you need to do some sanding, you will end up with fibers protruding from the repair. In one of my early builds here I created a rag top for a Cobra using damp construction paper. After it was shaped, and while it was drying I applied very thin layers of "Future" and let the drying action wick it into the fibers. Once I got the stiffness I wanted, a light coat of matte finish was all that was required. Didn't add anything noticeable to the finished thickness. I've since used the same trick to create construction paper "wrecked" fenders for a garage dio. They crumple nicely.

[peteski]

Interesting related historical fact...during WW II, Britain didn't have a lot of aluminum to make airplanes. As an experiment to find a viable replacement, a Supermarine Spitfire fuselage was constructed with parts made from linen cloth (also cellulose fiber) saturated with phenolic resin (think old-school brown circuit boards with a visible weave pattern in them). Though the plastic fuselage never flew (to the best of my knowledge) many Spits were delivered with plastic seats made with the same material, and these paved the way for the composite materials and related construction techniques we know in aircraft and race-cars today.

That is very similar material millions of East- German Trabants were made from. My uncle owned one and he used epoxy glue to fix a cracked trunk lid.

Edited March 28, 2017 by peteski

[kitbash1]

That is very similar material millions of East- German Trabants were made from. My uncle owned one and he used epoxy glue to fix a cracked trunk lid.

When I worked in the printing trade, we had phenolic resin gears in the roller train on some of our sheet-feed presses. These made the gear train run quieter and eliminated gear streaks in the print.

[redneckrigger]

Dryer sheets have many uses, as I've used one to good result as a stand-in for underhood insulation/sound deadener found on many cars and trucks. I use Elmer's glue to attach it, and while still wet, lightly color it with a brush with flat black paint. Looks good to my eye!