How to finish your FastFoam Jet: fast and easy!

(or therapy for lazy RTF toyplane lovers..)

 

Caution: EPS-foam is very easy to glue and perhaps you get inspired to finish your EPP /EPO model the same way but bonding of glass will be less on these different materials. It will still be possible but less strong if glass skin can gets loose from the foam surface, also these EPP materials don't like sanding paper as much as EPS (they get 'hairy' after sanding).

 

This is the first 'Basic' chapter of building & finishing of EPS Jetmodels. You can learn about making elastic Flap type of rudders and much more from our free 'JePe-Leaks' open source Download !!

download here

 

Before you want to start glassing the inside of your airducting you must know that shape of ducting is much more important than the surface, an unfinished (raw) airintake surface can even work better than a perfect smooth intake (same for shark skin and ice skater competition suits) I only glass inside of FastFoam Mig-29 airductings to get them stronger so they can support the wings without the need for carbon tubes.

 

Building:

easy 1 component Poly Urethane  Glue to put your EPS  model together. you can also use Epoxy or white wood glue..	use PU glue for balsa to foam and for foam to foam	use only little PU because it will expand!

    preparation:

Easy Filler = lightweight and very easy to sand	waterbased! so use your fingers. Don't fill-up complete panel lines, leave some scale detail	30 minutes later you can do super easy sanding with 150 grain sandingpaper

mark the middle of trailing edges	sand them a little sharper with a sanding block	now clean your complete model with a brush

Glassing:

use 25 gram flexible glass cloth its much better around sharp 90 degree corners than 50 gram tissue and final result is much lighter .	cut  not too big pieces: its easier to handle  Keep tissue clean of dirt	'I did not have sex with that woman'

PU finish : again waterbased ! no mixing & easy sanding. Even after 2 paint coatings still very light. No smell. No gloves, just wash hands with water..	HT-2 Epoxy specially for glassing. Strongest finish for hardest surface but less easy for sanding. Best use only 1 paint of Epoxy coating. Mix 30 to max 40 gram at a time. Best choice for very strong model	If you made your choice about the resin you can start. I use Epoxy on most of my fast Jets but PU can save weight on a fat models like the Hawk or MIG-15. Both systems work just fine.

Don't be afraid to use plenty of PU because a great deal of water will evaporate. After model is finished  you can bring on a second coating of PU with a roller or same painbrush.	cut tissue 2cm too big	and pull it around the corner

use clean new scissors to cut the glass to get it around more difficult shapes.	folding glass to inside	Pay special attention to canopy opening so it will fit afterwards (also possible to remove some foam before glassing but normally there is no problem if you keep air out)

Finish:

Waterbased Acrylic primer! RAL7040 grey on stock	I do almost no sanding and use a not too big textile roller to bring on this acrylic grounding paint. No smell at all!	a 20 minutes job (but you are not finished jet!)

after drying it will still look terrible at some spots (pinholes in tissue)	No worry: here comes waterbased Easy Filler again!	just rub it into the cosmetic problems, it will go right thru the pinholes and fill-up the problem.

15 minutes later your model looks dirty like this, but thanks to easy filler it is now sealed completely!	less than 30 minutes later you can do sanding again (now with fine 180 grain untill it looks like on the picture). This is first sanding since you covered your model in glass tissue!	in less than an hour you have now a perfect spraycan finished Jet! (you could roll a second Acrylic instead of the smelling spraycan but surface will be less smooth)

You think this is already too much work for you? than you perhaps also know that you can't milk a cow with your hands in your pants!

From our Shop:

besides the PU Easy-Finish and Easy-Filler we have the JePe 25gram/m2 Glass tissue, Epoxy, PU Glue, Sandingpaper and Spraycans

also from our shop:	We ship this cheap stinky ground colour only in Europe
120 grain for shaping foam	colour comes very close to RAL 7040 matt
150 grain for sanding glass and fine shaping of foam
180 grain for sanding primer & easy filler (also good for sanding fine foam of L-39)

Caution: What you can do wrong

-trying to use 10 gram Carbon fleece under your 25 gramm glass on curved parts and get much air.. (please forget carbon!)

-fast 30 minutes or laminating Epoxy gets heavy 'wobbly ' result and mostly bad quality for fast epoxy

-50 gram glass tissue is perhaps biggest mistake you can make! (better use 2x25 gram on certain areas like fuselage nosecone)

-cheap 16 gram tissue: to open structure, you get much air and pinholes..

-cheap 25 glass tissue: not flexible enough , nice in a negative wing mouldings but not for round positive shapes and details on fuselage

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