Mode Zero

Hmmm. Struggling to get hold of Esaki tissue now. Free flight supplies is short of it, Japan having been hit by the virus apparently. Obviously people have stocks, but they won't be wanting to let it go.

Ahh the brave new world of the 21st century..! Went to Sainsbury's today, no bog roll lol.
I shall cut up my older pairs of trousers, to use as substitute bum-bumpf, (which my partner tells me were fit for the bin anyway).

Ah well, I'll start the search for alternatives. (for tissue, not bog roll)
In the meantime I'll be building airframes, and their skeletal results can wait for supplies to resume.

Perhaps the avalanche of emails at work, (Fire Brigade) that are printed on 'austerity' paper, can be mashed up and used as model covering?

Stew.

The Esaki shortage has nothing to do with the virus, It's been known for some time now that the Esaki company is ceasing production due to the old man retiring and his successors have no interest in continuing with the product. What's out there is all there is by the looks of it. There are alternatives however, do a search for "Gampi" tissues or Japanese tissue paper which are good substitutes.
Many free flight scale modellers are making use of domestic gift wrap tissue which works well but is not without its own particular problems.
Gary

Just what I heard from Mike Woodhouse via Spencer Willis. Ah well, I shall use something else. I'll see what the alternatives are like.

What about tea bags?

belli wrote: ↑20 Mar 2020, 12:26 What about tea bags?

The greater the variety of teas that one drinks, the better the lozenge camouflage would be, l guess

Finding a good tissue like material has always been a bit of a challenge. A friend spent some time looking for alternatives and was given a roll of this material that had fallen off a truck (literally). He started by gluing it straight to extruded polystyrene, either shaped or hot wire cut with thinned wood glue and had very good results. I used it to cover a Tomboy, it was just about my first attempt at tissue covering and it went on very well. I used nitrate dope bought from Spruce to be sure I had the correct thing even though everybody recommend some kind of alternative, I never had any joy with all the alternatives. Sanding sealer was not bad but it has a plasticiser in it, the tissue doesn't pull taught. Teabag is little heavier than tissue and so can't be used on smaller models but is fine for a Tomboy size and up. I'll try get some photos. The roll was about 3000m I think, should last a while too.

Cheers,

PS It has good wet strength

Notwithstanding the Esaki situation, there is an excellent essay by George Stringwell on Mylar/Tissue covering in the latest Sticks & Tissue No. 159