Estes Guardian Build and Ezedope trial
 

I bought a few of these kits at the local hobby store on clearance and decided to build two. One for me and one for my father in law. I have been using this product called Ezedope on my freeflight airplane builds. I was not looking or a non toxic replacement for dope but rather a way to prevent warps in my small airplane structures. I have tried everything with model airplane dope since the early 80s and no matter what my fragile surface would warp overtime. I heard people using Eze Dope and they were not experiencing warps in the fragile surfaces so I gave it a try. Well on one of my planes I had to paint bare balsa so first I coated with Ezedope then painted. I was impressed how smooth it came out so I decided to give it a try on my rocket. I did try Deluxe materials Sanding Sealer and it was ok but not a replacement for Aerogloss. I built both of my Guardians one with Aerogloss sealer and one with Ezedope. I used three coats of each sealer with sanding in between. Eze dope takes a little longer to dry but sands easy like Aerolgoss. After the 3rd coat and sanding I sprayed both rockets with one coat of Rustoleum Sandable Filler primer. I first do a couple mist coats followed by a final coat but not too thick. I then sanded the primer and sprayed a coat of white primer on both rockets. Normally after the filler primer and Aerogloss I would spray the primer a couple of times to get a grain free finish. After sanding the white primer both rockets looked smooth and the Aerogloss fins had minor grain showing and the Ezedope fins had no grain showing.
The other good thing about this Ezedope is the balsa does not warp. I decided to try this stuff on a Estes Taser Twin with 1/16 balsa not attached to the Bt :eek: Guess what after 3 coats the thin fins did not warp. My original Taser Twin I build had warped fins after applying Aergloss and that is with the fins attached to the BT. I sprayed one Guardian with Old Formula Krylon, well not really old formula it is their industrial paint. I think they changed it again because it smells different and it is not as glossy. I had to spray Glosscote after my final color, normal I don't use Clear finishes on my rockets. The second Guardian I sprayed with Testors Gloss Black and wow, goes on smooth and super glossy. Today I will shoot the Taser Twin with Primer and let you know how that goes.

More pictures. Sanded Ezedope first with 150 or 220 to know down the roughness followed by 320. Allowed 2 hours of drying time in between coats.

The all black glossy rocket is Model Master Gloss black......The other Guardian that is all painted has a glosscote applied, still looks a little rough to me.

I had the same experience with Aregloss and balsa warpage. I sandwich the fins or whatever between a couple heavy books and that usually straightens them up pretty good. I'll have to check out the EZ Dope, looks like it works really good. Great looking build!

The first coat of primer went well and once again there are no warps and no grain. I sanded the primer nice and smooth and tomorrow will hit rocket with flat white primer. This Eze Dope is pretty neat stuff and everyday I am finding new uses for it. Today I discovered that 3 coats will save the oldest decal, much better than Micro scale decal restore. Also 3 coats of this on a Alps decal pretty much makes it bomb proof, we know how easy Alps decals can scratch.

I finished one of my Guardian Rockets today and what a fun build. The Eze Dope really made for some nice smooth grain free fins, will be using again. The Taser Twin has a coat of flat white and still no warps and smooth grain free fins. The Guardian was painted with old Krylon Black, White, Grey and Blue. The Krylon no longer has a glossy look so I had to spray with clear coat before applying the decals. The second Guardian is going well, some grain is showing from the Aerogloss, not as smooth as the Eze Dope fins will finish the blue with Monokote trim, I don't want to do any more masking. The plane in the picture is my 4th build with Ezedope she is a vintage Comet Vengeance.

More pictures

Lots of interesting products on their page: http://www.deluxematerials.com/products_building.html

Any experience with the others?


Bill

Yes, And I have more on the way to try.
1. Ezedope- Great for sealing balsa, Restore decals, Tissue dope but with practice. Downside is once dried it is perm, Have not tried Magic Brush to see if that breaks it down.
2. SuperAliphatic- Did not care for it.
3. Rocket Card Glue- White version of Superaliphatic, I like it a lot and will use it on my freeflight models and cardboard or paper gluing needs. Also great for canopies
4. Aliphatic Glue- Same as other yellow glue but not as yellow or shrink as much. I still think DAP is my favorite Yellow glue but it is yellow.
5. PVA- Ok
6. Fast Drying PVA- Dries fast does not shrink but little rubbery to sand.
7. Sand N Seal- Balsa sealer, it is ok but I had better luck with Ezedope
8. Perfect Plastic Putty- Great for my plastic builds.
9. No CA glue, I have troubles with CA fumes
Still wanting to try,
More of their scale plastic line of glues.
Balsa filler
EzeKote
Magic Brush.

I was wondering why you chose to go with Eze Dope over Sand 'n' Seal. Thanks for answering that before I had to ask.


Bill