1:48 Eduard Albatros D.III

[smperry]

I was able to manage some limited shop time today. I took one of the pieces of prop blank that got scroll sawed off and attempted to taper it as Des showed in his thread on paper props. It would seem Des had sharper medium size square point Xacto blades than I do, or maybe he was simply a lot better at using them. I'm betting on both :-) That method didn't work for me, or more precisely, I couldn't make it work correctly.

Since I acquired a virtual lifetime supply of manila and cardstock, I thought I would try another way to taper the blank. I was too lazy at 0315 to go and dig up a sander and the grinding wheel was right handy, so I put a taper on the blank. Not the best tool and I will try something less aggressive for the other blade of the prop. Then, just for giggles I used the battery powered Dremel sanding drum to sand the twist into the blade.  Low and behold, a familiar pattern of light and dark laminations appeared. I mentioned in a previous post that the overly wide blades would be thinned down by the sanding the twist process and sure enough it did exactly that. What I didn't take into account was the length of the blade. I had it dead on the length of the kit prop, so the blade ended up a mm or so short after sanding the twist. Next prop I make will be longer and the tip will be trimmed to length and shape after sanding the twist.

While this piece is unusable on a model, it has taught me a lot. I'm posting the photo below to show how the stained manila envelope paper works with the unstained paper; both light and dark strips were cut from the same envelope. Ise plum pleased, (American Redneckese for chuffed).

Next time I am up for a trip to the shop, I plan on making up several prop blanks using the different types of paper I bought as well as several different glues in hopes of finding the best combination. That should give me plenty of prop blanks on which to practice tapering and twist sanding. We shall see.
sp

[GazzaS]

I think that's a dandy start.  Gonna pick up some stain tomorrow.  I had two tins in the shed...  but they both had separated and hardened.

[RichieW]

Well that's promising, I find using files to be better than a blade for me but don't have a Dremel. The paper is working out really well!

[smperry]

My good Internet modeling buddy, Ernie Thomas, who has a knack for bluntly simplifying matters said, "Why don't you use a brown paper shopping bag, it's cheaper than manila."

Doh!

sp

[smperry]

A quick update on my paper prop making.

I made another blank using the lightest color paper I had, light beige manila file folders. They have kinda a shiny surface and I wondered how they would take the stain. Perfectly it would seem, however neither the stained or unstained strips from the file folder soaked up the CA satisfactorily. That only showed up when it was time to set the taper.

That got me wondering if another kind of glue might work, CA isn't cheap. So I went back to strips of the more orange looking paper from manila envelopes. I soaked these in a mixture of Elmer's Wood glue, Water and alcohol. I laid up the saturated strips and compressed them hard between clamped steel bars. That will get 24 hours under pressure and I will check and see.

I am trying to work this down to a repeatable procedure since my prop painting is truly bad, but different scales and different paper thicknesses are making finding the right combination a long trial and error process. Once I find the right paper, glue, stain and number of strips for each scale, I can see making up prop blanks by using whole sheets of paper and then sawing them into a box full of individual prop blanks ready to carve. The up side of making a lot of experimental blanks is that when I am finally done I may have actually figured out how to carve a propeller properly.
sp

[GazzaS]

I'll be keen to know which glue to use.  I'm never happy with CA, because it fails all of the time from the slightest bump.  I've been looking for thin balsa wood to do this.  But it seems that all of the places that I thought would carry it, don;t have anything under 1mm thick.

[RAGIII]

Your paper prop looks very promising! With all of your experiments I am sure you come up with the solution that works for you!
RAGIII

[RichieW]

I'm very interested to see how the glue experiment works out. I think making a big batch of blanks is a great idea.

[Bughunter]

I think CA is strong and hard to sand, so a paper prop with CA is hard work.
So if you use veneer and cheap wood glue, you will also get a nice prop. And the sanding may be easier ( I cannot compare, because I never tried the paper trick).
You are not far from it ...

Cheers,
Frank

[smperry]

The diluted wood glue soaked in real well, but was too diluted to set up hard. ...Nexxxxt....
I am going to try one with thinned finishing epoxy, (meant to be sanded).
I'm starting to feel like Edison when he told a reporter that he had successfully identified 5000 substances that would not work as a light bulb filament. I'm running on, "Even a blind hog finds the occasional acorn", theory in hopes I find a paper and glue combo that works for me.
sp

[kensar]

I had the same issue with the thin CA not soaking completely through the layers, so what did I do?
Just reapplied it to the spots that were not saturated before, and kept going!

[smperry]

I did that and was poking the unsaturated bit down with a handy finger instead of fumbling for the tweezers or a blade when it stuck instantly to my finger and ended up pulling the blank apart. Definitely doing another blank with thin CA and paper that seems more permeable to thin CA than file folder manila.

So far CA seems best for soaking in most paper, but hardest to file and sand. I still have to try thinned Zpoxy as that should soak in well and may be a bit easier to work when cured.  I'm taking the trouble to check all methods available to me in order to find the best since the overall idea is a stock of prop blanks so every time I start a new kit I won't face another whole mini project making up a prop blank for each new kit. Additionally having a box of blanks takes the pressure off carving one. Just grab another blank if you mess one up.
sp
 

[RichieW]

I'm liking this experiment SP. I always find it good fun to play around with different things. Keep posting your findings, this is interesting stuff.

[smperry]

Thanks Richie. I am a believer in test driving ideas first. It can get irritating at times, but nowhere near as bad as messing up a model trying something new. (I have enough old ways to mess up models :-)
sp

[smperry]

I have given up on trying to make a glue soaked paper prop. I have had another complete failure to produce a usable blank, I must not be using the same kind of paper or my gluing technique is all off. I sure liked the photos I saw, but I am completely unable to duplicate it.

I guess it is off to the Home Depot and see what they have to offer in the way of thin veneers. It is that or simply do without a prop, which is looking like a good way to go at this point.
ap