Making Tarps

[Lyle]

I came across this method by a lot of trial and error and will probably find out there's a better way to do this, but for my needs, this worked perfectly.  The idea for a tarped aircraft came from a great photo of Jasta 35 loading and unloading Fokker D.VIIs and Pfalz D.XIIs from rail cars after an airfield move. 

From what I gather, rail transport was the standard modus operandi for the Germans, with all personnel on the train, so everybody showed up at the same time as the planes.

When the order came thru for a move, the planes were duly disassembled, packed up and tied down, and tarps covered everything that might attract dust and grime from the rail trip. 

I chose a khaki-like color dulled down with grey--I understand now tarps might have been in feldgrau as well!  The tissue is ordinary 2-ply which will make for a good scale thickness for most any model when you seperate the sheets AFTER painting.  As it is, it's pretty frail until the paint dries.  Here is the start:

[Lyle]

Here are my acrylics, probably available anywhere arts and crafts are sold.  I mixed them at a ratio of 1:1.




Let the painting begin!  The tissue tends to bunch up and really wrinkle when wet.  Be sure to get a tissue with no pattern on it!




After you get your paint on, seperate the sheets and pull them apart.  This is very tricky and can result in lots of tears and rips, as happened to me.




Hanging the laundry out to dry! You can actually get two useable sheets if you put enough paint down for it to soak thru and you're careful when seperating the sheets.

[Lyle]

Here is the photo that got me interested in doing this:

[GAJouette]

   Lyle,
Thanks for the tarp making technique my friend.
Highest Regards,
Gregory Jouette

[Lyle]

After your sheet is dry, cut it to the size needed for your dio.  Since this was a demo, I just cut a suitable rectangle of material, rather than try to measure something that is scale.  Use a very sharp blade for cutting, of course.  Unpainted tissue prefers to tear rather than cut, but with the acrylic, it responds very nicely.




To get the "fabric" to conform to your model, re-wet the tissue and apply it.  The color doesn't soften and run and can be done and redone as often as needed to get it to look right




Although the paint doesn't run, the tissue becomes fragile again, so be careful when adjusting it on your model.  Any protuberance will snag the tissue!  I know...the Kingstrom handles on my Pfalz's Spandaus were a convenient place to hang up!




Here is the tarp dry and settled in.




A coat of thinned white glue after it's all done will ensure it stays in place.  The nice thing about white glue is that you can re-wet it and move it around just as much as before.  You can add ropes, grommets, whatever to the tissue because that paint really imparts a lot of strength.  I hope this has been of some help and comments are always welcome, keep on modeling guys!

[Des]

Thanks very much Lyle for the wonderful tutorial, this will certainly help a lot of modelers wishing to make a realistic looking tarp.

I have made the topic sticky so it will remain on top for all to see and will be easy to find.

Des.

[Whiteknuckles]

Great tutorial Lyle, thankyou.

Andrew

[lcarroll]

Lyle,
   I missed this until now; great tutorial on a very useful technique. The results are great, I'll be trying this out in future.
Cheers,
Lance

[Chris Johnson]

Looks good Lyle. For a bit more strength, try your technique with tissue paper that you generally use for wrapping a present or stuffing around a fragile item in a box. It works very well in my experience.

Cheers,

Chris

[Lyle]

Chris,
Thanks for the suggestion--Ray Rimell also uses that kind of tissue for his dioramas, as I just discovered in the new Building the WNW Albatros book. 

[mikeceleskey]

Thanks from Pensacola, Lyle !!!!
I use a similar method, but I use the white glue first as I lay the tarp on the model. Then I paint after it's on.
Mike

[pepperman42]

I use this method to a tee. One little addition to this process is folding all the edges in/under before re-wetting. Doing so gives a bit more dimension to the tarp without making it thick.

Steve

[GAJouette]

  Guys'
Lead foil also works well in most applications. The only draw back is it's slightly thick compared to tissue.
Highest Regards,
Gregory Jouette

[pepperman42]

As an aside. If you drape saran wrap over the model then put the wet tarp on theres no mess on the model - you just lift the whole thing off when its dry, remove the wrap and the tarp goes back in place.- saw this in a die cast car mag.

Steve

[kornbeef]

Ummm at de risk of soundin Fick..... whots saran wrap?

K