Modeling satelites

If the foil had a paper backing it would hold a liitle better. I keep on trying different approaches and see which one works.

You could check out a few resturants in your area and see if any of them use gold foil for their baked potatoes. It usually has a diamond pattern on it but this can be smoothed out. Also search the internet for candy company suppliers, they sell many different colors of foil in small squares. Look at www.chocomolds.com , they might have some.

Tony, I seem to recall someone somewhere used to sell an actual scaled version of those mylar reflective blankets just for modeling. I know I've seen them before anyway (I worked at the local planetarium for 10 years and even built some of our models myself). You may want to inquire with some of the sci-fi guys or on those boards. I don't know why, but for the life of me I can't shake the idea that I saw this stuff in the Air and Space Smithsonian's gift shop on one of my trips back there years ago...but it doesn't seem like something they'd carry now.

Hmmm...maybe do a search? And the rubber cement works well too - you just need to let it set up a little before you apply the foil, so it has a chance to get good and tacky!

Bri~

Thanks for the suggestions. I have gold mylar but I have been have trouble adherening the mylar film to the plastic. I have also tried using aluminum foil and painted it with Tamyia's Clear Yellow. Its not bad after you wrinkle the foil, however there's that adhesion problem. I haven't tried rubber cement. I'll give it a shot.

Tony

If it's the silver stuff, aluminum foil works just fine (use SuperScale Metal Foil Adhesive) or Bare Metal foil, although I just never have gotten the hang of using BM foil. It always tears when I try to work with it.

If it's the gold stuff, head to your local candy store and scope out the candy bar aisle for those big bars of Cadbury chocolate. (The chocolate is pretty tasty, too, although it tastes better in Europe. They don't have the preservatives in it that we have over here in the U.S.) Again, you can stick it on with Metal Foil Adhesive. Rubber cement works, too.

For a slightly redder shade of gold (and while you're still in the candy section) check out those caramel-filled Rollo candy drops that come in a roll. The piece of foil you get isn't as big as the Cadbury ones, but when doing satellites, you usually don't need an acre of foil.

Check out a sporting good store or an outdoors shop for those thin mylar "emergency blankets." They're usually kind of a reddish gold color. They're also huge; you could probably model every satellite that's ever been launched and then some with a single blanket.

Bare Metal Foil makes gold foil, too.

What blankets are you trying to replicate? Is it gold foil like on a LM or the shuttle's radiators?

saturnvguy

Do you mean the mylar blankets that are used? If so, then plain old tin foil can work - or you can buy actual mylar sheets from some suppliers. Do you have a photo of what you're trying to replicate?

Bri~