Linen Handkerchiefs .
Okay ;
How many of you know what a handkerchief is ? Back in the day, men used them to sneeze or Sorry , Blow their noses in . they were also brightly colored and could be folded just so and decorate the *** pocket of a suit jacket .
They also have a very special use to modelers . "What , are you kidding " ? is probably what you are thinking . Back in the early fifties I wanted to do something special for my dad .
He was your typical cigar chomping Sicilian Fisherman/Restraunt Owner . But the man loved it when he was able to get his first Caddy . Yup , a 1957 Cadillac Eldorado Convertible .
Remember the Revell 1/32 scale multi-piece body car kits . Mmhmm , they had that car . Well , it had the top down . I wanted to build it top up . Dad liked Irish Linen handkerchiefs .
You see where this is headed . I got in trouble for ruining one , But when he saw the car with his linen as a top , he Loved it ! I learned how to stretch sprue that weekend too . Burned a few fingers , but I learned !
Now the gist . Hankys of all sorts as long as they are white and fine , make good ship sails too . You can place them moist over the plastic sails and hit them with a couple of shots from a spray can of cloth sizing .
This is better than starch because it doesn't clog the threads up . let dry and cut to shape and your ship is sailing before the wind . Don't want to do that ? Well , this method works well for furled sails too .
As an aside , I have two R.C. 12 meter Sailing Sloops . I use Irish Linen exclusively for their sail suites . Some are now over ten years old and still have yet to fray .
This material works well ,or even better than paper towels or whatever for military truck tops , tents and tarps of any kind . They also work great for wind breaks and tarps on 1/96 and 1/32 ship models . Try it you'll like it . T.B.