Plywood Body - What type

[JohnD]

Good Afternoon, 

 Iam cracking on with the special but looking forward to the body construction the plan is to cover with fabric and dope similar to early aircraft.  

Does anyone have any recomendations of the best type of ply to use to make the ribs? Iam well aware that there is alot of cheep chinease made ply which is of very poor quality. 

 If anyone has any other suggestions these would be most welcome.

["Slack Alice" Simon]

Aircraft quality birch ply.

Reassuringly expensive.

Available in a range of thicknesses,  I find all sorts of uses for 1.5mm - for instance, re-inforcing the 4" radius rear corners, under the ali skin.

[Chris Garner]

...which reminds me that Costin and Marsh, in joining forces to form Marcos Engineering, used 3,4, and 6 mm " waterproof and boilproof " marine plywood in their chassis, joined by small battens of spruce, all glued with aircraft-grade synthetic adhesive.

[dickie65]

https://www.robbins.co.uk
The above company supplies proper marine plywood and other timbers etc they are based in bristol.
A lot of so called marine ply has far to many voids in it and the sheets are warped..
When I started out in boatbuiding BS1088 was the required standard.
As already mentioned aircraft quality birch ply is also excellent.

[Paul N-M]

Just bought a pile of plywood from Robbins including 'bendy' stuff. Good quality and service. Shipped from Bristol to Edinburgh at reasonable cost too.

[Duncan Grimmond]

Much of the ply available seems to be third grade quality, having full-width voids and overlapped laminates. Even “ marine “ ply which used to be a watchword for quality. As ever, you get what you pay for and cheap ply is just that. Birch ply seems to be the only well made ply and can be difficult to obtain particularly in rural areas. My nearest stockist is Howarth timber in York, they have many branches, and if I work out what sizes I need I’ve found them to be helpful in cutting it into sizes that will go in the car. No connection but as a customer and I can recommend them.

[JohnD]

Thank you all for the replys guys, i will now have to sit down and work out all what i require and ring a few places for prices.

[Peter Naulls]

I too can vouch for Robbins timber - their 1.5mm ply is good quality and they even deliver to the Highlands!

Peter.

[Mark Atkinson]

Good Afternoon, 

 Iam cracking on with the special but looking forward to the body construction the plan is to cover with fabric and dope similar to early aircraft.  

Does anyone have any recomendations of the best type of ply to use to make the ribs? Iam well aware that there is alot of cheep chinease made ply which is of very poor quality. 

 If anyone has any other suggestions these would be most welcome.

Hello John, 


As someone who has built a fabric covered car, I absolutely approve of your choice to do so too.

I have used 1.5 mm, 3 mm and 6 mm ply by a Finnish company called Koskissen (www.koskisen.com), which is available in the UK. It is absolutely not to the fabulous quality of aviation ply, but is very, very good. It is boil proof, takes a considerable amount of distortion and cuts very cleanly. The 1.5 mm will cut with a Stanley knife. It can be a little bit friable around the cut edges, but if you keep the tools sharp it will be fine.

What sort of fabric and dope combination are you planning on using?


Regards, Mark. 

[Derek Sheldon]

    I used .8mm birch three ply