JasonWilliam

This weekend, I had my first experience with Monokote. I read the instructions, consulted a few online resources... I even spoke with folks at my future club about technique. However as we all know, nothing can account for experience.

I've got most of the plane covered now, and as I sit back and look, I can't say I'm impressed with my workmanship. I see occasional wrinkles, some air bubbles, a few discolorations where I let the iron linger too long... the wing looks ok, but over some of the ribs the covering wasn't stretched enough and thus there are pull marks...

At what point does this job turn from good enough to unflyable? I know I'll get better at this over time. But will these admittedly slight defects hurt my flight experience? Or is this more of a cosmetic issue than anything else? Also, when you kote, do you feel yourself developing an almost obsessive need to get it perfect? I had to pull myself away a few times and just move on.

I read somewhere here about "just fly the damn thing" and I totally agree. Maybe I just need to take a chill pill and not worry about this, assuming slight ripples isn't going to bring me crashing down...

echobot

Hey Janson,

I wouldn't worry about the wrinkles. I've flown planes with holes in the wings and didn't even know it until I landed.

Here is a link to a good video that shows how to cover a plane: http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXHZ84&P=7

It's about an hour long and well worth the $12.00.

dean320

My Feedback: (5)

As long as it is tight and does not move/flutter/flap/etc in flight, you should be ok. But most of the issue is asking yourself if you are happy with it. With the first plane I covered, I think I ripped the covering off of the wings twice and the fuse once. You will get better over time. I would also encourage you to try Ultracote. It is really a personal preference, but I have better luck with Ultracote since it seems to shrink more.

bubbagates

My Feedback: (32)

If you have not already seen this one.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/magazine/a...?article_id=67

As far as the bubble go, just use a very small pin and poke a hole in the bubble then heat it and the bubble will go away.

By your description, it sounds like you need a heat gun. This will really help in getting the monokote to "stretch" and to help shrink it to remove wrinkles. Just be careful not to get the covering to hot and is also great for removing bubble when used with the pin

sfsjkid

I agree with the Ultracote suggestion. I grew up with Monokote but the modern stuff is hard to use. Its not as forgiving as Ultracote, since it doesn't shrink as much, releases gases when heated so sheeting and two tone jobs develop a lot of air pockets, and thicker so slightly heavier, and you really have to work it around compound curves. I love its glossy finish, and it does seem to be slighty more puncture resistant. Wrinkles are hard to get out also.

Ultracote is not as glossy, shrinks at a lower temperature, and seems to shrink more, so it is easy to get out wrinkles. Additionally, if you go for multi tone "paint" jobs, it is much easier to avoid air bubbles over the first color. The only thing I have against Ultracote is that it can shrink and wrinkle under the sun

Good luck!


BTW you might keep the scraps of covering, comes in handy when patching holes

ksechler

There was this guy that used to fly a Goldberg Eaglet at our field. It was the ugliest plane I have ever seen. The stabilizer was on crooked. It had so many patches that it looked like a quilt. In fact, if it had been a car there would have been one white wall. It flew fine, though. You can get away with a lot on a model. If your planes has a few wrinkles that's ok. If you're unsure, have someone in your club check it out.

CP140

A few wrinkles here or there probably won't matter too much.... as long as the covering is attached and reasonably tight... Don't be too discouraged, like you said it's all practice and the next one you do will be better than the last and so on. As for how the imperfections will affect the flying... I had an LT40 which was rebuilt twice (and had numerous "minor" repairs) before being finally retired in a cloud of balsa splinters. By the time it was gone it looked like a banana it was so crooked! It flew kinda "funny" but it flew!

It's more important I think to get the airplane built straight and true than it is to have a "nice" covering job.

DBCherry

My Feedback: (4)

Just fly the dang thing!

Seriously, wrinkles and a little loose covering won't affect flight performance enough so anyone would notice.

You'll get better at it.
Dennis-

rclement

My Feedback: (1)

I have to agree with a couple of points. One- use Ultracote. I did my first attempt at covering a 4*40 with Ultracote and it worked great. Two- just fly it. You'll get better over time. You can take some of it off and re-do it so don't get too worried about it.

MinnFlyer

My Feedback: (4)

One of these days I should take some close-up pics of my 11 year old Skybolt. Just to give you an idea of what a War Horse it is, here are a few of the highlights:

Several holes in the wing covering, most (but not all) patched with Scotch Tape.

Area under the nose (From front of wing to cowl) gone (Ripped out on dead-stick, off-field landing - never replaced).

Behind the bottom wing, I had cut two hatches: The Battery Pack for the radio in one, and the battery pack for the smoker in the other. BOTH hatches are missing (This is the equivalent of having a 9" x 3" hole in the bottom of the fuse). So basically, more of the bottom fuse is missing, than is still there!

She still flies like a champ.

Here's an enlarged clip from a video:

Time Pilot

I guess the message is that you have to be easy on yourself the first couple of times around.

I've used Monocote once, and one of the first things I tell people when they look at my wings is that it was my first time covering a plane.... My BLT flies great in spite of some of the wrinkles and sags in the covering.

There was a link to a video here at RCU covering a wing using Ultracote. Was it Minnflyer?

bakes65

Ultracote All the way!

My first covering job came out pretty darn good. At least I wasn't embarassed to show up at the field with it. My LHS had the monocote video and let me borrow it.

CafeenMan

For planes up to .40 size and even larger you can use Oracover Lite. It's very pliable and one of the easiest to apply. I've used it on a lot of planes and haven't had any problems with it except the transparent yellow is more orange than yellow. It's also not very opaque, but I don't usually care about that.

Monokote is probably the most difficult of all iron-on plastic coverings to apply, but it has the most vivid colors. Choose your poison.

nmtr13

My Feedback: (6)

Just make sure your covering is tight near the edges, and when you overlap make sure its in the right direction, I had a huge 12x12 hole in my wing from loose covering near the leading edge, the wind peeled the covering back. LOL when i was flying i knew something was wrong because I had to constantly trim the ailerons and it kept wanting to roll, i was surprised it didnt go crazy.

John

JasonWilliam

Cafeen... I'm curious... is this the same stuff as "Low Temp Polycover"? It's polyester rather than polypropylene plastic right? Do you have a good recommendation where to find it? I would like to compare the three (Mono, Ultra and Ora) just to see exactly what you all are talking about.

Thanks for all the encouragement and tips guys. Its really not all that bad. I think I'm just too much of a perfectionist.

I'll post a pic or two when she's done, hopefully this weekend!

CafeenMan

Oracover Lite is available from Hobby Lobby International (http://www.hobby-lobby.com). I've never used Polycover so I don't know if they're the same or not.

72nova

My Feedback: (3)

i personally love monokoting . i only build kits " no arfs here " just so i can have a one of a kind monokote job. i only use monokote
and it just takes time and patience . i use 2 irons 1 trim iron and a heat gun . mater of fact i just covered a tiger 60 in metallic red and white this past weekend .

Mopzilla

I have only covered one and a half airplanes, using ECONOKOTE! It's very easy - as long as you keep the covering tight everywhere, and then put the iron over, it will become tight as a drum (well.. tell you what, I did mess around with getting different pitches out of the bays between the ribs of the wing ) It's even easier when you have someone pulling the covering down on both sides of the wing, then you are free to use the iron and heat cloth. The best way to avoid caring too much about wrinkles and all is to start building the plane with a "I want to fly, not detail and stare" attitude from the start. That way, in the end wrinkles will just be another thing you can ignore, as long as it doesn't get in the way of performance. Because if you spend too much time detailing and stuff, and it's your first plane, and you crash, all that small work will go to waste and you will be heartbroken. []

ELTIGRE

COMMENTS on ultra cote are intresting since i found (and it was advertised as ) it needs MORE heat than monokote , does not shrink as well over open surfaces(minor) and can yellow over time in strong sun.advantages are that it is more realistic(plastic shine is not present)and MUCH easier to apply due to less gases during heating. Ora cover is basicly the same material. GOOD PRODUCT.
for practice covering you can pick up "scrap "/crashed airframes and purchase partial used rolls of covering in the unpopular colors cheaply at swaps.

CFRACR

My grandmother has a few wrinkles and she flys great! Just make sure its all tight and fly that sucker. As said before if you try to much for perfection and crash then you will hate it knowing that you could have spent half the time and had the same results.