RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

Ok, now we finally get to do some actual covering now!!! Let's start out by covering the horizontal stabilizer first. As we did when we covered the wing we'll need to pay attention on how the gaps between the covering are arrainged in order to keep them from pulling up. Because of this we'll need to cover the bottom of the stabilizer first, just like we did on the wing. To get started the first thing we will need to do is cut out the piece of covering that we will need. I'm going to take this opportunity to take a few moments and explain the methods I use for marking and cutting the covering. I don't know if they are "right" or "wrong" but I have found that they work for me, hopefully they'll work for you as well.

As we get started we'll need to first cut off a piece of covering wide enough for our work area, in this case it's the bottom of the horizontal stabilizer. As I said earlier in this thread, if you are close on the amount of covering you can plan all of you cuts on the back of the covering material before you make any cuts. I usually make sure that I have enough covering material so I won't run out while covering, this usually means that I have plenty left over at the end of a build. This is actually a good thing though. Colors of the covering can vary from batch to batch (all covering suffers from this), which can cause mismatches in the colors if you ever have to do any repairs to the plane. I take my left over covering and label it with the plane that I used it on, and then store it away. This way if I ever have to make any repairs I can be assured of a match because I am repairing with the same covering that I originally built the plane with.

I digress a bit, back to the plane. In picture #1 you can see how I measure out the covering. Hold the roll up and cover the surface we are going to cover and mark the covering with how much we need. Remember to leave yourself enough extra to grab on to as you stretch and shrink the covering. Lay out the roll of coveirng on a flat surface, fold it over "near" your mark, and then line up the edges of the covering (picturs #2 & #4). With the edges lined up "crease" the covering where you made the mark on the covering (picture #5). Leaving the first edge folded on the mark and edges lined up now move to the other side of the covering and line up the edges on this side (picture #6), and crease the covering again (picture #7). Picture #8 shows the creases that we made, this will now be our marks to cut the covering on. Use your straightedge and line up on the creases on both sides of the covering, and cut the covering with a razor blade (picture #9). Picture#10 shows our cut piece of covering. Monokote covering comes with both edges of the covering that has a clear strip of plastic on it. This is part of the manufacturering process and needs to be removed as we cover. Since this piece of covering will butt up against the fuselage we need to have a "clean" edge of the covering to sit up against the fuselage, so we need to cut off this clear strip (picture #11). Use a straightedge and a razor blade to cut this strip off (picture #12).


Pictures
1. Lay the covering on the surface to cover and mark where to cut it.
2. Fold the covering over on itself, line up the edges, and find your mark.
3. Fold the covering over on itself, line up the edges, and find your mark.
4. .Fold the covering over on itself, line up the edges, and find your mark.
5. Place a crease in the covering where you mark is at.
6. Now move to the other side of the roll of covering and line up the edges.
7. With the edges lined up place a crease in the covering
8. Unfold the covering and find your creases.
9. Use the creases as reference marks for cutting your covering.
10. Covering cut to size.
11. The clear strip at the end of the covering will need to be removed
12. Use a straightedge to cut away the clear strip at the end of the covering sheet.

Until next time

Ken

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

To continue on we need to cut the length of covering we need. Place the piece of covering up against the fuselage of the plane (picture #1), and then determine the length we need to cut off (pictures #2 & #3). Just make sure that you leave enough to grab on to when we are stretching and shrinking the covering. In pictures #4 - #8 you can see how I repeated the fold, crease, and cut method for cutting off the piece we need to cover with. A quick note here as we get ready to start covering the tail sections, and that would be to brace the fuselage well so that it can't move as we cover (picture #9). It's really important to have the plane not move as you are covering the plane so that you have a solid surface to work against. And before anybody asks about the weight bags that I am using here, I make these myself. They are made out of my old army uniforms and filled with BB's, I make two different sizes of 1 lbs and 3 lbs. All that's left to get ready to cover is pull the clear backing off of our piece of material and lay it in place on the horizontal stabilizer (pictures #10 & #11).


Pictures
1. Line up the clean edge of the covering up against the side of the fuselage.
2. Measure out past the end of the stabilizer and mark where to cut the covering.
3. Mark where to cut the covering.
4. Place the strip on your bench, fold over, line up the edges, and place a crease on your mark.
5. Crease placed on the mark.
6. Extend the crease across the strip of covering.
7. The crease will make a good reference line for cutting the strip
8. Use a straightedge to cut the covering.
9. Secure the fuselage in place in preparation for applying the covering.
10. Remove the backing from the covering.
11. Lay the covering in place on the horizontal stabilizer

Until next time

Ken

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

Now we're ready to start applying the covering to the to the bottom of the horizontal stabilizer. The actual method that we'll use to do this exactly the same as it was for the covering of the wings. We'll tack down the piece of covering stretching it as we tack it down, we'll seal the outer edges, use a heat gun to shrink the covering, seal the covering to the structure underneath, ensure the edges are sealed down, cut off any excess material, and finally seal the edges completely down. So to start with place the piece of covering and butt it tightly up against the fuselage, when you are happy with the location tack down the corner of the piece against the fuselage at the leading edge (picture #1). Now move back to the trailing edge against the fuselage. Just like we did on the wing, use the elevator as a lever to help pull the covering tighter. Lift the elevator up and hold the covering against the elevator (picture # 2), and then move the elevator down with will pull the covering tight (picture #3). Now tack the covering in place (picture #4 & #5). Next we will move to the leading edge at the outside edge of the stabilizer. First pull the covering tight across the stabilizer (picture #6) and while hold it tight tack down the covering at the outside leading edge (picture #7 & #8). Again, use the elevator to help you pull the covering tight (picture #9 & #10) and then tack down the covering at the trailing edge (picture #11). With the 4 corners tacked down the covering should be pretty tight already, but don't worry if there are still some wrinkles (picture #12) (remember what I said earlier?? Don't Panic!!! ) as we will work these out.


Pictures
1. Tack down the first corner
2. Push covering up against the fuselage.
3. Using the elevator to help stretch the covering
4. Tacking the second corner.
5. Corner tacked in place.
6. Stretch the covering the length of the stabilizer
7. Pull down and tack in place
8. Corner tacked in place
9. Grab and hold covering against the elevator
10. Use the elevator to stretch the covering
11. Tack the last corner in place
12. Covering with all 4 corners tacked down

Until next time

Ken

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

Next we'll need to continue tacking down the covering. Picture #1 shows the covering after tacking the 4 corners. Now move to the center of the stabilizer and stretch the covering tight across the stabilizer (picture #2) and tack down the covering at the leading edge (tpicture #3). Again using the elevator to stretch the covering (picture #4) tack down the covering in the middle of the stabilizer at the trailing edge (picture #5). As you can see in picture #6 the wrinkles are starting to work out of the covering as we continue to tack down the material. At this point we can go ahead and tack down the covering along the entire length of the fuselage (pictures #7 - #12). I used a trim iron for doing this because it allows for more precise control up against the fuselage, but it can also be done with the tip of a regular covering iron.


Pictures
1. Covering with all 4 corners tacked down
2. Stretch the covering across the stabilizer at the middle
3. Tack the leading edge
4. Use the elevator to stretch the covering
5. Tack the trailing edge
6. Covering tacked into place
7. Ensure that the edge is up against the fuselage
8. Seal the edge of the covering
9. Seal the edge of the covering
10. Seal the edge of the covering
11. Seal the edge of the covering
12. Edge of covering sealed.

Until next time

Ken

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

Let's conntinue to tack down the covering. Move a position ¼ of the stabilizer (half way between the fuselage and the tack we made in the middle of the stabilizer) and pull the covering tight (picture #1). Tack down the covering at the leading edge (picture #2). Using the elevator to tighten the covering tack down the trailing edge (picture #3). Now move to the ¾ mark of the stabilizer and pull the covering tight again (picture #4), and tack down the covering on the leading edge (picture #5). Using the elevator again pull the covering tight and tack it down at the trailing edge (picture #6). Move to the outside edge of the stabilizer and pull the covering tight across the stabilizer (picture #7). At this point go ahead and seal the covering down across the entire stabilizer at the outside edge (picture #8)

Pictures
1. Stretch the covering to the leading edge
2. Tack in place on leading edge
3. Stretch and tack in place on trailing edge
4. Stretch the covering to the leading edge
5. Tack in place on leading edge
6. Stretch and tack in place on trailing edge
7. Stretch the covering across the stabilizer
8. Tack the outer edge of the covering

Until next time

Ken

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

Now we're ready to seal the egdes of the entire stabilizer. This is a pretty straight forward step so I'm not going to go into a detailed step by step description of doing this. Simply use your covering iron to seal down the leading and trailing edge all the way around the stabilizer. Make sure you do seal it down completely around the front of the leading edge and the sides of the stabilizer. As you can see in the last pictures of this set we now have the material fairly tight before we start shrinking the covering.

Pictures
1. Seal the entire leading edge
2. Seal the entire leading edge
3. Seal the entire leading edge
4. Seal the entire trailing edge
5. Seal the entire trailing edge
6. Seal the outer edge
7. Covering stretched tight and sealed on the edges
8. Covering stretched tight and sealed on the edges
9. Covering stretched tight and sealed on the edges
10. Covering ready for shrinking

Until next time

Ken

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

Now we're ready to shrink the covering. Use a heat gun to shrink the covering on the entire stabilizer (pictures #1 - #4). Take you time and make sure that the material has completely shrunk. After the material has been shrunk take the covering iron (with a hot sock if you have one) and seal down the covering to the wood underneath (pictures #5 & #6). In pictures #7 & #8 you can see that the covering has been sealed down to the surface of the stabilizer, including the cross braces in the open areas of the stabilizer. Use the covering iron to make sure that the covering is completely sealed at the trailing edge of the stabilizer (picture #9), and then trim the covering at the front of the gap for the elevator (picture #1). Picture #11 shows the covering shrank and trimmed at the elevator.


Pictures
1. Shrink the covering with a heat gun
2. Shrink the covering with a heat gun
3. Shrink the covering with a heat gun
4. Shrink the covering with a heat gun
5. Use a covering iron with a sock to seal covering to structure
6. Use a covering iron with a sock to seal covering to structure
7. Stabilizer covering shrunk and sealed to the structure
8. Stabilizer covering shrunk and sealed to the structure
9. Ensure that the covering is completely sealed at trailing edge
10. Use a razor blade to cut covering at the trailing edge
11. Completed.

Until next time

Ken

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

At the front corner of the stabilizer the covering will probably "bunch" up and needs to be pulled out (picture #1). This can be done with either your heat gun or covering iron. In my opinion it's easier to heat it with a heat gun and pull it tight. This will let the covering stretch and conform to the corner of the stabilizer. Use the covering iron to seal down the covering over and around the leading edge (picture #3). We want the covering to "overlap" around the edges (picture #3) because this will seal the stabilizer completely when we cover the top of it. Use a razor blade to cut away the excess covering (picture #4). Pictures #5 - #7 show the completed covering. Now go ahead and repeat these procedures to cover the other side of the stabilizer (pictures #8 & #9).


Pictures
1. Make sure the covering is stretched completely over the curved edge of the stabilizer
2. Use an iron to seal covering over the top of the leading edge and side
3. Covering should be sealed over the top of the stabilizer
4. Use a razor blade to cut excess covering
5. Covering after cutting excess material away
6. Completed stabilizer covering
7. Completed stabilizer covering
8. Now cover the bottom of the other side of the stabilizer
9. Now cover the bottom of the other side of the stabilizer
10. Now cover the bottom of the other side of the stabilizer


Until next time

Ken

e-flight22

RCKen,


Great job on the LT-40 build thread. The planes coming along nicely!


David

bruce88123

e-flight22 --- The plane has actually been completed and test flown already. Ken is finishing up the documentation in the thread. Plane flew well, I'm told.

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

Yes, it did!!

videos of barbie plane
[link=http://www.infinityok.com/barbie_plane/barbie_plane-large.wmv]Barbie plane maiden flight, large size file (6.6mb)[/link]
[link=http://www.infinityok.com/barbie_plane/barbie_plane-medium.wmv]Barbie plane maiden flight, medium sized file (4.9mb)[/link]
[link=http://www.infinityok.com/barbie_plane/barbie_plane-small.wmv]Barbie plane maiden flight, small sized file (2.3mb)[/link]

Ken

cvause

Ken,

Great thread. If you get a chance, could you post your PDF of the DRG to the newsgroup? The link in post #7 is broken. ( dihedral _guide.pdf">LT-40 Dihedral Gauge Template )

Thanks

bruce88123

Ken's been working on his server so that's probably the problem.

He'll get it fixed.

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

Here, try this link

[link]http://www.infinityok.com/review/dihedral_guide.pdf[/link]

Ken

RookiePilot

In an effort to bring some more attention to this thread, I am posting pictures of my completed wing for my Kadet. This is my first covering job as well as my first kit so go easy on me. I will start covering the fuse tonite. I am ready to buy a second kit already, this was a lot of fun building. Anyone heard from seebee?

bruce88123

Go easy? I don't think so. It looks great and you'll just have to live with that harsh review.

Is that a simulated carbon fiber? Who makes that?

RookiePilot

It is Ultracote. I was going to just do black until I saw the carbon fiber. This stuff is extremely realistic. When my step son saw it, he was wanting to iron it on his motorcycle fender.

Reggie

jmurphy18

Looks good to me! I hope I can do that well when I get to cover mine in a few weeks. Nice job!!

elenasgrumpy

My Feedback: (4)

Hey Rookie, Sweet looking covering job!! Keep it up you're doing good.

Now if Ken could just manage to hold the Barbie inverted for the full circuit, we could send him his solo patch![sm=lol.gif]

felixone

I have a quick question to help revive this terrific thread. When using the covering to seal the gaps between the control surfaces, are you doing both sides, or just the top?

Thanks in advance!

bruce88123

It can be done either way. Ken did both sides as mentioned in post #613 of this thread text. His graphic only shows one side to avoid clutter.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=5399213

I suppose some might try to tell you that air pressure will blow the gap seal loose or out of place if not done on both sides. I have not seen this but I suppose it's possible. The seal can also be applied last in which case blowing loose is more likely.

Gary L.

This has goten me ready to try my hand at building. I'll wait till winter though, mayby santa will bring me a kit for christmas.

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

I seal both sides of the gap. I do this so that the hinge line is completely sealed so nothing can accumulate in the hinge gap. It's just a personal preference though, you can get away with doing just one side.

Ken

cvause

Ken,

This is a great thread. I'm ready to start covering my LT-40, but I've got a quick question. My covering scheme is based on the orange and white trainer scheme of the US Navy. I've posted the rough outline below. (Thanks for providing this image in the thread.)

Should I cover the entire plane in white and then apply the orange over the white, or should I cover the sections with the different colors and minimal overlap between the monokote. My concern with the first approach is the additional weight of covering 150% of the plane, but it seems the second approach could lead to unintended warping as the different pieces of covering are applied to the wing.

Thanks in advance,
Carl

MasterAlex

Cvause -

I'll let Ken give you the advice on the covering. One quick observation I have on your scheme. The top and bottom appear to be very similar and might be difficult to keep oriented in your mind - especially if you're a beginner. You might consider a different pattern on the bottom of the wing vs. the top. It might not be as "scale" as you were going for, but then again, those Navy Pilots are sitting IN the plane when learning to fly

Regardless, I like the high vis color scheme.

-MA