Love2FlyMN

OK.

Thanks RBACONS.

Truckracer

My Feedback: (19)

I have to defend Solartex a bit myself. I find the material very durable and if applied correctly, there are minimal to zero shrink and seam problems. Like any iron on fabric, including Stits, temperature control is absolutely necessary during application. If you overheat the fabric it will lose its shrink memory and may sag repeatedly in the future. Seams hold well if ironed down with a bit of pressure. They can be further locked in place with a wet coat of Polyurethane or similar clear or a paint process.

For any of these heat shrink fabrics, read and heed the Stits instructions (applies to Solartex also) and only use an iron for shrinking and application. NEVER use a heat gun as you have no way of controlling the amount of heat applied to the fabric. This is outlined extensively in the Stits instructions.

Billy J

My Feedback: (4)

Ok dad here ya go - rudder on zP-51 with pink it and single stage DuPont !

CafeenMan

I don't have an opinion on what you should use on your plane but I will say that I've covered several planes with Solartex. Some were painted over and some were not - they were left as plain Solartex in whatever color.

None of those planes needed to be re-shrunk or had seams come loose. I live in Florida and plastic coverings give me all kinds of trouble down here. The only ones that don't are Oracover lite on open framework. I've never used it on solid wood so I don't know if it would be better than others but all plastics I've used on solid wood bubble up in the sun, need to be re-shrunk and eventually stop shrinking. And they come loose at the seams where glo-fuel gets to them.

That's why I paint a lot of fuselages and plastic cover the wings. I know all that's OT so sorry about that.

The original point is that I've never had problems with Solartex. None. If you're concerned then I would cover it and then take it to the field a few times and see if it needs to be reshrunk. Then clean it really well, take it back apart as much as necessary and clear coat it to seal the seams and the weave because it will stain if you don't.

CafeenMan

It's an ARF. You can get one yourself for $199.

j/k. He has a huge long build thread on it. Ask him for the link.

jester_s1

I have a .40 size Cub I did in yellow Solartex. I gave it a couple of coats of Lusterkote (terrible stuff) to seal it and give it a little bit of gloss. That was 2 years ago, and only during this summer did I notice some wrinkling. It took all of 10 minutes to reshrink those few places with my iron, and the covering looked great again. I wouldn't use this material for a serious scale project, but it's great for a practical flyer when you want to upgrade a bit from film coverings to something with a matte finish that's more durable. And it bears pointing out that you could cover a plane with Solartex and paint the big trim details, strip it all off, then cover it and detail it again in less time and for less money than it will take you to finish your plane once with Stits. That's why I think Stits is really just for models that you are going to do lots of detailing on and will fly a lot. The durability is unparalleled and the appearance is as authentic as they come, but it's a lot more work and a lot more expense to use it. So if you aren't going to take advantage of the improved appearance, there is really little benefit to using it.

Leroy Gardner

Love2FlyMN, you have heard a lot about Stits and Solartex, based on what you want and said and being your first fabric covering I would go with Solartex it's a lot easier and after you get done you may never even think of Stits or other kike coverings. I'm doing a 1/4 scale cub right now and its getting Solartex, I last and first used it on a 1/4 scale Spacewalker 11, stitches, tapes and all and painted it with automotive base coat / clear coat urethane, Solartex needs no primer, just paint it with what ever paint you want. Properly shrunk Solartex will not sage as some have said, I have had my plane in the 95 deg. sun all day and never had any of those problems some mentioned about saging. It's really up to you what you use.

I bought a 10 meter roll of natural solartex to do my plane, $56 bucks if I remember right plus freight, it comes with good instructions, if you follow them you can do a beautiful job. Do not seal the frame work if using Solartex the adhesive gets it's bond by permeating the wood and it won't come off easily, ask me how I know.

Good luck with your first fabric covering job.

Leroy

mogman

As previously mentioned, when using yellow, you will use a LOT of it. best to spray the entire plane white, then the yellow covers much better and makes the colours really bright.
I spray all my planes white first, no matter what colour I use, with maybe the exception of black or other really dark colours

Love2FlyMN

I guess I see what you guys are saying now.
Maybe I will just go with the Solartex, hah.....When I finally think I have my mind made up..

Where do you get a 10m roll of Solartex? Will it take 10m?
What do you mean "don't seal the framework with Solartex"?

Paint or no paint? This is just personal preference?

Thanks for all the input, everyone. It's much appreciated!

mogman

10m rolls of Solartex are available at AMR.

Leroy Gardner

Sorry Love2FlyMN, I might have miss led you on the price, the 10 meter Natural roll is $102. I got it from www.balsausa,com ,check them out. Natural is if your going to paint it, they have colors but they need to be clear coated to prevent staining, that's a choice if your running a nitro engine, makes it easier to clean it.

Don't put any kind of sealer on the wood first, it needs to be raw wood. Some guys spray there frame work with a sealer when doing film covering, just don't do it if using Solartex.

5 meters will not cover your plane, it's 28" wide, a 10 meter roll will do the job with some left over, good to have if you ever have to patch it up, things happen,

acerc

Stits now requires reducing so a quart is more than enough being it ends up at 40oz, I also suggest a white undercoat to aid in coverage and the yellow holding it's tone. I have painted two 1/4 scale Cubs with less than a quart prior to the need to reduce. As others have suggested, if this is your first time go with the Solartex and paint without doing any filler for most Cubs show their weave real well.

spaceworm

Have you considered Sig Koverall? Basically same to put on as Stits, but lots less expensive.
But, i love Solartex and have used it since the 80's. Good luck.

Sincerely, Richard

Propworn

My Feedback: (3)

Real easy way to compare it would seem is to make a test panel up 3 bays or so and finish in solartex. Get your buddy with Stits experience to compare it to what he has done with Stits. You have some experience working in the aviation industry you might very well be able to make up your own mind.

Even go one step further and get both the finished fabric and the unfinished paintable one and build two sample panels.

Dennis

Love2FlyMN

Well I ordered a 10m roll of Solartex.
Thanks for the advice, all.

Hopefully it goes on as easy as it sounds like it will!

SunDevilPilot

It will become your go to covering. It is all I use.

Propworn

My Feedback: (3)

Be careful which paint you use with the Solartex. The iron on glue is pretty light weight compared to Pollytack or the Sig Stikit. High solvent paint can cause edges and seams in the solattex to release if your not careful.

Dennis

Love2FlyMN

The guy at the LHS just said use polyurethane. The stuff you can get at home improvement stores.
I'm guessing I'd thin that out some?

Is this the route I should go or should I clear coat it with something else?

Thanks.

jester_s1

If you're talking about the Minwax water based polycryllic, it's probably iffy on resisting gas. A better choice, especially since you're going to so much effort to make this plane nice, would be Systems Three water based poly clear with the crosslinker or Klass Kote clear. Both are indestructible and impervious to any chemical we might expose them to.

Hughes500E

My Feedback: (16)

It's my understanding that Stits is now pre-mixed. No thinning required.

Square Nozzle

My Feedback: (1)

One thing to note that I didn't see in any ones reply. Yellow is terrible for covering anything with other than white. Don't paint your color coat without using a white base.

OOPS!!! I just found reply #37. AceRC is right on.

Foot Note: If you want a plane you will be proud of, use the Stits system!

John_M_

I just recently recovered a 1/4 sig cub... I used white solartex and then painted it with klasskote epoxy paint in cub yellow... used an airbrush with a large spray pattern, 4 coats cub yellow with 2 coats of semi-gloss klasskote epoxy clear top coat.


BTW... Nason automotive urethane clear top coat is commonly used as a fuel proof top coat for model aircraft... you can order it from Oreilly auto parts stores... its not cheap, but it is fuel proof; the klasskote wasn't cheap either for that matter.


John M,

Love2FlyMN

Sounds good.

Are there threads out there detailing the covering job of a larger craft like this 1/4 sc Cub? I've only done a smaller one and I presume it's a little different being that the covering only spans smaller sections of the aircraft at a time?

Do I have to do anything special to prep the wood before using Solartex?

I have already ordered the cub yellow solartex, so I'm hoping to just clear coat it at the end of covering.

RBACONS

My Feedback: (3)

You don't want to be covering smaller sections at a time. You want to orient the covering such that a single piece is used to cover the top or bottom of the wing or the left/right/top/bottom of the fuse. Besides being ugly, the seams will not stay put on an open frame wing or fuselage, particularly when trying to shrink the covering.

Love2FlyMN

Right...
I have covered a few planes so I know how to wrap the seams around an edge to get a good hold for shrinking etc.

Do you do anything special to the wood before ironing the covering on?