Has anyone used Toughlon covering
03-15-2005, 10:53 AM
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Has anyone used Toughlon covering
My LHS is now carrying Toughlon covering by World Models. I would like to know if anyone has used this covering and how it compares to Monokote and Ultracote.
03-17-2005, 05:22 PM
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RE: Has anyone used Toughlon covering
Due to the lack of response, I assume that I have my answer. Then it must be time for someone to join the ranks of Columbus, Magellan, Lindbergh, and Armstrong, and be the first.
03-17-2005, 05:38 PM
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RE: Has anyone used Toughlon covering
Hey Jim
Can you tell us anything about it? Who makes it? Is there a website?
I Just bought white monokote, you can almost see through it!!
Matt
Can you tell us anything about it? Who makes it? Is there a website?
I Just bought white monokote, you can almost see through it!!
Matt
03-17-2005, 10:54 PM
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RE: Has anyone used Toughlon covering
Hello Matt,
Toughlon is actually made by World Models, not World Engines. Here's a link to their web site:
http://www.theworldmodels.com/
All I can say is that they have a good selection of colors, but not a good as Monokote. I also saw one of their ARFs at the field a couple of weeks back that was covered in Toughlon, and I have to say that it did look good. The ARF was their latest version of the Sky Raider.
Jim...
Toughlon is actually made by World Models, not World Engines. Here's a link to their web site:
http://www.theworldmodels.com/
All I can say is that they have a good selection of colors, but not a good as Monokote. I also saw one of their ARFs at the field a couple of weeks back that was covered in Toughlon, and I have to say that it did look good. The ARF was their latest version of the Sky Raider.
Jim...
08-04-2005, 04:58 PM
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RE: Has anyone used Toughlon covering
I’ve finally have finished my evaluation of Toughlon covering by World Models. The plane that I chose to cover with it is a Sig 4 * 40.
As for my background, the plane that I covered with Toughlon is the ninth that I’ve done with iron on covering. I’ve covered seven with Monokote, one with Ultracote, and now this one with Toughlon. And as for the Monokote V. Ultracote debate, I really don’t have a preference between the two. They both have their advantages and disadvantages, and the reason that I chose one over the other has more to do with color selection and availability than a preference for one over the other.
The colors that I chose to use were white and turquoise. On inspection, it is easy to tell the front from the back of the covering. For the white, the outer side as a great shine to it and the backside is a dull white. As for the turquoise, the backside is also a dull white, so it’s very easy to tell it from the topside.
Working with Toughlon while the backing was on it is a little difficult. It has a tendency to roll back up as if it was still on the roll. This made cutting pieces to a little difficult, but not impossible. And as for the trim pieces, I needed several rulers to hold the piece down while I lined up my cuts. But once the backing is removed, the covering will lay flat, so there is no issue here when applying the covering to the desired surface.
Toughlon is listed as having a temperature range from 135 to 250 degrees, but I found this not to be accurate. I have a Top Flite sealing iron and a Coverite temperature gage. With the temperature reading at 140 degrees, I could not get the covering to stick at all. It did not start to stick until I increased the temperature to ~190 degrees, and it seemed to work best at around 230 to 250 degrees, which is still acceptable. I believe that this places Toughlon at a point a little higher in temperature than Ultracote but still less than Monokote. (I have a little more to say about the temperature setting a little bit later.)
Once you get the temperature right, the covering goes on nicely. It seemed to have a good amount of stretch to it, although maybe not as much as Ultracote, but defiantly more than Monokote. But I have to say that this plane didn’t have any compound curves, such as wing tips, to test its stretch and shrinkage.
The covering went on with very few wrinkles. I actually could have covered this plane with just the use of my covering iron and trim iron. But to test how well it shrinks with my heat gun, it did get it out. What few ripples that were in the covering come out with the heat gun with out a problem.
I did try the Windex trick to apply my trim pieces. The Windex worked just as it does with Monokote. I sprayed the Windex on, laid out my trim pieces exactly where I wanted them, squeegee out the excess Windex, and left it to dry over night. The next day all I had to do it hit the trim pieces with my iron and they’re now on permanently.
Now for the only fault that I had with Toughlon.
I took my 4 * 40 out for her maiden flight. The engine, an OS 46 FX, had already been flown in another plane for over 200 flights, so it didn’t need to be broken in or anything else, just a little adjustment to the needle valve. I started the engine, took the plane to the edge of the runway and taxied out. I gave it full throttle, the plane gained speed, the tail lifted, a little more speed, and she took to the air with out any problem. I gained some altitude and leveled off. The plane started to nose down a little, so I held some up, and started to add a little trim. On my second time around the filed, I started to hear some flutter, but not the kind of flutter from a control surface, the kind of flutter that I flag makes. I then noticed that my plane looked a little funny, I was looking at the bottom of the wing, which was covered in turquoise, but I was seeing white. I then noticed that there was turquoise covering hanging from the bottom of my wing! I came around and landed the plane without a problem. (Well actually, I lost a tire sometime during the flight, but that’s another story.)
Out of the eight planes that I covered prior to this one, I never had a single piece of covering come loose, let alone come off. When I covered this plane, I’m sure that I had the iron set correctly at between 230 and 250 degrees. But then I have been known to make mistakes in the past, just not with covering a plane.
I replace the covering that came off and I resealed the rest of the covering on the plane with my iron set to 270 degrees, which is over the range suggested my the manufacturer. Last weekend, I took my 4 * 40 back out and I got five full 12 to 15 minute flights on it with out any of the covering coming loose. So the jury is still out on the cause of the covering coming loose, bad spec on the temperature specified by the manufacturer, or bad quality control on my part.
In conclusion, I was pleased with the results that I got with the Toughlon covering. It went on nice and the plane came out looking good. The bottom line: Would I use it again? The answer: YES. I’ll probable still stick to using what’s available in the colors that I want to use, but I’ll defiantly look at Toughlon along with Ultracote and Monokote.
I’ll post some pictures of my plane so you can judge for yourself.
Thanks for reading…
As for my background, the plane that I covered with Toughlon is the ninth that I’ve done with iron on covering. I’ve covered seven with Monokote, one with Ultracote, and now this one with Toughlon. And as for the Monokote V. Ultracote debate, I really don’t have a preference between the two. They both have their advantages and disadvantages, and the reason that I chose one over the other has more to do with color selection and availability than a preference for one over the other.
The colors that I chose to use were white and turquoise. On inspection, it is easy to tell the front from the back of the covering. For the white, the outer side as a great shine to it and the backside is a dull white. As for the turquoise, the backside is also a dull white, so it’s very easy to tell it from the topside.
Working with Toughlon while the backing was on it is a little difficult. It has a tendency to roll back up as if it was still on the roll. This made cutting pieces to a little difficult, but not impossible. And as for the trim pieces, I needed several rulers to hold the piece down while I lined up my cuts. But once the backing is removed, the covering will lay flat, so there is no issue here when applying the covering to the desired surface.
Toughlon is listed as having a temperature range from 135 to 250 degrees, but I found this not to be accurate. I have a Top Flite sealing iron and a Coverite temperature gage. With the temperature reading at 140 degrees, I could not get the covering to stick at all. It did not start to stick until I increased the temperature to ~190 degrees, and it seemed to work best at around 230 to 250 degrees, which is still acceptable. I believe that this places Toughlon at a point a little higher in temperature than Ultracote but still less than Monokote. (I have a little more to say about the temperature setting a little bit later.)
Once you get the temperature right, the covering goes on nicely. It seemed to have a good amount of stretch to it, although maybe not as much as Ultracote, but defiantly more than Monokote. But I have to say that this plane didn’t have any compound curves, such as wing tips, to test its stretch and shrinkage.
The covering went on with very few wrinkles. I actually could have covered this plane with just the use of my covering iron and trim iron. But to test how well it shrinks with my heat gun, it did get it out. What few ripples that were in the covering come out with the heat gun with out a problem.
I did try the Windex trick to apply my trim pieces. The Windex worked just as it does with Monokote. I sprayed the Windex on, laid out my trim pieces exactly where I wanted them, squeegee out the excess Windex, and left it to dry over night. The next day all I had to do it hit the trim pieces with my iron and they’re now on permanently.
Now for the only fault that I had with Toughlon.
I took my 4 * 40 out for her maiden flight. The engine, an OS 46 FX, had already been flown in another plane for over 200 flights, so it didn’t need to be broken in or anything else, just a little adjustment to the needle valve. I started the engine, took the plane to the edge of the runway and taxied out. I gave it full throttle, the plane gained speed, the tail lifted, a little more speed, and she took to the air with out any problem. I gained some altitude and leveled off. The plane started to nose down a little, so I held some up, and started to add a little trim. On my second time around the filed, I started to hear some flutter, but not the kind of flutter from a control surface, the kind of flutter that I flag makes. I then noticed that my plane looked a little funny, I was looking at the bottom of the wing, which was covered in turquoise, but I was seeing white. I then noticed that there was turquoise covering hanging from the bottom of my wing! I came around and landed the plane without a problem. (Well actually, I lost a tire sometime during the flight, but that’s another story.)
Out of the eight planes that I covered prior to this one, I never had a single piece of covering come loose, let alone come off. When I covered this plane, I’m sure that I had the iron set correctly at between 230 and 250 degrees. But then I have been known to make mistakes in the past, just not with covering a plane.
I replace the covering that came off and I resealed the rest of the covering on the plane with my iron set to 270 degrees, which is over the range suggested my the manufacturer. Last weekend, I took my 4 * 40 back out and I got five full 12 to 15 minute flights on it with out any of the covering coming loose. So the jury is still out on the cause of the covering coming loose, bad spec on the temperature specified by the manufacturer, or bad quality control on my part.
In conclusion, I was pleased with the results that I got with the Toughlon covering. It went on nice and the plane came out looking good. The bottom line: Would I use it again? The answer: YES. I’ll probable still stick to using what’s available in the colors that I want to use, but I’ll defiantly look at Toughlon along with Ultracote and Monokote.
I’ll post some pictures of my plane so you can judge for yourself.
Thanks for reading…
12-13-2010, 03:53 PM
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RE: Has anyone used Toughlon covering
Toughlon used to be sold by Sig as Sig aerocote. I'm not sure if all the color numbers or color names are the same so if you are trying to match something ,you ought to call and check.
12-13-2010, 05:56 PM
#12
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RE: Has anyone used Toughlon covering
The pylon racers we are using here for Club 40 racing are the World Models SkyRaider Mach II that has the Toughlon covering on the plane. The part I do not care for is that the outer clear section of the covering is very bad to de-laminate and it justs pulls right off the colored part. I have had this happen to every SRMII I have had.
Just my .02 worth.
John
Just my .02 worth.
John
12-13-2010, 09:17 PM
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My Feedback: (15)
RE: Has anyone used Toughlon covering
Hi Vic,
it didnt matter what I did to it , low heat, medium heat or high heat ( but nothing over 290°)..... I even tried cussing it and that didnt help either
Even 2 brand new planes out of the box were like this, and I even purchased them from different hobby shops. I could literally pull the outer clear top cover off of the colored part of the covering. Oh well 
I finally just peeled the offending top part of and raced the planes .
it didnt matter what I did to it , low heat, medium heat or high heat ( but nothing over 290°)..... I even tried cussing it and that didnt help either
Even 2 brand new planes out of the box were like this, and I even purchased them from different hobby shops. I could literally pull the outer clear top cover off of the colored part of the covering. Oh well I finally just peeled the offending top part of and raced the planes .
12-14-2010, 12:23 PM
#15
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RE: Has anyone used Toughlon covering
ORIGINAL: JohnMcGowan
The pylon racers we are using here for Club 40 racing are the World Models SkyRaider Mach II that has the Toughlon covering on the plane. The part I do not care for is that the outer clear section of the covering is very bad to de-laminate and it justs pulls right off the colored part. I have had this happen to every SRMII I have had.
Just my .02 worth.
John
The pylon racers we are using here for Club 40 racing are the World Models SkyRaider Mach II that has the Toughlon covering on the plane. The part I do not care for is that the outer clear section of the covering is very bad to de-laminate and it justs pulls right off the colored part. I have had this happen to every SRMII I have had.
Just my .02 worth.
John
12-14-2010, 01:32 PM
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RE: Has anyone used Toughlon covering
ORIGINAL: vatorman94
Toughlon used to be sold by Sig as Sig aerocote. I'm not sure if all the color numbers or color names are the same so if you are trying to match something ,you ought to call and check.
Toughlon used to be sold by Sig as Sig aerocote. I'm not sure if all the color numbers or color names are the same so if you are trying to match something ,you ought to call and check.
