JoeAirPort

My Feedback: (41)

I have never covered a plane so I am not good at it. I have an ARF and would like to re-do some parts. My 1st concern is being able to cut the curved shapes. I can't imagine doing it with an exacto knife and having the curves come out nice an smooth. So how do I cut the shapes? I will cover the rainbows with a matching blue (see rest of plane).

Also once the pieces are cut can I just use that covering solvent and avoid the iron? I'm not good with irons, I always get air bubbles and/or creases.

Thanks

redfox435cat

I've found the best way to get good curve is on a great planes building board with an exacto knife. It has to be a new blade. Your base color should be ironed on but sovent will work. aditional colors on top of the monokoke should be alpied with solvent. If your having air bubble issues you should go over the suface with a wood pecker. I've found that with a really hot blow gun 99% of air bubbles will go away. My big problem is the schems around control surfaces.

Mitty

To cut out you can try to cutting on top of the piece of glas. I only covered several times but this method works good.
Also to avoid the bubbles you can spray windex on the glue side and apply it to the model.Then use your credit card wrapped in paper towel as a squigie and get all air bubbles out.Then all you'll have to do is seal the edges with hot iron.No bubbles !

BillS

I am not worth a darn at covering either.

However over a period of years a sheet of glass, a metal straight edge, and a sharp Exacto has worked best for cutting monocote. Incidentally the glass came from an old storm door.

I also make paper templates for almost everything. If the template cannot be cut with an Exacto then scissors will be needed. I keep cuticle scissors and regular scissors handy.

Bill

MinnFlyer

My Feedback: (4)

Your first quest is to find out what the plane is presently covered with. If you use a different covering, the color won't match.

Next, if it's Ultracote, Ultracote has a nice paper backing that you can draw your designs on before cutting (Don't forget to draw a mirror image) - You will still have to cut by hand, but having lines makes it easier (You can use sharp sizzors too). The bad news is, trim solvent doesn't work on UC

If it's MK, you CAN use trim solvent, but you'll have to make templates to get the cuts right

flyboyz

My Feedback: (1)

What is the best way to remove covering?

JoeAirPort

My Feedback: (41)

Here are the results of my little project. The pictures are posted at the bottom of the page of the following link. I am more than pleased with how the plane looks with the new trim. I didn't do that great of a covering job but I guess I never do. And that's why I buy ARF's.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_30...19/key_/tm.htm

Minn: The trim solvent did not work as well as I thought it would but it did stick. If you pulled up again it didn't stick as well anymore. It was a real pain. I ended up using an iron to get the edges to stay down. If I had known the solvent didn't wok on Ultra coat I would have just used the iron and saved myself the frustration (stunk up my house pretty good too).

flyboyz: To remove it was as simple as getting a little corner going and just gently tug it off. I tried not to rip it since I needed the pieces as a template to make new ones. The Ultra coat is way better to work with than the China coat crap they put on some of these ARF's. You can't even iron out the wrinkles.

bbbair

A covering iron and patience.

Take your Iron, warm up the covring to be removed, and lift it away gently. There will always be a few tough spots, but a sharp knife and patience will take care of them . . .

We do this stuff for pleasure and relaxation - not speed and profit. Once that has been learned, the job at hand gets much simpler.

Gringo Flyer

My Feedback: (18)

IMO you sure improved the look of that airplane by changing those colors. That rainbow scheme didnt do much for it.

JoeAirPort

My Feedback: (41)

Thanks, it seems that other people are agreeing with you so far. It looks more "scale" and less "toy fun fly". I e-mailed the guy at BME to show him how much better it looks. It would be nice if it came like that so we didn't have to spend extra hours re-trimming it.