Jester241

I have covered 1 plane thus far with monokote and it turned out fairly nice,but I do have some questions before doing my next one. Hopefully I can get a good discussion going here and get some answers. For starters I used monokote for my first project and it didnt impress me. I have a hobbico su-31 arf now and had to as usual go over it and whatever covering was on that seemed to shrink and work nice. Anyone know what kind hobbico uses? This time I'm going to need to paint a cowl to match my covering. Whats the best matching paint/covering brand...monokote/lusterkote? I hear alot of good stuff about Ultracoat. I'd like to try it. How good is ultracoat and is there a paint to match it good? Also I'm likely going to be layering different colors of covering over wings that wont be fully balsa sheeted,I'll have to try and seal it down over the gapped areas and wont be able to press on it much or heat it real hot....know what I mean? Keep that in mind. I'll stop there for now before I get into any more questions!

Thanks for any suggestions!

ROOSTERLEW

I can tell you what little I have learned.
From my opinion so far I have had trouble with monokote not adhering properly to solid wood. I am sure it is me, but I don't know what I am doing wrong.
The Black baron film is super easy to work with,low heat, though a little heavy and they really have a limited color selection.
Whatever brand of cheap stuff Global/ Hobby People sell is pretty easy also, Again heavy and limited colors.

Which is why I have switched to silk and paint, less filling, taste great!

Campy

My Feedback: (1)

You should really fall in love with Ultracote. It goes on at lower temps then Monokote, and does wingtips and other tight curves with ease. The Ultracote paints are USUALLY a VERY close match to the covering color. One nice thing about the UC paints is that they DO NOT SPIT.

If you want AN EXACT color match, take a sample of the covering to a local paint store (Ace, True Value, Home Depot, etc ) and have a quart of LATEX color matched (a quart is the smallest they will color match ). The cost is typically around $10,00 Spray it on and let it "cure". Latex takes about 7 - 10 days to cure. Press your finger on a hard part. If a fingerprint remains, the paint isn't cured (the fingerprint will disappear in a day or 2 ). Then clearcoat it with Ultracote clear to make it fuel proof.

tstotts

I totally agree with Campy on all points except curing time. Curing varies greatly with weather and temperature but typically I don't expose my paint job to fuel until it has cured for 30 days but then that is based on past experience not scientific data. I have used ultracote and black baron both. Because of color selection I prefer ultracote although bb works well. One caution though. If you don't use good technique both coverings can easily warp a wing.

Campgems

I've built six planes over the last 18 months and I used Monokote on all but two. It has a bad habbit of going baggy if you let it set in the car for a little while. Also, on the wood, it also develops air bubles after a while. Very hard on tight corners.. I use Ultrakote on the last two and with the exception of one problem, I am very happy with it.

The next to last was 4*60. I usually cover the botton of a wing, using alternating and contrasting colors. I decided to cover the botton and apply trim over it. I found that the Ultrakote was only 1/8 of an inch wider than the girth of the wing. Not enough material to cover in two pieces, so I I decided to try one piece wrapped around the wing, I tacked down the trailing edge and then pulled the covering around the wing. I started tacking the trailing edge again and working from the center out, I sortof got it on smooth. I wasn't to happy, but decided to go ahead and see how it shrink down. After just a few minutes, I had a absolutely beautiful covering. That would never have been possible with the Monokote.

Where I did run into trouble with the Ultrakote though was covering the turtle deck on my Super Aeromaster. I covered the sides first so I could do a 1/4" lap on the wood when I covered the stringers. The Super Aeromaster is a pain on the turtle deck. It has a compound curve and it requires a lot of stretching. I ended up with one small buckle in the cover, but I could cover that with the trim. I trimmed the top covering and the hit the edges with the iron for a final seal. The darn stuff kept shrinking and pulled away from the side covering. I managed to salvage it, but it is not one of my best jobs. I found that as long as you keep applying heat, it keeps shrinking. I can see how you could eaisly warp a wing with it.

Bottom line is that I'll continue to use the ultrakote. Well when I run out of monokote. It is so much eaiser to work.

Don

Jester241

Is there corasponding stick 'em on trim sheets to go along with ultracoat? And how much trim do you guys use instead of ironed on covering? And whats the advantages or disadvantages with using trim compared to covering for some areas or vise-versa? Thanks.

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

I can't even count how many planes I have covered with Ultra now. I gave up on Mono about 8 years ago. Ultra has A much smaller selection of colors compared to Mono and they have never had A full selection of matching colors. Always buy the matching paint at the same time as the covering or you could be out of luck and have to do the paint mixing search.
My big trick with Ultra is to cover the plane then set it out in the sun for an hour then reshrink it. I may do that A couple of times. After that I never have problems with sag. Living in Ca. and NV that's A big plus. Trim after this curing process.
Trim sheets are total crud. I always use different colors of Ultra. I lay it on at very low heat then add more heat until it starts to gas and you see bubbles then back off A bit. I then go around the edges with my trim iron set on high, about 1/4 inch around.
If it's A big piece of trim I use A small sharp pin and poke holes in the covering under the area and that helps out with the gas problem.
I have A lot of left over Ultra colors so it's maybe too easy for me to down talk trim sheets but in the past I have had bad luck with it. Maybe due to the weather conditions I live in. Read high heat and bright sun. Good luck with your project.

MinnFlyer

My Feedback: (4)

Take a look at these videos. They cover just about all of your questions.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/magazine/a...article_id=726

Campy

My Feedback: (1)

One other thing with Ultracote - the Windex trick for applying trim pieces will not work. The adhesive is different from Monokote so the Windex will not activate it - you have to iron Ultracote trim pieces on.

This is usually not a big deal - position the piece (if it is large TACK the edges in a couple of spots to keep it from shifting ), then start IN THE MIDDLE OF THE PIECE and iron it down with your iron (again, depending on the size, typically a trim iron ) with your iron set on low. After everything is ironed down go over the edges with the iron set on medium/high.