Monokote over silk and dope?
 

I have two old VK Cherokees that my father built in the 60's that are covered with silk and dope. One plane I currently fly and the other plane was never finished. The wing is sheeted and covered in silk and the body is also covered in silk. The whole plane was clear doped (in the 60's) and is ready to be painted. I wonder if I should paint it or cover it in Monokote. Does anyone have any experience using Monokote over silk and dope? I will use the old style sewn hinges and perhaps a 4 stroke engine.

Interesting: Monokote came out when I was in high school and members of my flying club thought that it would never catch on! Can you imagine that!

Thanks for your help.

RE: Monokote over silk and dope?
 

This is chrome Monokote over silk and dope. Since I was going to apply the monokote in scale panels, I wanted the strength of the silk and dope. The only problem that I had was in one location where I did not fill the silk enough, and some of the grain showed through.

Les

RE: Monokote over silk and dope?
 

netman,

I have used iron-on coverings over painted surfaces of many different kinds. The 2 things to watch out for is melting of the surface material and air bubbles. As long as the surface you are covering will withstand the temperature of the iron it should stick. An already seald surface will trap air bubbles under the covering. Applying Iron-on film over a sealed surface takes more skill but does work. Always test it out first over a small area. Dope withstands the iron temperatures very well. I often give my entire frame a coat of dope before covering with iron on. But silk is pretty good stuff. If it is still strong why not just clean it and give it a freash coat or 2 of dope and go flying.

Multiflyer

RE: Monokote over silk and dope?
 

Thanks for the help. I wanted to use a Monokote finish because of the shine. I have always found dope to be a little on the dull side. I am pretty good at silk and dope from years ago but have been building mostly ARFs since I got back into the hobby and have little experience with Monokote. I will try to find someone in our club that can assist me with the Monokote covering job.

RE: Monokote over silk and dope?
 

You can get a very glossy finish with dope, but I recommend painting with a coat of Randolph's, Sig, or Brodak butyrate dope, just to soften the existing dope and fill it. I would use aluminum silver as the aluminum fills fast and is light, then I would switch to automotive acrylic lacquer as it is compatible with dope, fills faster, dries faster, and has a higher gloss. Then finish it out with a coat of acrylic clear. IMO this is less work then covering over with Monocote because I suspect you are going to have a hard time getting the Monocote to stick to such an old, not quite filled out silk covering. Because of waiting for it to dry between sanding, it will take more time, a week between each coat or two.