onewayHis

Working on my latest creation....for the first time I'm using the "pink" foam (and coroplast) to help shape and form the plane.

WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO COVER THE FOAM PORTIONS OF THE FUSE and WINGS? VINYL SIGN MATERIAL? MONOKOTE?

Thanks guys for any input you have.

JakeCarter

If you haven't seen it yet, check out jkaerotech

They use colored packing tape for their planes, which are pink foam fuses and main wings with coro tail feathers. If you browse to the kits there are online instructions with tons of pictures of each step, may help out a lot if you've never done foam before. I've built a few of their planes, the T52 and the eplane. On the wing for the T52 I used sign vinyl, it looked better than the tape but ended up peeling off in a lot of areas after only a few flights and I replaced it with tape. It may have been the cheap sign vinyl I used, it was the low grade stuff and kind of old.

onewayHis

Thanks JJ, for the input

Not a bad way to go... I may be able to use the packing tape method for part of it, but I really want to try to "skin" the plane if I can.

The challenge is that I'm building a Batwing (yes, as seen in the first Batman movie) and it's coming together really well.

Of course this means that we're not talking about a "traditional" fuselage covering job.

I was thinking of using 2 mil coro and spray painting it.

Anyone have any comments?

JakeCarter

How about a mixture of B@l$a sheeting and fiberglassing and painting?

Here's a thread over on the foamie forum on rcgroups.com:
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showt...threadid=38981

(The final results are on page 32 of the thread)
I don't know how much effort you want to put into it but it's amazing how good it can end up looking.

onewayHis

Great thread....great looking P-51!

I think I'll test a few methods with scraps and see how it looks (and how easy it is to work with). The main concern is some of the odd curves and angles in the design.

I'm somewhere in the middle of wanting it to look "mean n' clean" and just wanting to get this thing in the air to see if it will really fly... I'll post some pics in the next few days.

One thing's for sure this is going to be one cool bird....er....bat.

ZAGNUT

My Feedback: (1)

thinned elmers wood glue and brown wrapping paper!

brush the glue/water onto the foam then wrap it with wet paper. the paper shrinks back to size when it dries and makes a super tight and tough skin, much stiffer and lighter than vinyl sign paper and MUCH cheaper than balsa and glass.
i do all my wings this way, even big gassers, and use water based polyurethane paints made for wood.
i used to hate building wings until i found this method.

dave

onewayHis

This place never ceases to amaze me.....brown wrapping paper and thinnned elmer's glue???

Hey, I'm a "Spad-a-Holic"...I'll try anything....at least when it comes to building and flying planes...

Thanks for the tip. I'll definitely check it out.

CrazyHerb-RCU-delete

My Feedback: (2)

ZagNut,
Would love to see some of your "Brown paper" covered creations..
I agree, although a bit messy...it makes good covering over foam.

Here's a delta I did in Brown paper and then hit with floro orange, sealed with spray clear poly-u...

Flew great!!

Very durable...

Watch the water-based glues though...they SHRINK while it dries and can WARP the carp out of your wing if you don't weigh it down.

Good Luck!
CrazyHerb

ZAGNUT

My Feedback: (1)

forgot to mention this! i always do both sides of a wing panel at the same time so i dont end up with a banana, i also hang them to dry. don't use brown paper over the soft beaded foams as it can totally distort the profile of the wing, i use 2.2lb. foam that is a little stiffer than pink foam. for white beaded foam you can use newspaper but the wing might need spars added. on my wings i don't use any wood at all, even the leading edge is foam. i've been hooked on this method since i read about it in rcm back in the mid-'80s

if i ever get something better than my cheapo pc-cam i'll post a few pics of the process. anybody who wants cheap and quick should try this, for me it is easier than sign vinyl or glass and i get a perfect, wrinkle free finish every time-something that can't be said for packing tape or vinyl.

dave

onewayHis

Thanks Guys!!!!!!!!

As I continue to build my "squadron" and try different types of materials to build with, I'll give the "brown paper method" a try. Sounds easy and cheap, too. What else can a SPADHEAD ask for??????

For the Batwing I decided to "skin" it with 2 MIL coro and it's working great so far. I actually have a pretty good airfoil forming.

I can't wait to fly this thing.....Pics will be coming shortly

phat742

i want to try the brown paper bag method on my wattage f22 raptor but i'd like to now how much to thin the glue. also is it wood glue or white glue. would computer printer paper work also? afterwords would any sanding need to be done?

ZAGNUT

My Feedback: (1)

i use between 40-50% water in the mix, thinner is easier to squegee(sp) out from under the paper and thicker is stickier and helps hold the paper on tight curves like leading/trailing edges.
use any good yellow carpenter's glue. white glue is rubbery when dry and won't allow fine sanding at the overlaps.
never tried printer paper but it should work provided it isn't too thick. the best paper is the kraft types as they give a much stronger and stiffer skin.
i don't like doing compound curves with anything but newspaper but i've seen other people who manage this just fine with the heavier papers by cutting lots of darts in the needed area. i think they do alot of sanding and filling to get good results, to me this defeats the whole purpose of this method which should be cheap and simple.
before you attack your plane with glue try a few experiments on scrap foam.

dave

Woodsy

I started covering a wing last night with brown wraping (parcel) paper using PVA thinned 50/50 with water the paper is dull on both sides not shiney on 1 side like the quality stuff, in the paper industry they call it KRAFT and it's sort of like news paper but a teency thicker. you can also get rolls of paper table cloth (butchers paper)that should work.

Cajun

Try getting some polyester chiffon fabric in the color you want and apply it with water based polyurethane. It's very easy to apply, and the WBP lets the fabric color show thru. After drying for a week, the WBP is fuel proof. It is very durable.

The blue on my bipe fuselage (another thread) is polyester fabric.