pappy35

Covering is coming along nicely. I was going to use Solartex and paint in a WWI-ish theme but I've got my sights on a large IMAC plane next and since I'm fussy about covering on a plane like that I figured I'd use the Smoothie to brush up on my long dusty Monokote skills.

Pics 1 and 2: In order to start covering one needs to clean-up. These are before and after shots of the workbench. The fuselage is sanded down to 600-grit. After sanding I very carefully remove sawdust by first vacuuming and then going over the whole structure with a shop rag lightly soaked in mineral spirits. The bench was also very carefully cleaned.

Pic 3, 4, and 5: Color samples and checking basic patterns. Using a set of French curves I cut templates out of poster board for each of the colors. For me, curved patterns are visually appealing but can be difficult to do so working slow is key.

Pic 6: Ceremonial first piece of Monokote. I always start in a location that's not visible. Haha.

Pic 7: Strips of Monokote are applied at all the corners.

Pics 8 and 9: Did the first two of three colors on the vertical tail. The final piece will be a black swoop that wraps around the lower rudder corner. So far so good.