Covering isn't that difficult. It can be tedious at first, until you get the hang of it. Some guys just stop trying. Look at all tne nice covering jobs at your field and ask those guys if it was hard. It's not brain surgery. It's actually fun to watch this hunk of balsa become a thing of beauty before your very eyes. On, and a little bit of trim tape (3/32" or 1/8" wide) here and there goes a long way to sprucing up the job. Don't need much.

Fuel proofing is pretty important, but things such as pin *****s and hinge cutouts are probably pretty negligible.. just keep the covering as close as you can. If you're using CA type hinges, then the CA glue will also help to seal the area anyway.

As an aside, if you're wondering about the engine compartment and/or fuel tank area, don't try to cover these. Instead, either use dope, fuel proof spray paint, or that great old standby, epoxy. Just mix some epoxy and put a few drops of denatured alcohol in it... add more alcohol until you can get a consistancy that will paint on. It does a great fuel-proofing job in the engine-mount area.

And, as for those planes in at the Auction, yeah there are a lot of botchy jobs out there, but some would look a whole lot better if they just re-shrunk the film and cleaned it up.

I just thought of something... it's about heat guns. If you use a heat gun over an open area (i.e., no wood under the covering), you could burn a hole right through the film unless you keep that gun moving.

I went to a covering seminar at the WRAM show and heard Faye Stilley talk. He's won about every covering design award you can think of. His technique is to use the heat gun "...like a paintbrush". And, it works.