Abraxxas

After flying today and noticing all the cheap stickers peeling off my Funtana making it look like a ratty 3 year old model I decided to fix it, here is what I came up with. With as much talk as there was in the forums about how to get the stickers off there must be more re-trimmed ones out there, so lets see them guys

adrian-RCU

stunning !!!!!

Rotcivv17

what engine r u running on ur funtana? Do u think a 61 2 stroke will fit in there without having to take the cowl off?

Abraxxas

Thank you, I am running a Saito .72 in mine, I'm sure it will fit... anything will fit just about if you cut a hole in the cowl big enough Assuming the crankcase will fit inside the cowl!! LOL

SilverEagle2

My Feedback: (9)

I redid mine to the original scheme with a few changes.

I made all the lettering sparkle with metal flake vinyl.

Not very different, but way nicer than the stock.

Jason

BBriBro

My Feedback: (2)

Looks nice, But that "H" on the foreward turtledeck looks exactly like the H in the Hitec logo ! Those colors go well together though.

STEVE LENZ

My Feedback: (45)

Nice job Simple and sweet? It must look nice flying it. Hitec should give you a free servo or two for free advertisement wishful thinking. I cant wait to rip into mine what was the best way to get your decals off. I read meneral sprits work well and do not leave the mess. (Pro Bro Steve # 429)

Abraxxas

Is HiTec a bad thing?? [X(] I just peeled them off as slowly as possible, if you pull too fast they split and tear into layers and strips... not fun, laquer thinner cuts through the sticky stuff faster than anything I've found yet. I had to try it, it doesn't eat the factory film. I like it in the air much better now, may need more color on the wings though to see great in overcast skies, maybe make the front of the wings black or something... not sure yet.

cstevec

My Feedback: (1)

I heated up the stickers with the old monokote gun and they came right off, leaving behind about half of the glue. Then as Abraxxus said I used laquer thinner (the automotive kind). The glue came right off with a soft rag. When I finish the new one I am building I will post some pictures. This one is real purty!!! It should be done by Friday. I liked the plane so much I decided to get another one and go all out on it. New covering, super fast servos, all new trim scheme, all the right hardware, I even painted the cowl!

daveopam

My Feedback: (9)

Trim solvent made by Great Planes will also take the glue off.

All Thumbs

My stickers pulled off easily enough by hand. I just made sure to do it slowly and to pull them straight back. I rocked them around and made sure I got them off in one piece. I don't think I had more than about 3 square inches of gook to cleanup. Some solvent and paper towels handled that. I didn't time it, but it took me about an hour (maybe) taking my time. Well worth the trouble if you feel like adding some trim.

Here's a pic of my plane so far. I've trimmed up the wings and elevator. I'm drawing a blank for what I want to do with the fuse and rudder...but I'll get there...don't rush me .

One of the best things about doing this is that the plane is a lot more visible in the air.

SunShyne

My Feedback: (68)

very nice schemes gents. I got to finally see one in action today and its a very capable bird. All the bad press it got here is misguided if you ask me. Its a nice plane for the money and size. IMO



MORE PICS PLEASE!! [8D]

Abraxxas

Thanks DiabloKid, they are awesome planes!! Looks good All Thumbs I would like to see more as well, so keep 'em comin!!

DiabloKid - Sliced bread would get bad press if you presented it to duscussion with enough people Watch one fly by somebody competent and judge for yourself

SunShyne

My Feedback: (68)

Amen to that! I saw it flwon by a beginner 3 D pilot and it made him look better then he was. Even with a slight cross wind it flew nicely. I am considering one now but I will have to see what I can finish before I pick up another project.

If I do get one I will def change the scheme on it. What techniques are you guys using to change yours out?

All Thumbs

Well, that's kind of a loaded question, with lots of answers. If you have a specific question, let me (us) know.

In a nutshell: I already talked about how I got my stickers off. The next thing I did was snap a pic of the plane (actually four of them...top, bottom, side, and 3/4 view). I then masked/cut out the plane itself from the photo and dropped it on a plain blue background. Then I just fooled around with those in a photo editor, although any drawing program would do...or even just print them out and draw on them by hand. I did that until I got something I liked...took awhile . After that I taped some large construction paper pieces on the plane, figured out what my main dimensions would be to match my picture, then drew the pattern on the wing itself. I cut out the patterns, used them to cut out the Monokote and just ironed the whole thing together. Nothing real special here. I put the Monokote right on top of the existing covering.

I can provide the blank jpg's I made if anyone is interested (although you'll have to suffer with the checker pattern that I kept). Maybe this is more than what you wanted , but your question isn't specific.

Just for grins, here's a small version of the file I used for the top view in Corel Photo Paint. You can right click the opened image, save it, and play with copies of it.

hovermaster

My Feedback: (2)

Here is mine. I only have some of the plane left though. I just Destoyed it. opps.


Chris

lxcoupe

My Feedback: (34)

Here is my latest Funtana.. I decided to dress it up alittle. I Sorta took my design from Joe Hunt's Edge 540. I flew it this weekend and it looks so much better in the air then stock..
Al Renkel

DeepStall

hemm.. I wonder if a Da 100 would fit in there lol.. would look cool with each cylinder head sticking out each side.. kinda like a j3 cub.. only a bit mad.... lol imagine what kinda undercarrage it would need for prop clearance?

All Thumbs

Al, that plane looks awesome! I'd like to request a picture of the whole finished deal when you get the opportunity.

barryb

How do you get the "Seba" stickers off of the Funtana without damaging the covering ?????

Barryb

STEVE LENZ

My Feedback: (45)

Barry use a Q tip and some mineral spirits thinner and it will pull apart on each pass with the Q Tip. It will take a wile . And will leave a clean scarface to do what you want. Good luck I will post mine plane in a few days. I used (Thumbs up) O (all thumbs) pattern to do the wing and it looks great. Steve (#429)

lxcoupe

My Feedback: (34)

Hey Thumbs. I'll do that.. I need to get some shots of it flying this weekend.

Barryb:
All I did was work up an edge on each sticker very carefully. Then I just pulled the sticker back on itself. With my plane it pulled very cleanly. You have to take it slowly. 99% of the glue came right off with the sticker. With any glue left i used the sticker itself and would restick it to the area where it left any glue and peeled it back again. This took the rest of the glue off. No mineral spirits or anything else needed. I had all the stickers off the plane in about 30 minutes. Wasn't bad at all.
Al Renkel

stomper

My Feedback: (20)

Hey guys your schemes all look awesome, especially Abraxxas and All Thumbs. Nice job!
Sorry to hear about your loss hovermaster, not fun!!

Doug Cronkhite

My Feedback: (34)

My new Hacker powered funtana is getting a new scheme too.. No offense to Seba but his scheme is just too boring for me.

All Thumbs

I got my stickers off fairly easily without doing anything special. I started with the wing to develop a feel for what they'd do when I pulled on them. I found that by pulling straight back everything was fine, and almost all the glue would come off with the stickers (even though I had previously ironed everything tight). I'm trying to demonstrate that with paper in my first picture (use your imagination and pretend it's a sticker being pulled off of Ultracote ). Go slowly and watch how it works. I didn't find any problems with the covering, but if you pulled straight up like in my second picture you might tear the covering and certainly pull it away from the structure. You could even break the balsa in the tail with the force. But by pulling straight back...and carefully watching what you're doing...I don't think you'll have a problem. Go slow! I rocked back and forth from time to time to make it easier, not just one straight pull in one direction. Like I said, I developed a feel for it quickly and it went well. That's what I did but I'm sure the other ideas will work just as good.