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Old 03-28-2006 | 10:31 AM
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cougar347
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From: Green Lane, PA
Default RE: Covering Large Wing Panels

Well, it's done and it came out really nice, if I do say so myself. I found that I started way too high with temperature, the first aileron had a lot of trapped air. I worked that out and actually went back and read the Ultracote instructions again, DUH! After lowering the iron temperature to about 250 degrees, it worked perfectly. Tacked around the perimeter, starting with the four corners, pulling and stretching as I did it. Started ironing in the middle as you guys recommended and slowly worked out to the edges. I actually cut up an old pillow case and used small pieces of that between the iron and the Ultracote. Worked better than a sock in my opinion. You don't need a lot of pressure, just melt the adhesive and then lightly press it down with the glove. At 250 degrees, there is a small amount of shrinkage of the film as well, which removes any wrinkles. If you do a good job stretching it and tacking it, you won't have many wrinkles anyway. I found that by moving the iron in small circles, it didn't make any marks on the very soft contest balsa under the film. Of course, I used the woodpecker on all surfaces prior to putting the film down, then took a tack rag to remove any specs of dust. There are no bubbles or wrinkles on any of the surfaces. I really love working with this Ultracote. It's so easy to work it around curves and such. It was a slow, lengthy process, but the results were much better than I had expected. Thanks for all the tips.