buzzard bait--

Skyloft was heavier than Koverall? I've never weighed the two but find that hard to believe. Skyloft LOOKS sorta like tissue paper but I guess looks can be deceiving. I'll I have to check it out!

As far as using Skyloft, it is a little bit harder to use (especially sealing down the edges around rounded, curved areas like wingtips), and I think it does require a little more dope to fill the cloth. The main advantage to me is that it's similiar to working with silk but for a lot less cost. I think you can get like a 3-yard pack for a few bucks or so but silk that's packaged commercially by the square yard runs in the neighborhood of $15.00 or more!

I haven't tried any of the bulk places like Thai Silks. When I was in Thailand years ago, what they called "Thai silk" had little knots in the fabric - popular for scarves and clothes with the ladies but definitely not what you'd want to use for covering models. Maybe they've changed something or there are other types now, but I haven't checked because I've got a large supply of the different cloth model coverings on hand so am not looking for any.


Skyloft WILL fuzz when sanding IF you start sanding too soon. Wait until the cloth is filled and then only sand LIGHTLY - you can't sand it as hard as the other coverings.

I've had good luck with Skyloft and it seems even tougher than most of the other cloth coverings, but it does take a few more coats of dope than the other silk-like coverings

I think one mistake a lot of people make in covering with woven fabrics such as silk is thinking it goes on like tissue paper. Tissue paper takes far less coats of dope to fill. In spite of what I’m reading from other folks regarding using fabrics, I’ve been covering with "silk and dope" for over 40 years now and I’ve NEVER had any of those fabrics completely fill in "one or two coats" of dope. My experience is it usually takes at least 4 coats before there are no pin holes remaining.

MinnFlyer is right – you don’t HAVE to cover with fabric just because the plans call for it. All the old kits (before Monokote) said to cover with cloth (or tissue) because that’s all there was! But while some may consider it an outdated process, go to any airport and tell me how many real planes you find covered in heat-shrinkable plastic film? What I (and others) don’t like about the plastic coverings is they are not very scale-like in appearance. To us they have a plastic, "toy-like" look.

In all fairness, there are some iron-ons out there that are fabric and those look more appealing to me. (I recently bought an ARF Cub that has Goldberg "Ultracoat" covering and that looks pretty good.) But, having used the "old" silk and dope method as a kid, that’s what I learned to like and I just stuck with it. Also, I love the smell! (Wife hates it!) Maybe that’s what’s wrong with me. After all these years using dope – Dain Bramage!

So, yes, it takes more time. Maybe that's the appeal in today's "hurry-up world? Gotta have it now – can’t wait. Has anybody been checking out all the posts of older modelers lamenting about the proliference of ARF’s and there being less kits available?