I purchased a Great Plans Stick 40 ARF from Tower Hobbies. The ad read " covered in Ultracote". The plane is actually covered in a stick on covering that wrinkled very badly when exposed to sunlight. Do any of you know how to tighten this junk? Respond by e-mail if possible. Thanks.

GS,

Please check the stock number of the kit you ordered (wanted/saw in the ad) vs. the number on the kit you received and on your Tower invoice. There may have been a mix-up when the order was taken. If you have built the kit, you can't return it. If not, then return it for the MonoKote covered version.

As for tightening the "Sticky" covering, a heat gun will do the job. BUT...you must move the heat continously and not stop in one place for long because it will melt through. This covering does respond well to heat and shrink. Also keep in mind, the heat will soften the adhesive and when very close to seams/joints in the covering, it may pull away/separate if the heat is kept there too long.

Hope this helps.

I have one of the Great Planes Big Stik 40's covered with the sticky back paper. I won it at one of my club's meetings.

I have also seen that the covering saggs in the sun, but when put back in the shade it tightens back up.

I just try to keep it out of the sun when I can and then don't really bother about it.

I have found a low heat setting on my iron worked ok on my Hobbico Superstar Trainer in the past. I tried a heat gun, but that created more problems as it just shrunk the wrinkles tighter, which made them all the more difficult to get out.

Thanks for all the advice. The one about keeping the plane out of the sun will be the most difficult, because at our club we are not allowed to fly under our covered areas!

You don't need to fly under the covered areas. All you need to do is constantly fly inverted. That way the covering on the top of the wings doesn't get hit by the sun and won't sag!

Please note that Great Planes does not cover any ARF with Ultracote. It usually Monokote or a sticky back shelf paper type film like you apparently received. The Monokote covered stick ARF is more expensive so if they charged you for the Monokote version but sent you the shelf paper version they owe you some money back.

Ultracote is now the domain of Horizon/Hangar 9 or is it Hang me 9 Times?

Just be thankful that it isn't covered in the "composite" covering like the Ultra Sport ARF. I had one and it was covered in thin styrofoam with covering over that. If you got a hole in the covering there was no way to fix it because the styrofoam would melt if heat was applied. Thankfully there new ones are not covered in this junk.