Wrinkles in Monicote
 

I just purchased a used airplane that has been sitting up for a few years and only flown 2 or 3 times. It was stored in the owners garage. The monicote has some pretty bad wrinkles in it, especially on the leading edge of the wing where the wrinkle is 1/4 inch wide and about 6-10 inches long. Can someone tell me in detail how to remove these wrinkles. I tried a heat gun on the fuselage on some smaller wrinkles and this did nothing. I assume I need the iron??? The airplane looks brand new except for this problem.

RE: Wrinkles in Monicote
 

If a heat gun didn't work it could be that either the gun is not getting hot enough, or the covering is not a typical iron-on.

Try the gun again, and really lay the heat to it.

An iron might work, but it could also iron the wrinkles down, so it's better to get them out first before ironing.

RE: Wrinkles in Monicote
 

Funny, I was just in the shop ironing out the wrinkles that showed up yesterday at the field on my H9 Corsair. It's been out 4 times at least, and on hotter days, but chose yesterday to show some new ones.

The heat guns that work in our hobby put out a fairly specific temperature. Hair dryers won't work and paint remover guns will set our models on fire right after melting the covering. The technique that works with our guns is "distance from surface".

Our heat guns will shrink Monokote, Ultracote, et al when held the appropriate distance from the covering. You actually adjust the heat on the covering by how far you hold the gun away from the covering. If you don't hold it close enough, it won't shrink the stuff. If you get it so close you risk touching the covering with the gun, you're too close and the covering isn't one of our normal brands if it hasn't already shrunk tight. And yeah, touch our normal covering with most guns and its liable to burn a hole in some of them.