G`Day
Can anyone give me any tips on covering with Monokote Chrome, am in the process of covering the fuselage and wing of my p-51 Mustang 60 size. Have covered part of my plane already including the Elevator and Fin but am now starting on the larger areas. All are covered in balsa and coated with 3/4 oz glass.
Do I cover across the wing in sections or do I cover along the wing in sections, also the same for the fuselage???Also what heat should the iron be ?? Cannot use heat gun on large surfaces itself as this seems to create bubbles which don`t seem to shrink back out when cooling (seems this Monocote Chrome does not lend itself to streaching and contrating!!!) when used with the iron either!!
Quite difficult to use!!!!!*sh###***!!!!
Any advise would be greatly appreciated!!!!
dutchy50

Here are some resources you can look at that will help you in your covering process.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/magazine/a...?article_id=67
http://www.rcuniverse.com/magazine/a...article_id=726

As for the wing, I would start by covering the bottom of the wing first. I would cover the entire wing in 4 sections, Cut one piece big enough to completely cover half the wing panel on the bottom side, then cut another piece to cover the other half of the bottom side. Then flip the wing over and cover the top in two separate pieces just like the bottom. Minn Flyers probably got some good graphics somewhere but I havent found they yet.

You'd better have some bright contrast on that chrome...like yellow or orange.....My second airplane a 4 Star 60 I covered the fuselage in chrome....at times the fuselage would disappear as the chrome reflected the sky.....I had an orange vetical stab.

What process did you use for your plane regarding covering the Fuselage????
Any pics?
dutchy50

I'm curious why you're using monokote over glass? That's going to be one heavy covering job.

dutchy Just follow the instructions that came with the roll

Hi!
You would be much better off using Oracover chrome!
It fasten to a glassfiber surface much better than monokote.

Dutchy:

I covered my P-51 with chrome monocote. It came out fine, but there are definately some problems associated with the process. Your fiberglass coating on the balsa surface will probably not help the situation, as my experience with monocote sticking to fiberglass is less than satisfactory.

My general impression of the chrome monocote was that it did not shrink as easily as the normal base colors, It will shrink, but one of the problems is that using higher temperatures to increase the shrinkage can tarnish, for lack of a better word, the bright chrome finish. So you need to really plan the covering job, and keep the pieces fairly tight when you originally tack them down. As Jaka said, Oracover/Ultracote will shrink better, but it doesn't have the shiny surface that the monocote chrome provides.

I started on the fuselage by covering the wing fillets with small pieces. You could also run longer, narrower pieces the length of the fillet. Then I cut two large pieces that covered each side of the fuse from the tail to the nose. To help with the air bubble problem, I punched pin holes every 1 inch on the fuselage surface. That way the air bubbles shrink and the air goes out from under the surface. I did the top of the nose with two separate pieces, seamed down the middle of the fuselage. Then I painted the top to resemble an anti-glare panel and was able to hide all the seams.

The wing is a real pain, mostly because of the compound curves involved. As has been suggested, covering the wing in four separate pieces is necessary, but even that won't solve the compound curves on the top of the wing surface. This problem was solved through the use of invasion stripes. I covered the bottom of the wing from the center fuselage out to about where the leading edge of the wing changes its angle with a single piece of chrome, and then from where the invasion stripes would end out to the wing tip. Ditto on the top section. Then you can use black/white moncote to do the stipes on both the top and the bottom. (Yeah, I know that most of the real WWII Mustanges didn't have invasion stripes on the top of the wing, but it looks cool. And makes the covering job easier!) Trying to get all the wrinkles out of the chrome at the wing tips was problematic. I finally gave up and covered the tips as best I could, then masked off a 1" wide area around the wing tip, sanded the monocote smooth, then primed and painted the wing tips red. Again, you have to keep the monocote pulled as tight as you can to minimize the amount you need to shrink. I seem to remember giving the wings the pinhole treatment as well.

It's also lots of fun to try to cover the cowl and airscoop with chrome. My cowl came out OK, but the airscoop is just too small and has too many curves. I finally just painted it with chrome paint.

Hope this helps.

Thanks so much for your detail instructions, I will give the pin holes a go!!!!! fingers crossed!!!!!!!
Regards
dutchy50

Also sanding imperfections, and any small particles trapped under the covering really become obvious with the chrome...

I've worked with chrome Monokote quite a bit, and here is another tip I have found very helpful. Never EVER put a heat iron to chrome Monokote without a hotsock, or some kind of soft padding, between the iron and the covering. Most covering irons these days are have some kind of Teflon coating on them, and you can use them on most every other color of Monokote with no problems. But if you do with chrome you will see scratchs in the Monokote. In my eye they stand out like a turd in a punchbowl on chrome. I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to covering, but it just drives me up the wall to see scratchs in chrome Monokote like this.

That's my 2¢ worth

Ken

Yeah, applying the chrome covering is like climbing Everest without bottled oxygen !

It will show every mistake, and Only look right if you know every trick in the book before you start applying it.

Well applied it is magnificent looking...and hard as heck to see at times in flight !

HI,
+1 on the hot sock and on chrome disapearing in the air. BUT it does look GOOD if carefully done. The old soft cotton cloth and heat gun trick comes to mind for a fuse such as yours.

Heat a small area up with the heat gun then quickly apply preasure with the soft cloth. You may need to HOLD preasure in concave areas until the covering cools.
Chrome always relects the sky and or trees, ground etc. can be a handful! It can also give you a sun flash that is no fun. Sailplaners use it on LEs just to get a flash effect for seeing a glider WAY up there.

Thanks to everyone for your feedback, have just started the fuselage today and so far so good, making pin holes in the fuselage really helps!!!! Now for the upper part of the fuselage and then onto the wings. Will post some pics when finished.
Thanks again!!!
dutchy50

What did you do to get the seperate panel lines look? Did you actually cut the Oacover into strips before applying?