Hey there,

Am hopeful in learning the art of covering undercamber - or concave surfaces. Have covered a few planes, but have also stayed away from a few - mostly due to under cambered wings. My experience with wing fillets, Hoerner wingtips, and some fin/stabilizer to fuselage junctions has been lacking.

My favorite coverings to date has been Coverite products - Micafilm & Super Coverite - although I've also used some cheaper films. Will probably try some Koverall fabric sometime soon. On solid surfaces, seems like I always wind up with an air bubble that consistantly gets worse when trying to remedy it.

Got plans for a Taylor Cub (Matthews) and a Kitfox Classic lV short kit that I've never built due to nightmares of covering the open structure of the under cambered wings.

Any tips, links, or suggestions will certainly be appreciated guys,

Many Thanx
T-man49 in Al
Club Saito 723
Spitfire Bro 19

My first undercambered glider wing was covered with monokote.

Start at the high point of the undercamber, tack the covering down along each rib to the leading edge. Get all the ribs done, get the leading edge done, but don't shrink it . Now, tack along each rib to the trailing edge, tack it all down along the trailing edge and when you have the whole thing done, then shrink the whole wing. Be careful to not let any of the covering pull up from the ribs. If it pulls away, stop what your doing and tack it back down.

That's for film...follow the same advice for whatever covering you decide to use. Just start at the high point of the undercamber, work forward, then work back, then shrink.

Don

For compound curves which you mentioned you're having issues with. The trick is to leave extra so you can grab it....you don;t use an iron... (well i don't) on compound surfaces... rather.. pull and heat with your gun... this allows it stretch and be "pulled" onto the surface. It helps to have extra or a glove to keep the ot air off your hand. I like Ultra as its easiest to work with and will stretch a bit around comounds.. no wrinkles..

Cover the bottom. Iron the covering to the ribs, but don't shrink it tight. Run a bead of thin CyA along the bottom of each rib. Then finish up as usual.

Hi!
Use Oratex or Solartex instead of Coverite and you will find life easier!

Koverall and Stix-It is used here. On the undersides I started in center of chord and worked toward edges. Very little heat needed when done.