Hello to All,
First off I'd like to say THANKS to all of you for helping me learn so much, so quickly. I am a newbie getting ready to cover my first plane. Actually I have the rudder covered after some practice and it doesn't look too bad. I have been looking at the cover jobs on various posts and am wondering how you guys keep your lines so straight between colors? I have a Top Flite Smart Trim tool, but I haven't used it yet. I love this site and this hobby, and I haven't even flown yet! Safe landings to all!

Practice.

I use a long straight edge mostly.

I hide the bad edges under trim tape too You can hide a LOT of stuff under 1/4 inch wide trim tape.

I use an aluminum yard stick to cut the pieces to be put together. Cut the pieces carefuly with a sharp blade. I use single edge razor blades. I then carefully peel back the backing on the edge I want on top. I use my iron to tack the pieces together. You want only enough heat to activate the glue on the covering. After all the pieces are put together I then iron them onto the airframe. Just take your time and be sure everything lines up ok. Sounds hard untill you do it once. Just beware of using thin strips. Thhin strips are best applied after the base covering is done. Try it I am sure you can come up with a good job. Enjoy.

Mark Shuman

BTW it is esier to use Ultracote to do this because of the low heat needed to activate the glue and the paper backing.

Don't be too hard on yourself. A lot of the planes on this site are works of art, but remember, you're looking at a 300 x 300 (or something) pixel photo, which is about as good as looking at the real thing from 20 feet away. I bet your plane looks pretty good at that distance. Also, nobody posts their screw ups.

Covering Edges is similar to covering Extras and Sukhois