I am currently constructing the left wing panel, but seeing as thou it is the exact same build steps I will not be showing the sequence in photos.

Til later . . . Steve

In my experience reselling Tower Hobbies, Hobbico, SIG, Great Planes and Phoenix ARFs often on RCU and Ebay, all of them have horrible contact qualities with the monokote they use. All of them quickly do peel away in just a few flights. Maybe they don't get it hot enough in the race to produce them and get them shipped out. The Phoenix models have a different covering material that seems to hold up well, but it's more difficult to patch, should the need ever arise. Taking a new ARF and going over it with an iron right out of the box helps and using trim solvent is a good thing to do. The one covering I've had really good success with is UltraCoat. It's easier to work with covering as it takes a little more heat to apply and it shrinks slower, giving you more time to control how it turns out. I still miss the "silk and dope" days though.

I've abandoned Tower Hobbies planes entirely because of the cheap hardware, construction, and so so flying characteristics they have for the premium price they charge. To my surprise, I've saved about 50% and found much better flying planes and build quality from China Model Products, CMP. I've flown the so called Trainer 65, which is really a 64" long pattern plane in disguise with a .90 on it, and the Fong 3D is on order now. These are really well built ARFs. Airborne models makes a really nice Sky Raider Mach 1 trainer, and Mach 2 low wing that is only $69.99, and I'd say it's par to a SIG Four Star, which I've all owned and flown. After three years of spending $75,000 on Tower, it's great to finally get into other planes and finding them costing far less, and being better built, and fly as good if not better. After looking at hundreds of kits/ARFs in the last three years, and 34 years of building, I'd say Tower really comes in last. The Kaos for example has to be the worst ARF copy of a good kit version I'm familiar with. The Hobbico 60, $379 RTF package is really a day time robbery too. It would also win the award for shortest time Monokote stuck to a fuselage.

Most don't have the time, space, or spouse permission to build kits these days. mecoa.com has a few kits for $40 that look good, I'm building a so called Profile Cub now, and a Elder 40 kit. It's good to build two at a time, so you can go back and forth as epoxy/glue dries and keep them close to the same step, saving building time.

Anyway, back to this Tower. A beginner pilot flew this Tower ARF straight down into the ground. I offered to fix it for him and the repair was straight forward, epoxy and popsicle sticks to reinforce as needed. It had a Super Tigre .40 on it and it was well matched for the ARF version. Now with the added weight of repairs, it's still quite a capable trainer with this engine. I feel all LA engines are pretty anemic, and don't last as long being a bushing engine with plastic back plate. [:'(] The carbs are so small. I agree a pilot needs to learn to fly slow, so this engine was typically flown at half throttle. The power helped with a short take off. The CG was fine with the Super Tigre .40, and with the wing design, the plane didn't really pick up much speed at wide open throttle compared to let's say a Big Stik 40 would, which could also suffice as a trainer for many. When repairing this I was happy to find the wing was joined with fiberglass cloth and epoxy and not just a wooden joiner and tape to cover the seam like you find on most ARFs assembly instructions. Cut back the monokote on an ARF, or with any kit, 2" of fiberglass cloth over the center of the wing really saves the plane from sustaining more damage in a crash than necessary. You might want to avoid using dowels and #64 rubber bands and upgrade the wing attachment to nylon bolts. Tighten them up so in a crash situation, they snap and save the wing. I find people use too many rubber bands on the wing, and the purpose of it is lost as the wing may sustain more damage. Note the ailerons cleanly pulled loose from the wing. Now they are pinned and thin CA was reapplied. We found this ARF to be lacking an adequate amount of CA. I believe CA was the only glue used and it wasn't enough. Epoxy reinforcing the firewall was necessary. A few extra popsicle sticks around the landing gear area and servo tray had to be done since the planking pulled away in the crash. He lost the header piece to the muffler as well. All the servos came out OK, as well as the receiver. The clunk in the fuel tank had to be shaken back down, and it was ready to fly again after some patching.

How bout those suggestions. How do you all cover your flat wing tips?

Tigerdude,
Ok, here is how I would cover the wingtips on this plane. Since the wingtip is flat it's actually pretty easy to do. First cover your wing panels. When you have the covering completely stretched and ironed down on the wing panel then cut off the covering so that you have a "flap" of about 1/4" or so. Fold this over the end of the wing and iron it down to the outside edge of the wingtip. Do the same with the other side of the wing panel. Now use a single piece of covering to cover the actual wingtip, covering over the "flaps" you iron down from the wing panels. Do it this and you'll have a seamless covering piece and the covering will be anchored tightly for the wing panels.

Ken

STUPID QUESTION: The plans always say to overlap covering at all times, does that apply to this? Do I want to overlap the top and bottom covering the usual 1/8-1/4" with the wing tip covering or end the tips where the wing panels end without overlapping? TOLD YOU IT WAS STUPID QUESTION It sounds to me the way you are explaining it that I do not, am I correct?

You should ALWAYS overlap the covering where it meets. On the wingtips it's not going to be overly critical because you won't have much fuel residue and exhaust out there, but the covering sealed on top of the overlapped part will keep it from lifting up in the slipstream. Now as for the rest of the plane, you definitely want to overlap. For the fuselage (sorry, I couldn't find a diagram for this) you should always work from the back of the plane to the front. This way your overlaps "face" the back of the plane, this way exhause and fuel reside won't work up under the covering seam and cause it to lift. For the wings, see the attached diagram as to the order of how you should cover it.

Hope this helps

Ken

I do the wing tips basically like Ken but I usually cover the ends first and then the top/bottom. Works well for me.

BTW - Looking at picture in post 71. Is that you or the Gieco Cave Man?



Now remember, we're having fun here.

Click this link for a bargain, and it's a quality ARF. http://ak-models.com/mm5/merchant.mv...Category_Code=

[link]http://ak-models.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=AKM&Product_Co de=RM-19&Category_Code=[/link]

I don't know exactly what you're looking for but browse all the planes there. I haven't bought an electric yet. Check out the Trainer 65 though, I have 4 of them now and I've ordered two of the Fong's after a customer of mine told me positive things about it. I also have the Quest 50 for $119, and a .60 size P-51 that's really nice also. Just an amazing deal. Compare size and shape to Towers, The trainers ARFs are $54.95. The shipping is very reasonable and your items arrive the same week either Priority Mail or Fedex ground.

I agree Tower has good prices on radios and engines.

http://ecsvr.com/abm/shopexd.asp?id=1954

[link]http://ecsvr.com/abm/shopexd.asp?id=1954[/link]

Another good priced trainer that has excellent flying characteristics and quality construction. Browse this whole site for amazing scratch and dent deals too. Unlike Tower, all the parts are there. Only complaint with the Sky Raider is the covering is difficult to match and patch. I had to resort to packing tape to cover hangar rash, etc.

Sorry to get off track from this thread, I just read a few comments on bad covering experiences and without question Great Planes/Hobbico/Tower are plagued with the problem.

When you overlap the monokote (UltraCoat is stronger) it's a good idea to use a little trim solvent on the overlap. It's also a great prep to the balsa surfaces if you need to recover an area that blew off in the sky, and castor/fuel has contaminated the wood slightly. After you treat it with this stuff, Monokote will stick good.

[link]http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXHZ43&P=7[/link]

He's my long-distance cousin actually[sm=shades_smile.gif] I forgot his name, it's been ages since I seen him ever since he became famous and all. He's my idol so I am trying to look like him. A bit longer and I think I will look just like him

Actually, this is the look I am going for:

Serious though, which way would be easier - tips first or panels first? Don't matter as long as I do the tips separate!!!

I love the look of this krosypal

Have you had any of those? If you have how is the covering quality and how well is it applied? And did anyone have any experience with it peeling or any other bad experiences? I really like the looks of it.

And I am not using Monokote, I HATE the stuff, I am using Towerkote.

Please do me a favor and use ANYTHING else but this stuff. You have to remember tha Towerkote is the economy brand of Monokote. I used it exactly once, and it was so bad that I actually threw the rolls away and went out and bought real Monokote. I understand you may be a bit frustated with Monokote, but just like everything else in this hobby you just have to learn to use it properly. Monokote is all that I use when I cover planes. In fact, my Slow Poke has 400+ flights on it and the monokote is just as tight on it as it was the day that I covered it.

Ken

Sorry but I have to try the stuff, I have no choice now, I have about 8 rolls already purchased of various colors and I can't afford to throw them away. Is it really that bad? What is terrible about it (i.e: goes on really hard, not smooth, hard to get wrinkles out, hard to keep tight, tends to loosen in time). Compared to Oracover that I like a real lot (but Towerhobbies don't carry) how does Towerkote compare to it? Please be honest but understand that I can't throw it away as too expensive to do that.

Tigerdude,
I'm going to bluntly honest with you. It was so bad that I quit the job half way through and threw away 5 rolls of covering. It really is that bad. If you had problems with Monokote you WILL NEVER get Towerkote to stay. It has less adhesive on the back of the covering sheet that makes it hard to get to stay down, it doesn't shrink very well, and it doesn't stay shrunk when the job is finished. I'm giving you level advice, send it back once you get it and get something else. Using Towerkote it is very difficult for an experienced modeler to get a good finish with, for somebody with less experience it's going to next to impossible. Just trust me on this one.

Ken

OK, OK, I am placing an order for Oracover (now known as [link=http://www.hobby-lobby.com/polycover.htm]polycover[/link]) from Hobby-Lobby ASAP

Thank you ken, unfortunately I have 10 (not 8) Towerkote rolls that are now in my drawer [:@] (next time check out the products more carefully huh??? [sm=bananahead.gif])

What am I going to do with them??? [] I don't suppose RCU will take'em as a donation will you? If you will where would I send them to?

Has anyone ever ordered from Hobby-Lobby? I have never ordered from them so don't know how they are. Anywhere else good I can order Polycover? That is absolutely my favorite covering, so easy to put on. Should have saved my money and got it right off [:'(].

How long ago did you order them? If it hasn't been that long you may be able to return them to Tower.

Ken

Order placed 11-30-06 received around 12-08-06

No longer have the receipts ([sm=bananahead.gif][sm=bananahead.gif][sm=bananahead.gif] ALWAYS KEEP RECEIPTS). Can't anyone at RCU use them. Rather not throw them away when you could use them for others in need.

Can't even give the stuff away, huh!!! It's really that bad [&:]

Call Tower and explain that you don't have the reciepts. It's all in their computer and you can probably look it up in your "previous order" screen. May need to exchange for another product or just get a credit on your account against a future order. Whatever, as long as it's not at YOUR house.

I haven't dealt with Hobby-Lobby in many years but they have alway had a good reputation as far as I know. Bought my first 2 planes and radio from them almost 30 years ago. And, like Ken, I use MonoKote. I like it just fine but everyone must make his own choices.

Anyone ever hear or use [link=http://www.hobby-lobby.com/superkote.htm]SUPERKOTE from Hobby-Lobby[/link]

What do you think of it? Please give me some responses ASAP as I am ordering the new covering tomorrow afternoon.

I really like [link=http://www.hobby-lobby.com/polycover.htm]polycover[/link] but Superkote is a couple dollars cheaper per roll, so if Superkote is as good or maybe even better than Polycover (formerly Oracover) I will use Superkote.

As much as I like Polycover I am interested in saving money as we all are.

Please let me know what all you members think.

Thank you
Steve

I have owned the Mach ll, which is the same exact plane with a low wing. The covering has held up three years! Very visible in the sky. Flies beautifully. Super price I thought at $69 for an ARF.

I never used that stuff so I don't know. If you want, I have a partial roll of Ultracoat you can have, just give me you're address in a private email, and I'll mail it out to you to experiment with. I think you'll be happy with it. I set my iron to 300-325 F, and it moves along well. The difficulty I have with it because it's thicker than Monokote, is avoiding wrinkles on the wing tips. I use an iron and smooth it on as best as I can, then follow up with a heat gun and thick glove and I get good results. The wing tips on this trainer shouldn't give you any trouble. It's the smooth rounded wing tips that are a pain. You can save $ from getting an official covering glove by using a thick wool garden glove. I'm not a covering pro, so I'm sure another technique may be better. If you wanted to give it a shot, you can have a free sample, postage is on me. (Hope you have time for the mail to get it there before you're past the covering chores.)

Sorry to get off the subject here but

Yeah, I finally received my Sig field box. I guess everything comes in kit form now-a-days, almost as many pieces as a airplane kit. If I can build a airplane I guess I can handle this task.

Photo 3 - - - What it’s supposed to look like when complete.

I am thinking of staining it when finished instead of painting, I think it would stand out more. What do you think?

Kit says to use medium or thick CA with activator. I was thinking Epoxy, what do you think?


Haven't forgotten this thread, just been busy with work [:'(]
The left wing panel is just about complete. Pics tomorrow.

Whatever you use, it needs to be fuel PROOF and not fuel RESISTANT. A stain would be nice if it met that criteria.

Wait til done to decide which.
Paint covers flaws while stains/clears amplify them.
When done wipe the wood with a damp rag. This will show you what it would look like with the stain/clear. It brings out all the grain.