joco1

whats the best way to remove bubbles on my plane covering new out of the box should i use a iron or a heat gun ive never applied covering before and was needing to know what temp, do i just hold it on there, i guess i just need to know the tricks of the trade!

MinnFlyer

My Feedback: (4)

I generally use a heat gun lightly (And avoid the seams)

Then go over it with an iron

mclina

I use a heat gun, but either one should work. With the iron, you need to be careful not to iron in any wrinkles. Just let the iron "float" above the covering with little or no downward pressure.

Don't be alarmed when using the heat gun, if the bubbles initially get bigger. They will often grow on initial heat, but then the covering shrinks and they disappear. Be careful around seams because sometimes they don't leave a lot of overlap on the ARF's, and if you shrink too much, you'll expose some wood.

rwright142

I've also taken a straight pin (very small) and punctured a stubborn bubble. Then use a hobby iron and hover over the bubble to shrink it then apply the iron to the covering to stick it down. Not all bubbles need to be punctured. I first follow the process Minnflyer and mclina noted above.

OzMo

My Feedback: (3)

Hi joco1,
ARFs often have wrinkles. You can best use the monokote heat gun on high. Always keep it moving but some times you can slow down to get more heating. look For a slight color change in the covering it might not be visable in the dark colors. One trick is to heat around a bubble then heat the bubble or wrinkle. and don't get the nozzle of the gun to close 3 inches is pretty good. If you get it close move fast! good luck

joco1

thank you guys very much for the info i had no clue how this was done but i had to find out because the bubbles look awful!! thanks again!

Missileman

The color change mentioned is often temporary and will return to normal as it cools.
Covering over sheeted areas tend to bubble more and may need to have a small pin poked through to let the air out.
Be carefull around trim, I have found that when heat is applied to area with trim (especially large areas) that the trim will bubble or evn come loose. This is more true with Great Planes ARFs as they use Monocoat which tends to release gas more when heated.
There are times that no matter how much you work at it the wrinkles are just too bad and will never come out.
In that case you will either have to live with it or recover that area.
I had that happen with my Great Planes Super Stearman on all 4 ailerons. I ended up recovering them.