Covering Using MonoKote
11-22-2002, 06:43 PM
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Covering Using MonoKote
Hello. Just before I buy a PT-40, I am wondering how hard is it to cover using MonoKote. The Instruction manual goes in to detail but i am still not sure if would be able to do a reasonable job. Do you need a Modelling Iron or can I just use my mums old one. And lastly the colour scheme. Do you have any Ideas I have attached the one from the great planes web site.
Simon Kennedy
Simon Kennedy
11-22-2002, 10:57 PM
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Covering Using MonoKote
Simon,
This is a pretty tough question. People have written books on covering with heat shrink materials. MonoKote is a good product. It is resilient, tough, takes a lot of heat, and shrinks up nicely later in the plane’s life. It will get brittle after years of service but they all do that.
There are many other brands. It really comes down to which brand you are more comfortable with. Some are lighter (weight) more flimsy and probably easier to shape around contours but are not as durable.
I would not suggest using the clothes iron. I know some guys who don’t mind it but it gets way too hot for me. It ‘s probably too bulky and your mother will not appreciate the color and glue from the MonoKote on her blouse. A sealing iron and heat gun would be nice additions to your hobby arsenal. You may check into a “trim sealing iron” as well. These have a small diameter (pencil like) end, perfect for tight areas.
On a first attempt, I would probably try a simple (two-color) color scheme. The picture you pointed too is nice but multiple colors and patterns can be rather difficult without practice. Using multiple colors over an open bay structure can be particularly difficult. Just like any other skill, covering with this stuff takes practice.
I find it’s easier to stick the covering to a flat surface like the leading edge sheeting. You can lay a different color (design patch) over another piece of MonoKote but use a low heat to set it in place. Then, go back over with a higher heat to stick it down.
If you get bubbles of air under the covering, use a pin to ***** a tiny hole at one end of the bubble. Place the iron at the other end of the bubble and work your way towards the pin*****.
In many instances, I like to “tack” the piece of covering down along all edges. Pull it taught. It does not have to be “drum tight”. Get as many wrinkles out as possible. Then, go around the entire outside edge, with the iron to stick it down, leaving the center untouched. Use the heat gun to tighten everything up. Go back over with the iron to stick the covering down to all surfaces underneath.
Like I said, there are books written about this stuff. Good luck with your project.
Regards,
Mark
This is a pretty tough question. People have written books on covering with heat shrink materials. MonoKote is a good product. It is resilient, tough, takes a lot of heat, and shrinks up nicely later in the plane’s life. It will get brittle after years of service but they all do that.
There are many other brands. It really comes down to which brand you are more comfortable with. Some are lighter (weight) more flimsy and probably easier to shape around contours but are not as durable.
I would not suggest using the clothes iron. I know some guys who don’t mind it but it gets way too hot for me. It ‘s probably too bulky and your mother will not appreciate the color and glue from the MonoKote on her blouse. A sealing iron and heat gun would be nice additions to your hobby arsenal. You may check into a “trim sealing iron” as well. These have a small diameter (pencil like) end, perfect for tight areas.
On a first attempt, I would probably try a simple (two-color) color scheme. The picture you pointed too is nice but multiple colors and patterns can be rather difficult without practice. Using multiple colors over an open bay structure can be particularly difficult. Just like any other skill, covering with this stuff takes practice.
I find it’s easier to stick the covering to a flat surface like the leading edge sheeting. You can lay a different color (design patch) over another piece of MonoKote but use a low heat to set it in place. Then, go back over with a higher heat to stick it down.
If you get bubbles of air under the covering, use a pin to ***** a tiny hole at one end of the bubble. Place the iron at the other end of the bubble and work your way towards the pin*****.
In many instances, I like to “tack” the piece of covering down along all edges. Pull it taught. It does not have to be “drum tight”. Get as many wrinkles out as possible. Then, go around the entire outside edge, with the iron to stick it down, leaving the center untouched. Use the heat gun to tighten everything up. Go back over with the iron to stick the covering down to all surfaces underneath.
Like I said, there are books written about this stuff. Good luck with your project.
Regards,
Mark
11-23-2002, 01:50 AM
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Covering Using MonoKote
Working with monokote is not hard, but here are a few tips:
1) Use as little heat as possible in the early stages to preserve as much shrink as possible for the final stages.
2) if you get the edges tacked down over open bayed structures with no major wrinkles the rest is a snap.
3) a sealing iron can be used for the entire model and is maybe $20.00 at the local hobby shop. The heat range is designed for film coverings and will be far better than a household iron. Normally on my top flite iron I need a setting of about 2 for econokote and 2.5 to 3 for monokote.
4) Alternatively you can use a sealing iron to get things tacked along the edges and then use a heat gun to tighten things up. (another $20.00 at the local hobby shop). Use a heat gun designed for monokote though. They will operate at about 400 degrees compared to 700 to 1100 degrees on heat guns you will find at Wal-mart or a hardware store. These will burn a whole in the covering in nothing flat.
5) A hot sock works well and will prevent you from scuffing the covering. It also seems to even out the heat just a bit more and you may need to run your iron just a bit hotter. It's optional but I like using them. My iron is also 20 years old and the non-stick teflon coating is pretty much a distant memory.
6) If you do use your moms household iron, adjust the heat upward slowly until you can just get a scrap of monokote to stick. Also you can get any residual glue off with some monokote trim solvent, but the cost of the solvent will probably be half the cost of a hobby iron.
7) Also, monokote and econokote have a backing. On my first model in the late 70's I missed that bit in the instructions and managed to cover the whole thing (using VERY high heat) before I relaized there was a clear plastic backing. So yes, the melted backing will stick to balsa, but I don;t recommend it.
For sheeted surfaces I tend to use econokote as I think it goes around compound curves a little better. It is also a lot cheaper and the extra strenght of monokote is not required on sheeted surfaces. It also requires less heat to apply which is a plus over unsheeted foam wings. I prefer monokote over open bays like you will have on a built up balsa wing.
A good and relatively simple scheme similar to the one above would be to cover the upper surface of the wing aft of the leading edge sheeting in white and then cover the leading edge in blue. You could also cover the center section sheeting in blue as well and then add a small curved trim piece to round out the sharp corner between the two blue pieces. The sheeting allows you to get an nice 1/4 overlap between the different pieces of monokote without having to stick them together before applying them to the model. You can then add a stick on trim strip on either side of the seam in either white or blue or in a contrasting color such as black. This will make the scheme look better far out of proportion to the actual effort required.
Any larger stripes and stars etc on the plane can be cut from monokote trim sheets and then stuck on. This is easier than trying to iron them in place. When placing a stripe or star, remove the backing from only about a third of the trim piece. Then hold it off the surface and slide it around into position on the model on the other two thirds with the backing. When it is properly positioned, stick down the third without the backing. This will then hold the piece in position while you peel off the backing from the other two thirds and then roll it into place. When you apply the trim, start at one end and slowly roll it on and stick it down on the surface so as to avoid trapping any air bubbles.
Trim sheet monokote can also be used to make the "windows". In that case I would use a piece of paper to make a pattern for each window and then cut window from the trim sheet and place on the model just like the stars and stripes.
I would make the bottom of the wing all blue to make it easy to distinguish from the top at long distances and in unusual attitudes.
The fuselage can also be done with a two tone scheme with a straight seam and a trim stripe. Again I'd put the blue on the bottom so your plane has a blue side and a white side at long ranges.
Putting the darker color on top amounts to counter shading and at long ranges or in low light and can actually make the model less visible. The light color on top helps you remember which side is up under stress as well.
Visibility is important on a trainer as it may get farther away from you than you intend so personally I would consider red or orange and white rather than blue and white.
I think covering is actually the funnest part of building the model as the plane really comes alive and it is where the aircraft gets its character and individuality. It's also what will make your aircraft different than all the cloned ARF's that seem to have taken over the hobby.
1) Use as little heat as possible in the early stages to preserve as much shrink as possible for the final stages.
2) if you get the edges tacked down over open bayed structures with no major wrinkles the rest is a snap.
3) a sealing iron can be used for the entire model and is maybe $20.00 at the local hobby shop. The heat range is designed for film coverings and will be far better than a household iron. Normally on my top flite iron I need a setting of about 2 for econokote and 2.5 to 3 for monokote.
4) Alternatively you can use a sealing iron to get things tacked along the edges and then use a heat gun to tighten things up. (another $20.00 at the local hobby shop). Use a heat gun designed for monokote though. They will operate at about 400 degrees compared to 700 to 1100 degrees on heat guns you will find at Wal-mart or a hardware store. These will burn a whole in the covering in nothing flat.
5) A hot sock works well and will prevent you from scuffing the covering. It also seems to even out the heat just a bit more and you may need to run your iron just a bit hotter. It's optional but I like using them. My iron is also 20 years old and the non-stick teflon coating is pretty much a distant memory.
6) If you do use your moms household iron, adjust the heat upward slowly until you can just get a scrap of monokote to stick. Also you can get any residual glue off with some monokote trim solvent, but the cost of the solvent will probably be half the cost of a hobby iron.
7) Also, monokote and econokote have a backing. On my first model in the late 70's I missed that bit in the instructions and managed to cover the whole thing (using VERY high heat) before I relaized there was a clear plastic backing. So yes, the melted backing will stick to balsa, but I don;t recommend it.
For sheeted surfaces I tend to use econokote as I think it goes around compound curves a little better. It is also a lot cheaper and the extra strenght of monokote is not required on sheeted surfaces. It also requires less heat to apply which is a plus over unsheeted foam wings. I prefer monokote over open bays like you will have on a built up balsa wing.
A good and relatively simple scheme similar to the one above would be to cover the upper surface of the wing aft of the leading edge sheeting in white and then cover the leading edge in blue. You could also cover the center section sheeting in blue as well and then add a small curved trim piece to round out the sharp corner between the two blue pieces. The sheeting allows you to get an nice 1/4 overlap between the different pieces of monokote without having to stick them together before applying them to the model. You can then add a stick on trim strip on either side of the seam in either white or blue or in a contrasting color such as black. This will make the scheme look better far out of proportion to the actual effort required.
Any larger stripes and stars etc on the plane can be cut from monokote trim sheets and then stuck on. This is easier than trying to iron them in place. When placing a stripe or star, remove the backing from only about a third of the trim piece. Then hold it off the surface and slide it around into position on the model on the other two thirds with the backing. When it is properly positioned, stick down the third without the backing. This will then hold the piece in position while you peel off the backing from the other two thirds and then roll it into place. When you apply the trim, start at one end and slowly roll it on and stick it down on the surface so as to avoid trapping any air bubbles.
Trim sheet monokote can also be used to make the "windows". In that case I would use a piece of paper to make a pattern for each window and then cut window from the trim sheet and place on the model just like the stars and stripes.
I would make the bottom of the wing all blue to make it easy to distinguish from the top at long distances and in unusual attitudes.
The fuselage can also be done with a two tone scheme with a straight seam and a trim stripe. Again I'd put the blue on the bottom so your plane has a blue side and a white side at long ranges.
Putting the darker color on top amounts to counter shading and at long ranges or in low light and can actually make the model less visible. The light color on top helps you remember which side is up under stress as well.
Visibility is important on a trainer as it may get farther away from you than you intend so personally I would consider red or orange and white rather than blue and white.
I think covering is actually the funnest part of building the model as the plane really comes alive and it is where the aircraft gets its character and individuality. It's also what will make your aircraft different than all the cloned ARF's that seem to have taken over the hobby.
11-23-2002, 09:11 AM
#4
Covering Using MonoKote
Lotsa good advice above and I can tell you from having covered multiple PT-40 planes that as planes go it's a pretty reasonable one to cover. We've seen some pure newbies here post pictures of their first covering jobs that look as good as a lot of old-head flyers that I know have been building planes for years. So, you can do an excellent job if you've got a fairly good eye and you put in the effort.
A tip: You'll see lots and lots of talk about shrinking... If you want a good, durable covering job, the ket point is STRETCHING, not shrinking. When you're tacking the covering in place (as AirBear was talking about), if you get vitually all the wrinkles out before really sealing the covering in place you'll have no trouble tightening it up and you'll have no troubles with it loosening later. On a wing, for instance, I usually place the covering and seal it and then let it sit overnight... the next day when I use the gun to tighten it up, it's often hard to tell which panels have already been tightened and which are still to be done. It's actually easier to get the covering on real well like that than it is to shrink it smoothly afterward, so it's a good skill to work on.
A tip: You'll see lots and lots of talk about shrinking... If you want a good, durable covering job, the ket point is STRETCHING, not shrinking. When you're tacking the covering in place (as AirBear was talking about), if you get vitually all the wrinkles out before really sealing the covering in place you'll have no trouble tightening it up and you'll have no troubles with it loosening later. On a wing, for instance, I usually place the covering and seal it and then let it sit overnight... the next day when I use the gun to tighten it up, it's often hard to tell which panels have already been tightened and which are still to be done. It's actually easier to get the covering on real well like that than it is to shrink it smoothly afterward, so it's a good skill to work on.
11-23-2002, 11:28 AM
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If you are going to put more monocote over monocote there is another way to do it. First, put soapy water over the monocote. After you cut out the piece you want, like a star for example, peel off the backing and soak the back in soapy water. Put the trim piece on the monocote and using a credit card, smooth out the bubbles and wrinkles. Let it dry over night. The next day, use low heat to completly seal the trim to the monocote. This works very well and will stay for years. It might evenlast longer than your plane. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]
11-23-2002, 05:27 PM
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Good luck with your covering job. Tell me how it turns out. I have never covered a model before. The explanation I gave you was demonstrated at a club meeting. It seeems to work great.
