Yup,

UC is easier to apply and less prone to wrinkles but it is more sensitive to heat settings. It's hard to overheat MK unless you really want to melt it. Because of the single bonded layer type of film it is, it adheres better, is more tolerant to varying temperature, more prone to wrinkles but also has more shine. UC is great when learning I'd say, the fact that you can heat it and reposition it with no adverse effect is great. Once MK is stuck, it really is. Pulling it off is not much fun.

If there is such a thing as a "good filler" for covering to adhere to, Balsarite film is probably it. Using a typical light wood filler (spackling type stuff) is actually terrible because it doesn't allow the adhesive in MK (at least) to create bonds - kind of like polyester resin over epoxy, doesn't work. Hence the need for "glue coating" wood fillers under plastic film. However, some people use spackling filler in solution (e.g., polycrylic) to close balsa grain (and glass weave) prior to painting.

David.

Thanks for the kind comments.

From my experience MonoKote gives the best looking film finish that I prefer over the others. Nothing really special is required to use it. I find that I get the best results by making tight glue joints and then the normal sanding that you would do to prepare for glassing balsa. Sloppy glue joints or joints that don’t fit well tend to show through the MonoKote but I’ve never had problems with grain showing. I prefer the way that you can stretch Monokote around compound curves like wing tips and the way it bonds so tightly to its self. The seams are almost invisible and I plan the covering so they are in places that are hard to see.

Some people complain about wrinkles but after you expose it to the sun a few times and then reheat out the winkles it is a non issue. I don’t use a cover on the iron. If your iron is scratching clean it or buy a new quality one. Monokote can be polished with wax like you do paint and it adds to the gloss.

There are a number of advantages of using MonoKote on the wing and stab. First it is lighter than glass and paint, if you get a ding you can easily fix it by ejecting water into the balsa under the dig and it will pop out with heat, did I say it was lighter!

RCU member "Sound-barrier" from the Netherlands, mailed me a set of Blue Angel plans that came with a MK Blue Angel kit that his dad built many years ago. During my discussions with "Sound-barrier" about the different variants of the Blue Angel he encouraged me to add more information about them to my thread. For the next few days I’m going to post what I’ve learned so far and share various pics that have been provided to me by RCU members following my build. I do not consider myself an expert on the history of the Blue Angel so feel free to add any information you might have.

I’m going to compare the earlier MK design plans that "Sound-barrier" sent me to the later MK design plans that Ron Ellis "RCU grotto2" sent me for my build. The "Sound-barrier" plans more closely match the variant that Yoshioka flew in the World Championships.

I’m going to start with the article that was published in the October 1974 American Aircraft Modeler that was sent to me by "impactiq" on RCU. This article shows the very first Blue Angel variant that was designed and flown by Kato. The design work started in 1963 with the first prototype being flown in 1966. This first variant has the swept wing and stabs, a long nose moment and a pretty short tail moment. Note the wing fences! See image below.

Hi 8178,

is this the file you are talking about?

Quality of my copy is not perfect, so if yours is better, I will just edit and remove,

Thanks

Kato continued to develop the design with a second variant that had the wing sweep reduced, larger wing area, thicker airfoil and shorter nose moment. The thick airfoil did not work well because it slowed the speed of the aircraft too much so a new wing was designed with a thinner airfoil. The new wing also reduced the overall aircraft weight. Note that it still has wing fences. See image below.

Thanks. Those articles are great info.

The third variant had a shorter nose moment, no wing fences, a deeper fuselage profile for retracts and a redesigned tail. See first image below. I believe that this variant was the first variant that Kato added to his MK kit line. This was done after he flew it in the 1971 Doylestown Internats.

The April 1974 Model Airplane News did a Field and Bench article by Art Schroeder that reviewed the MK Blue Angel kit. See the second and third images below. Note the slab balsa vertical stabilizer and rudder that stops at the top of the fuselage.

Enter Mr. Yoshioka! Yoshioka buys a Blue Angel kit but believes it would perform better with an improved ruder design that goes all the way to the bottom of the fuselage and making the tail of the fuselage narrower to match up with the rudder. See post 1133 above for the American Aircraft Modeler (page 31) for more detail on the changes.

This variant is called the Blue Angel Modified and with it Yoshioka wins the 1973 world championship. Ironically, Yoshioka beats Kato in the competition with his own but modified design.

Images of Yoshioka during and after the Worlds.

At this point in the early 70s the current MK Blue Angel kit looked like the variant on the left but MK changed the new kits to include Yoshioka’s modifications on the right.

Gents,

See post 1132, 12 May 2010 :
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9728432


Isn't it interesting,


See my own post of a few days before! 5 May 2010
in "Redesign and reconstruction of the Oldest Taurus on Earth".
The second Mr Ka

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9722052

Classic Pattern Flying from the Netherlands!


Cees


Edit: header of the post changed

The most notable difference you see first between the "Sound-barrier" (early) plans and the “grotto2” (late) plans is the name on them. The early plans are titled WORLD CHAMPION BLUEANGEL and the late just BLUE ANGEL. Odd that there is no space between the name BLUEANGEL.

8178,

BLUE ANGEL characters are the same.
WORLD CHAMPION probably later added on the plans after Yoshioka became world champion with that plane.
The characters of WORLD CHAMPION are not so nice, see the -O- and -C- so I think a different draftsman

Later plans they did use the same characters (sjabloon/template) for BLUE ANGEL

Cees

Could be but they are not located in the same area on the plan sheets.

8178


Each template of a character you use separate. Even the B, O, A, R, D etc are difficult to make because you have to use two positions to construct one character.
You see the characters of the two BLUE ANGEL names are al the same for example look to the -G-.

Of WORLD CHAMPION there are a lot of shortcomings visible, parallelism, distances, so other draftsman or he did it on monday.

Very interesting to look for a second check!!!!!
Do the characters have the same dimensions?

Cees

What nice articles to read! I printed them out and am still in the process of enjoying to read them tonight.

That first Blue Angel is a very nice semi-scale Grumman F11 Tiger. I kind of like all of them, they have a nice style.
Chris...

.... my Blue Angel kit then seems to be the early one, too - it always made me wonder that the carton box had 2 different airplanes pictured on its top lid, the Blue Angel and the Fuji.
The Fuji kit is packed into the same carton, but missing the blue "World Champion" Sticker....

It does look very much like a Grumman F11 Tiger!

Gents,

Look WORLD CHAMPION designed by:

Mr. Kato and Mr.Yoshioka

We see the names also on the other drawings, but this is the oldest one I think, and maybe kitted "world champions design".

Edit, second picture: This proves I think Mr Kato and Mr Yoshioka did cooperate after Mr Yoshioka became champion.




Cees

Wow! A real Blue Angel kit, very nice!

I’ve seen that box type before and it is odd that they had the first kit variant and the Blue Angel Modified on the same box top. And it is odd that Blue Angel Modified is not in Blue Angel colors.

Yes, the names are on both plans.

On the left is the early Blue Angel tail assembly and on the right the late. The early Blue Angel uses slabs of balsa for a vertical stab and uses only small blocks of balsa beside the stab base to fair into the fuselage. This makes more of abrupt change between the fuselage and the stab compared the late that uses a large hollow balsa block that makes a smooth molded like transition from the fuselage to the hollow built-up stab base. The built-up vertical stab on the late is much thicker. From the top view the early fuselage sides flow directly into the leading edge of the rudder making the fuselage narrow. On the late the fuselage is wider than the front of the rudder by about 1/8” on both sides. So the back of the fuselage is a least ¼" wider. The base of the early vertical stab is about 3/8" and the base of the late is about 1”. The rudder on the early is taller and the stab cap shorter. The lower part of the fuselage on the very back is not a carved block like the late.

The drawing error on the late plans where they have the rudder pushrod connected to the rudder in the wrong place causing interference with the elevator is not present on the early plan.

Hay, with all this thread activity we made the RCU Heartbeat list!

8178,


For me it is logical the BA kits we see "all over the world" after Mr. Yoshioka became champion, or not?
So the plan with WORLDCHAMPION is the oldest one and maybe of the kit Mr. Yoshioka did use in the first place to build his own plane for the world championships?
This plan, edited with the modifications and "WORLDCHAMPION" we see with the names of both Mr. Kato and Mr. Yoshioka.
Can that be true?
Or easy question? Is there any date on the plans?

Cees