qaz393

good job, but does it take 126 days to build a plane???

bruce88123

Some can be built in a couple of hours and some take a couple of years. Depends on circumstances and what is going on in your life. What's YOUR hurry?

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

qaz393,
As Bruce said, how long it takes to build a plane depends on a lot of factors. I had a Sig Something Extra framed up and ready to sand in a weekend. I also have a plane that I am working on right now that has taken close to 4 months so far. Plus, covering a plane also takes a lot of time. It's not uncommon to take 2-4 nights of work to cover just the wing. So 126 days for a build is not uncommon.

Ken

bruce88123

And I happen to know that the plane that Ken has 4 months in on right now would probably be done except he has had 2 RCU review planes to do in the middle of all of this 4 months too. And then there is that "real job" and "life" thing. He was also writing a review during the LT build.

Radcom

RCKen:
I was going through the forums and found your build on the SIG LT-40.
I was searching for" lateral balance" and found your build.
I want to say its the best build thread I have ever seen.
You put a lot of work into it and I thankyou for your time
and effort.
Did you ever get a video or pictures of the plane ?
Thanks again ...
Les

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

Radcom,
Thanks!! Here are the videos of the test flight that I did on the plane.

[link=http://www.infinityok.com/barbie_plane/barbie_plane-large.wmv]Barbie plane maiden flight, large size file (6.6mb)[/link]
[link=http://www.infinityok.com/barbie_plane/barbie_plane-medium.wmv]Barbie plane maiden flight, medium sized file (4.9mb)[/link]
[link=http://www.infinityok.com/barbie_plane/barbie_plane-small.wmv]Barbie plane maiden flight, small sized file (2.3mb)[/link]

Ken

Radcom

Thanks RCKen, Very unique plane.
Take off,Flight and Landing were perfect.
Thanks again..
Les

dale_8888

Very nice Ken,

but the videos don't work for me

bruce88123

Did you right click and save target to desk top? play from there? Sometimes videos play better that way. At least for me.

Pete1burn

I have a Tower Hobbies glow ignitor with charger and a Duratrax digital temp reader if anyone needs it. Small stuff I know. Left over from my RC car days.

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

I know a lot of people have read this thread from the start and they probably have felt like this thread was unfinished, and the truth of the matter is that it was indeed unfinished. The problem I had was that I didn't keep the thread postings up with the progress of the build. Instead, I finished the plane and then planned on finishing this thread. Unfortunately life happened!!! I got busy on other projects as well as doing reviews and fell behind on this build thread. But it's always been a nagging feeling that I haven't finished it. It was kind of like the feeling of having a rock in your shoe, you can keep going with what you're doing but it drives you mad knowing that it's there. Well, let's see if I can't get that rock out of my shoe. I'm going to try and catch up on this thread and hopefully push to finish it completely. Hopefully in the end I this thread will be a resource for people to see what's involved with building a kit, and for that they need to be able to see the process from beginning to end. And that means seeing the covering process too. So let's get things back in gear and get going with this thread again.

For those of you that have followed this thread from the beginning I thank you for sticking with me through this process. For those that haven't seen this thread yet, I welcome you and hope that you find this thread helpful, entertaining, useful, or generally good for putting you to sleep at night!!

Let me start off with a few rambling thoughts about covering a plane. There are many covering materials available out there and I'm not saying any one product or technique is better than another, because that's not really true. An easy way to start a minor war is to come on RCU here and ask which is better Monokote or Ultracoat. If the truth be told, neither product is better or worse, they are just different. When a covering war starts most people will fight for what they use, or feel more comfortable with which is really what it all boils down to in the end. The one that you prefer to use. I have always had good results with Monokote so that is what I use when I cover. Of course there are other choices for covering such as fabric covering or fiberglass/painting, but I'm not really going to go into that here. It's been my observation that Monokote has a bit more shine than Ultracoat, stretches more, and holds tighter in the long run. Because of this that's what I prefer to use when I cover. I know that many prefer to use Ultracoat, but the techniques I use for covering can also be used for Ultracoat too.

Covering a plane. For many this can be THE WORST part of building a plane, and it can be very frustrating. Especially when they get results that are less than perfect or lots of wrinkles. For me this is my absolute favorite part of building a plane. I'm not quite sure why that is. Maybe it's because I'm finally getting close to finishing the project. Or maybe it's because I enjoy turning a roll of covering into a smooth nice looking finish when it's on the plane. Or maybe it's because I enjoy that distinct “smell” that Monokote has!!!! (Anybody that has ever covered knows exactly what I mean by that “smell). But for whatever reason I do love covering the plane.

Before we get started there are some general things that I'll point out about covering. These will be what you need, pointers, and some sage advice that I have gathered over the years. While some of these may sound like they are silly, unneeded, or just plain common sense (trust me, I have found throughout the years that there is no such thing as “common sense”) I have found these to absolutely important in obtaining a good result in the end. So with no further ado, the list:
[ul][*]Patience. This is probably the biggest tip I can give about covering. Do not get in a hurry at all while covering your plane. If you get in a hurry you will wind up with a bad covering job, it's just that simple. A plane the size of our trainer can easily take 5-7 (or more) days to cover. It can take an entire evening to cover half of a wing.[*]Mood. While this may sound silly it plays a big part in getting a good result in your covering. If you are tired from a long day at work you covering will suffer because most people tend to get in a hurry when they are tired. Sad, mad, upset, or other anxieties also tend to produce poorer results. Basically, if you're not really in the “mood” to cover then don't do it, go do something else and come back to your project and cover when you are in the mood for it. Do whatever you prefer to relax while you are covering, meaning TV, music, or silence while you work. Myself, I prefer to put on Sirius satellite radio and listen to the 70's & 80's music channel (no comments on my age please!!) [*]Work area. Have plenty of room to work in. This also includes having an area to cut your covering in, you need an area large enough to roll out and cut the pieces you will be using to cover your panels with. You need enough room so that you aren't crowded as put the covering on your plane.[*]Have a covering scheme planned. This one may sound a bit silly, but it's more important than you would think. It helps to know how you are going to cover the plane before you start. This helps you know how much covering to buy before you start (nothing is more frustrating than having to stop covering while you wait to pick up more covering). This also helps to plan your cuts off of the roll of covering. Most people buy 6' rolls of covering, and would be shocked to see how much covering is wasted because of the way it's cut off of the roll of covering. Sometimes it helps to lay out the roll of covering on a table or the floor face down and draw on the back of the covering with a Sharpie marker how you are going to cut it out. Use a ruler to get a general idea of how big you are going to cut each piece and then lay that out on the back of the covering.

A lot of plane kits will come with a 2-view outline drawing of your plane that you can use to design your covering scheme. All of the Great Planes kits have them in the instructions, but other kits are hit and miss. The best thing to do in that case is to get on RCU here and ask if anybody has one. If all else fails you can get one that “close enough” to use for your plane. Once I have the 2-view I will either scan it in or import it into Photoshop to design my covering scheme. If you don't have Photoshop, or any other graphics package, MS windows comes with Paint which is a rudimentary drawing program and will work very well for this. If all else fails you can always use the old fashioned way, draw it by hand using colored pencils or even crayons. Whatever you need to do to get an idea of how you are going to layout your covering scheme.[*]Tools. Having the right tools makes all the difference in the world. There are ways to “get by” but it's very difficult to get great results without good tools. For instance, the first covering job that I did (recovering my Tower Trainer 40) I used a regular household traveling iron to cover with. I got the job done, but it wasn't the prettiest of covering jobs. Now I use a heat gun and several different covering irons. Don't get me wrong, you can get by without having to spend hundreds of dollars on tools, but having items designed for this work makes all the difference in the world. Examples of things not to use would be blow dryers (not hot enough) and paint removal heat guns (too hot). I'll cover what tools you will need later[*]Temperature. Know what temperature your covering shrinks at. For Monokote that is ~275 degrees. Coverite makes a small thermometer that you can use to set the temperature of your covering iron. Every iron is a little bit different, even if you use the same brand of irons the settings can be different. For irons that just have numbers on the controls I will take a little bit of time when I first get the iron and check and label what each number on the dial corresponds to in temperature so that I have an easy reference in the future. For irons that have temperature settings on them I will double check with the thermometer to verify the settings, and make and corrections if those markings are incorrect. If you can afford it having several different covering irons helps to speed up covering so that you don't have to keep changing the temps of your irons. FYI, I use 4 irons when I cover. I have one set at ~275 degrees, I have one set at ~350 degrees for use when I need a bit more heat, one that I have that has a covering sock on it, and I use a trim iron. A quick note about keeping your irons clean as you use them. Bounce dryer sheets make quick work of cleaning the coloring that comes off of the covering and gets on the bottom of your iron. Just lay out a sheet on your work area and rub the hot iron over the sheet to remove the coloring.[*]Keep it clean. This one is HUGE. This can ruin a covering job quicker than anything else. Dust will turn a great covering job into trash in a heartbeat. I recommend that you DO NOT sand your plane in the same room that you are going to be covering in if you can help it. I usually go outside in my sunroom to sand my planes. This keeps the dust level in my building room to a minimum. If you must sand in the same area as you are going to cover in I recommend that you let the dust settle for 2-3 days before you clean the room prior to covering. Then completely clean the room, especially your cutting area and the area where your plane will be sitting when you cover. Cleaning the plane itself is even more important. I first use a shop vac with a brush attachment to first vacuum the plane, then I use a soft brush made for polishing shoes to brush off as much dust as you can (do this outside so that you don't add more dust to your work area). I then go over the plane with a tack cloth to remove anything left on the wood, if you don't have a tack cloth use a damp lint free rag or damp paper towels. Completely wipe the plane down with this cloth. I usually wait an hour or so and wipe it down again to ensure I have removed as much as I possibly can from the wood.[*]DON'T PANIC. (For Douglas Adams fans they know that this is on the cover of the “Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy”!! Definitely great advice to follow!). Many times while covering the material will pull in a direction that you didn't intend, or will wrinkle up a bit. Many people will panic and pull out the covering iron and start trying to iron the wrinkles out, which is THE WORST think to do because as soon as you put the iron on top of the wrinkle it's going to be set in place and be permanent. When something unexpected happens stop what you are doing, take a break, come back and look at what's going on, make a plan on how to fix it, then and only then try to fix the problem. I'll mention briefly here that the worst thing you can do for a wrinkle is try to remove it with your covering iron. Trust me here, the minute you touch the iron to the wrinkle it's going to become permanent and you will never be able to remove it. For wrinkles you will need to use your heat gun to get the wrinkle to shrink or pull out.
[/ul]

Pictures
1. Coverite thermometer.
2. Using the Coverite thermometer on the covering iron.
3. Vacuuming the dust off of the frame
4. Vacuuming the dust off of the frame
5. Vacuuming the dust off of the frame
6. Vacuuming the dust off of the frame
7. Vacuuming the dust off of the frame
8. Use a damp paper towel to remove dust if you don't have a tack rag.
9. Wiping dust of off the fuselage with a damp paper towel
10. Wiping dust of off the fuselage with a damp paper towel

Until next time

Ken

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

Tools
Let's talk about the tools you'll need for covering an airplane. I break them down into three basic groups of tools which are cutting tools, holding/stretching tools, and heating tools.
[ul][*]Cutting tools. These are exactly what the name says, tools for cutting your covering with. The one that I use the most is a razor blade. Trust me here, you're going to need plenty of them. Do yourself a favor and buy them in bulk, you can buy 100 packs of them at Lowe's, Home Depot, Wal-mart, or any craft store. A sharp razor blade is the best tool you can use to get a good straight cut. When using razor blades you will want to throw it out the minute you feel it hang as you cut the covering with it. A word of caution here, please be careful when throwing out razor blades. I once had a trash bag split from the razor blade that I had thrown away, it could have caused a lot of hurt and pain if a kid, yourself, or an animal gets into that bag with a razor blade bouncing around inside of it. I have made myself a disposable container that I put all of my blades in. I took a empty sour cream container and cut a slit in the lid and then taped up the container (picture #2). When these are full I throw out the container and make a new one. Hobby knives (X-Acto) are good for cutting covering with too, but I prefer to use the razor blades. As with the razor blades, change out blades when they hang or snag. Next up you'll need a straightedge to cut with. Whatever you use for a straightedge make sure that it has a metal edge on it. I know this sounds silly, but I have seen people try to use a plastic ruler for cutting and wind up carving up the ruler. I have several lengths of straightedges including one that is 36” and 48”. I found those at the local paint/wallpaper store. But if you have trouble finding one to use head down to Lowe's/Home Depot and get a length of extruded aluminum, they make great straightedges and don't cost very much. And next up on the list is something to cut on. There are actually two things I use to cut on. The first of which is a simple cutting mat. You can get these in the sewing department at Wal-mart and they're not too expensive. The other thing I use is a full length mirror. You find these at Wal-mart for about $15. These are really great for cutting on because your blade won't jump around and follow grooves like it can in a cutting matt. The other great thing about using a mirror is you can assemble multi-color panels on the glass of the mirror prior to putting them on the plane. Last up is something to mark with. I prefer to use a Sharpie marker. I use these because they leave a small permanent mark that's not going to get wiped off easily. But once you are finished you can remove the marks easily with a little bit of alcohol on a paper towel.
[*]Holding/stretching tools This one is pretty simple. These are just tools to hang onto the covering and stretch is while you are shrinking it. While they may seem simple they are actually very important tools. One of the biggest “tricks” to getting a good covering job is stretching the covering tight before you start to shrink it, and this isn’t going to happen without a little pulling. These tools are also important to keep you hands and fingers from being burned. Let’s face it, we’re working with temperatures of 200° and above!! Let me talk a little bit about the tools here. The first up (pictures #4) is the [link=http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXHZ22&P=7]Top Flight Cool Hand Covering Glove[/link]. This glove comes in really handy because it allows you to hold and stretch the covering while you are using your heating tools on the covering itself. I’ve used this glove for years and love it. While it’s not pictured I have recently found something better. I’m also using a welder’s glove for the same thing. I like the welder’s glove because it lets me grip the covering but it offers more heat protection than the Cool Hand glove. I’ve never had the heat come through the welder’s glove yet, but this does happen to the Cool Hand glove. I picked up a pair of welder’s gloves at a discount store for around $4, and the nice thing is that I use the left hand glove for covering and the right hand glove goes with me to the field for use in starting my gasser motors!!!! I had once seen a tool that let you grip and pull the covering without getting your hands in the way. I thought that this tool was great (sorry, I couldn’t find a link to that tool), but basically I’m cheap. I couldn’t see spending $12+ for a tool I could make out of a spare set of tongs I had in my kitchen drawer. And that’s exactly what you see in picture #5. I had a spare set of tongs, so I straightened out the bottom part of the tongs, and then put two pieces of silicon fuel tubing over the metal to help give it grip. It’s a great tool for grabbing and pulling on the covering, and it was close to free (or about $2 if you buy a set of tongs).
[*]Heating tools Of course when dealing with heat shrink covering the heating tools would be the most important. Before I get going let me say one thing, you don’t have to have a bunch of tools here. The very first plane that I covered (recovered my Tower Trainer) I used a travel iron designed for ironing clothes. It did work, just a bit bulky. I’m just trying to point out that you don’t need to run out and buy 3 or 4 covering irons to do the job. One other quick note, picture #6 shows my little “safety net”. I used to go behind myself and unplug my irons at the end of a night of covering. One morning I reached for something on my build table and I burned my arm on a covering iron. Yep, I had pulled the wrong plug the night before when I was unplugging everything and left an iron on all night. This really got my attention because something like that could easily lead to the house catching fire. So I came up with a little check of sorts. I took a small 3 way plug I had and wired a switch into it. This way I can turn off all of my heating items with one switch, and I can go to bed with peace of mind every night. Ok, now on to the tools. Picture #7 shows my main heating tools; a heat gun, a heat iron thermometer, 2 covering irons (one with a hot sock on it), and a trim iron. The heat gun is a pretty standard item. There are several brands out there and they’re all pretty much the same as far as I’m concerned. I have 2 Hobbico heat guns and I’ve had them for about 8 years now (one is a spare in case the main one dies). I bought both of them at a swap meet and paid $5 for both of them. If you buy any heating item at a swap meet try to see if you can find a plug and make sure it heats up before you buy it. Next up are 2 covering irons. I use 2, sometimes 3, so that I don’t have to keep switching out temp settings and a hot sock. I keep one bare for work such as tacking points down, sealing edges, and various other things. I keep the other iron with a hot sock on it and use that one for sealing down covering to the wood after the covering has been stretched. Sometimes I will use a third iron if I need to use two different temperatures for the work I am doing. The last iron is the trim iron. While not absolutely needed to cover, it’s one of those that you’ll have a hard time getting along without once you start using one. It’s great for working in small tight areas like the gaps for control surfaces and such. As I said above, a covering thermometer is great for making sure you have the correct temperature on your irons.

One last quick note about the hot socks used on covering irons. Once again, I’m cheap. The ones that you buy from your LHS, Tower, or Horizon are very expensive in my opinion. If you can find them use 100% cotton baby socks, and if you can find them buy a bunch of them when you can because they are not always easy to find. If you have baby socks simply slip them over your iron. As I said, they can be hard to find, and I was stuck without being able to find them. So what I did was buy 100% cotton diapers instead. I spent an evening and sewed up a bunch of socks to use. One evening and I had enough to last a couple of years. I like the ones I made myself, or baby socks, because you can turn them for different colors you are using them on. As you can see in picture #8 the socks can pick up the colors you are working on, and when working with lighter colors can lay that color back down when you don’t want it to. So I just turn the sock over for different colors. Usually light colors on one side and dark colors on the other. One sock is usually enough to complete an entire plane.
[/ul]

Pictures
1. Cutting tools. Straightedges, hobby knives, razor blades, and markers
2. Safely dispose of razor blades
3. A full length mirror makes a great cutting and assembly area.
4. Hot glove.
5. Homemade covering puller.
6. Heating tools. Covering irons, trim iron, heat gun, iron thermometer, and covering sock.
7. Extension with on/off switch for heating items.
8. Covering socks get dirty quickly.
9. New covering sock.
10. Covering sock on the iron.

Until next time

Ken

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

Ok, we’ve covered the tools and some basic covering rules. Let’s talk about a few more things before we get going with the actual covering. Just a few quick notes in case anybody has any question.

[ul][*] I usually cover the plane with the control surfaces attached. If you haven’t done this yet take the time and go back and glue your control surfaces in place. But!!!!! (Isn’t there always a but?) Cover the ends of the ailerons and any other areas that will be hard to cover once the control surfaces are glued in place. It’s a lot easier to do it now.[*] If you haven’t done it yet, take everything off of the plane. Engine, pushrods, clevises, landing gear, and anything else that will get in the way as you cover. If they won’t get in the way you can leave the battery, receiver, and servos in place. But if they are going to get in the way then you’ll need to take them out.[*] I know I said this a couple of posts back, but I’ll say it again because it’s so important. Clean your work area. Get all of the dust you can off of the work area. Dust can ruin a good covering job in a heartbeat. [*] Lay out all of your covering tools so you can get to them easily.[*] Put on some good music and let’s go. Let’s start covering!!!!
[/ul]

As a last point I wanted to post a few pictures involved with cutting the Monokote and removing the backing. I won’t go into a lot of commentary about the process, the pictures posted below should be enough to illustrate the principal. If you have any questions about cutting the covering please don’t hesitate to ask.

Pictures
1. Mark the size of covering you need to cut.
2. Fold the covering over and use the edge to line up.
3. Line up opposite side of covering and place a small crease on each end.
4. Use a long metal straightedge to cut covering.
5. Cut off piece that is needed.
6. Use tip of hobby knife to lift backing.
7. Lift backing
8. Pull backing off
9. Pull backing off
10. Pull backing off

Until next time

Ken

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

Woohoo!!!! Yippee!!! We’re going to actually start covering now!!

Where you start covering is really a choice you can make yourself, either the fuselage or the wing it really doesn’t matter. For this build I started with the wing. As I said earlier I still do not have the ailerons attached yet, but I want them attached when I cover so I can seal the gap between the aileron and wing when I am covering the rest of the wing. But, it’s easier to cover the inside end of the aileron and the inside of the wing before we attach the aileron. Yes, this can be done if the aileron is already glued in place but it’s just a little bit harder to get it done. Because of this I try to do it before it’s all glued in place. Pictures #1 & #2, cut a small piece of Monokote to use to cover the inside edge of the wing where the aileron mounts. It’s a pretty straight forward thing with no special tricks needed to do it. Cut the edges of the covering about 1/8” past the edge and iron this down on the surface of the wing. Pictures #3 - #6 are the same thing on the inside end of the aileron. Once agian, you’ll want to overlap about 1/8” and iron it down. These overlaps are very important because it helps to seal the covering. When you put the covering over these overlaps it will bond with the overlapped covering and seal the area keeping fuel and exhaust residue from seaping under the covering. As you’ll see later on in the covering it also helps take the covering in place on bigger portions of covering.

With the ends covered we can go ahead and glue the ailerons in place. What needs to be done here are two things, first of all we’ll need to put the CA hinges in place as well as using epoxy for the torque rods. I’ve covered CA hinges earlier in this thread so I won’t go into it again here. When we epoxy the torque rods in place we need to take special care to ensure that the epoxy doesn’t actually glue the entire aileron assembly to the wing. To do this I prefer to use a piece of the plastic sheeting I use to cover the plans when I’m building. Slide a piece of the sheeting in between the torque rod and the wing (picture #7), it helps to tape it in place so that it doesn’t accidentally slip out as we place the aileron. To give the epoxy a little better grip on the metal of the torque rod it helps if you “rough up” the metal a little bit. I use a piece of rough sandpaper (120 grit) on the torque rods to roughen it up (picture #8). Before actually putting the epoxy on please take a few minutes and dry fit the aileron in place. Also practice how you are going to put it on, and getting all of the CA hinges inserted in the slots. Practicing putting parts on helps to make sure you don’t have anything unexpected when you’ve got the epoxy in place and the clock is ticking. Trust me, you don’t want the epoxy to “fire off” and set while you are still trying to get your part in place (experience talking here ). I prefer to use 30 minute epoxy becuase 5 minute epoxy usually doesn’t give you enough time to get your part in place before it sets. Plus, 30 minute epoxy usually gives a better bond because it has more time for the chemical chains to form as it sets. Mix your epoxy and place it in the groove that has been cut in the aileron (picture #9). Make sure and use a toothpick and work the epoxy down the hole that has been drilled into the aileron. With the epoxy in place go ahead and put the aileron in place on the wing, Push the aileron all the way up to the wing, we want to try and keep the gap between the aileron as small as possible. With the aileron in place use a piece of tape to hold it tightly in position until the epoxy sets (picture #10), please note in the picture the straight pin used to hold the CA hinge in place. After the epoxy sets go ahead and pull the plastic sheeting out. More than likely there will be some epoxy that squeezed out as it set, use your hobby knife to clean this epoxy out of the gap (picture #11). Picture #12 shows the torque rod completely in place and ready to go, notice how small the gap is between the aileron and the plane. After this has been done go ahead and set your CA hinges in place as per the instructions earlier in this thread.



Pictures
1. Getting ready to cover the inside edge of the wing.
2. Covering in place.
3. Preparing the end of the aileron for covering.
4. Covering tacked in place on end of aileron.
5. Covering completely sealed down
6. Overlap covering 1/8” and seal edges down
7. Plastic sheeting used to keep from gluing aileron to wing with epoxy.
8. Roughen the torque rod with sandpaper.
9. Place epoxy in the cut groove in the aileron
10. With the aileron in place use tape to hold it in place until the epoxy sets
11. Clean up any excess epoxy with a hobby knife.
12. Completed aileron in place

Until next time

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

Now with the ailerons attached I like to seal the gaps between the aileron and the wing. There are a lot of opinions out there about sealing the hinge gaps, but I fimly believe that sealing the gaps will make a huge improvement in the way a plane performs. I learned first hand when I recovered my own trainer. I had a Tower Trainer 40 that would do a sort of roll-flop before the hinges were sealed, meaning that it would start to roll and then kind of “flop” the rest of the way around. After I sealed the hinge gaps the plane would do a very decent aileron roll that had a lot of authority to it. After that, I was completely sold. Another benefit is that it increases the strength of the hinges. When I seal the gaps I will do both sides of the hinge gap, which creates a Monokote hinge. This basically gives you two types of hinges on your plane. It’s just a little bit more insurance in my mind. If you look at picture #1 you’ll get an idea of how I like to do it. I will fold a strip of Monokote in half, place it in the hinge gap, seal it to both sides of the hinge, and then seal the overlap down to the control surface and the wing. Then when we cover the larger surfaces it will bind with the overlap and completely seal the area off.

Let’s move on to actually sealing a hinge. The first step is open up the gap so that we can get in there to work. This is also important because if you don’t seal with the gap at it’s fullest deflection you’ll wind up actually reducing the travel of the control surface. What I like to do when sealing is to push the control surface as far as it will go, and then hold it into position with masking tape (pictures #2 - #5). Next you’ll need to cut a strip of Monokote that you will use to seal the gap with. How wide you need to cut it will depend on the plane. What you’ll need to do is measure how deep the gap is, double that, and then add ¼” to that (1/8” overlap on each side). Usually ½” – ¾” will be plenty. Now fold the strip in half (fold the color side towards itself) down the length of the strip. Pull the backing off of the strip, and place the strip into your hinge gap. You’ll want to make sure the “point” of the fold is in the very bottom of the gap. With a trim iron seal the strip to one side of the hinge gap (picture #6). Make sure you seal all the way down the gap on one side before you move to the other side, also make sure that you seal all the way down inside the gap to the actual hinge line. With one side sealed now use the trim iron to seal the other side of the gap in the same way (pictures #7 & #8). Once you have both sides completely sealed you can take an iron and fold the overlaps over the top and seal them down to the surface (pictures #9 & #10). After you have the hinge sealed take the control surface and flex it back and forth to it’s full deflection serveral times to loosen up the Monokote.

Now with the one side of the ailerons sealed go ahead and turn the wing over and do exactly the same thing to seal the other side of the hinge gap. After finishing up with that then you can do the same to the other side of the wing. This will get your hinge gaps sealed up, and then we’ll be ready to start covering the wing itself.

Pictures
1. Illustration of sealing a hinge gap.
2. Completely deflect the control surface.
3. Use masking tape to hold the surface while sealing the gap.
4. Use masking tape to hold the surface while sealing the gap.
5. Use masking tape to hold the surface while sealing the gap.
6. Use a trim iron to seal one side of the gap.
7. Use the trim iron to seal the other side of the gap.
8. Use the trim iron to seal the other side of the gap.
9. Seal the tops off the overlap down to the surfaces
10. Seal the tops off the overlap down to the surfaces
11. Flex the hinges to loosen them up.
12. Flex the hinges to loosen them up.

Until next time

Ken

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

When covering a plane it’s very important to pay attention to the order that you cover because of the seams between the pieces of covering. You want all of your seams to face away from the front of the plane. Why? Because the rushing over a seam can lift it up and peel the covering away. Also, fuel and exhaust residue can be forced under the seam if it is faceing the front of the plane. So when we cover a plane we have to plan the order that we cover the part s of the plane. On the fuselage you always start at the back of the plane and work forward, by doing it this way the seams will always face the rear of the plane. For the wing you start on the bottom of the wing, then move to the top rear, and then the top front of the wing. If you look at picture #1 you can see what I am talking about. Since we’re only going to have two pieces of covering, one on top and one on bottom, then there are only two steps in covering this wing. So, with this in mind we’ll start by covering the bottom of the wing and then finish by doing the top of the wing.

With the aileron gaps sealed we’re ready to move on to start covering the main part of the wing. Well, almost! I wanted to start covering the bottom of the wing, so before I started applying covering to the main part of the wing I wanted to put a strip of covering in the middle of the wing. If you look at picture #1 you can see that both the center mount for the aileron servo and the torque rods make “obstacles” for covering around. When we start to cover the bottom of the wing with a large piece of Monokote covering around things like the servo mount and torque rods make for difficulties which can result in wrinkled or improperly applied covering. So to avoid that from happeing what I do is to place a strip of covering down the middle of the wing, and applied around the obstacles. With this done I can apply the main part of the covering, and when applied right to the edge of the servo mount it will overlap the center strips I applied first leave a nice neat edge with no wrinkles at all.

I started off by cutting a piece of covering long enough to go from the servo mount to the torque rods and wide enough to extend about ¼” past the edge of the servo mount (picture #2). I do apologize that I don’t have a picture of using the covering iron to iron down these parts of covering. But it’s pretty simple to do. Lay your covering in place and use the covering iron to set it in place, when you are sealing down small pieces like this start in the middle of the strip and work out to the edges of the covering, by doing this you will work any gas trapped under the covering to the edges and avoid bubbles from forming under the covering. If you do get a bubble don’t panic, use the tip of your hobby knife to poke a small hole in the bubble and then use the covering iron to iron the trapped gas towards that hole and flatten the coveing. Also working towards the edge of the strip of covering will help avoid wrinkles from forming as well. With the first strip down cut another strip the same width to cover around the torque rods. If you look at picture #3 you can see where I cut slots into the covering to go around the torque rods. After you have the covering cut to go around the torque rods go ahead and iron it down in place (picture #3). Next cut another strip the same width and long enough to go from the servo mount to up and around the leading edge of the wing. Iron it down in place (picture #5). The last part of covering the center section is to cut two strips to place on the edges of the servo mount (picture #6) and iron them in place.

Now we’re ready to start covering the main part of the bottom of the wing. First of all we’ll need to measure out and cut the piece we’ll need for covering this part of the wing. This might seem like a simple step that doesn’t need to be explained, but that’s not really true. This part is where a lot of new people get into a bind over. Whatever you do as we cut the covering material is DON’T GET CHEAP. Why in the world would I put it like that? Because you would not believe how many people I have see try to save covering when they cut the covering pieces, and they cut the covering as close to the size they need as possible. If you do this you’ll never be able to get a good tight finish on the covering. Why? Because as we start applying the covering you need to get it as tight as possible before you start shrinking the covering later on. Yes, the covering shrinks as we heat it but there is a limit to how much it will shrink. If you want a tight good looking finish you need to be able to pull it as tight as possible as you tack it down. When you start cutting your covering you’ll need to cut the pieces AT LEAST 3”-4” bigger than you need. If you are still learning, or this is your first time covering, you may want to allow more than that. As you learn and perfect your technique for covering you can adjust how much extra you cut because you’ll start getting a feel for doing this. But for starting off please error on the plus side and leave yourself plenty of extra covering when you cut you pieces. When I measure large pieces like this I find that it’s easier to just roll out the covering (picture #7) on the area that I’m going to cover and mark the covering, I’ve found that it’s sometimes hard to get the exact measurements with a ruler. So roll out your covering over the wing (picture #8) and mark where you will cut it (picture #9). Do the same thing with the width of the covering too. Before you pull the backing off of the covering double check that your size is good by laying it out on the area to cover (picture #10), if you’ve goofed on the size you can always use this covering for other parts of the plane and cut a new piece. But when you start applying it with heat it will be too late to save the piece if you find out you cut wrong.

If you’re worried that you won’t have enough covering material there is an alternative way of measuring out your cuts. You can use brown wrapping paper, or newspaper, and measure and mark all of the pieces you’ll need to cut to cover the entire plane. You can then use these as a template to plan how you are going to cut the covering off of the roll. This way you can see exactly how much you’re going to need before you start cutting.


Pictures
1. Wing covering sequence steps
2. Center strip covering
3. Center strip covering around torque rods
4. Center strip covering around torque rods
5. Center strip covering forward
6. Completed center strip
7. Preparing to roll out covering to measure
8. Roll out covering to measure size
9. Mark the covering for cutting
10. Double check that covering is cut to proper size

Until next time

Ken

blindguarden

Finially!!!! Some good detailed info. on covering a plane with detailed pics.

thanks RCKen!!!! Your doing a great job on explaining how to cover step-by-step.....I've learned some new things just from what you have posted so far.

thanks again

chopper man

I purchased a Sig LT 40 for my little girl to learn on hopefully this summer. I'm excited about starting on it especially after this thread by Ken. Thanks for taking the time to write about the build. This will be a great benifit for me as I'm building her kit.
chopper man

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

Chopper Man & blindguarden,
Just glad that I could help out.

Ken

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

Ok, here we are now ready to start applying the first really “big” piece of covering that we have done. I know that I talked about it earlier, but I’m going to say it again. There are a few rules that in my opinion are the things that make the difference between a covering job that is just “OK” and a really outstanding covering job. And they are:
[ul][*] Temperature. As I said before, make sure that your temperatures for your covering irons are set correctly. If you haven’t already experimented and found the temps that work the best here take the time to practice on some scrap pieces and get it set right now.[*] Patience. Never EVER get in a hurry. Many people want to get this done quickly, and in doing that they will either quit before the covering is completely stretched or they will wind up with a ton of wrinkles in the covering. As you are stretching out the covering don’t quit until you are sure that the covering is done stretching. If you do the covering will loosen up the first time you are out in the sun, or leave your plane in a hot car. Being in a hurry also causes you to get wrinkles because you get in a hurry and wind up creasing the covering. Trust me, it’s possible to spend an entire evening doing just one side of a wing. Covering takes time, so don’t get in a hurry.[*] Don’t Panic. If you get a wrinkle, or the cover does something that you don’t expect, don’t panic. Many people will panic and hurry to try get a wrinkle out, or try to fix something that happened that they didn’t expect. Trust me, this isn’t like working with epoxy where you are working against the clock. If the covering starts doing things you don’t want it to, won’t do what you want it to, wrinkling, pulling away, or any other thing you didn’t expect you can sit back and catch your breath. The adhesive on the covering won’t set up or go bad. If you need to walk away from the table and spend some time doing something else to relax, or even quit for the night. There have been many times that I have just gone to bed when I got frustrated and came back in the morning to finish up.[*] Start in the middle. When you are heating up an area of Monokote always start in the middle of the piece and work your way to the edges. By doing it this way you will get the most “shrinkage” out of the covering. When you start in the middle of an area and the covering starts to shrink it will pull in evenly around the entire piece, and as you work your way out to the edge you’ll get the piece as tight as it will possibly go[*] Heat until the covering quits shrinking. When you are using your heat gun to tighten up an area keep working it until you can’t get it to shrink any more. If you don’t you’ll wind up a covering job that will bubble or loosen up in the hot sun or in a hot car.[*] Never iron down covering before you stretch it first. If you take a covering iron to covering you will be adhering it to the wood below it, and once you do that you’ll never get it to shrink. Always use your heat gun first on large pieces of covering and shrink it before you use your iron to adhere it to the wood below.[*] Never use a covering iron to remove a wrinkle. If you have a wrinkle in the covering and you try to use the covering iron to “iron” it out all you wind up doing is creasing the covering, at which point the wrinkle is permanent and will NEVER come out again. If you have a wrinkle in your covering use a heat gun to heat the covering to “stretch” or “shrink” the wrinkle out. If a wrinkle is very hard to get to shrink out start by heating the covering away from the wrinkle and work your way towards the wrinkle, as you heat and move towards the wrinkle the covering will shrink more and more and eventually pull the wrinkle out.
[/ul]

Now that I’ve done enough lecturing , we’ll move on to the actual covering .Basically here’s the steps we’re going to do as we cover the area. Position the covering material in place, rough tack in position, seal the outside edges, shrink the material, seal the material to the surface below, trim off the excess covering, and finally seal the edges down. To start the covering remove the backing from the covering and move the material into position where it will be placed. As with everything else we do in building the expression “measure twice, cut once” applies here, meaning that we need double check the position of our covering before we start setting it in place. Once you are satisfied with where the covering is placed we can start setting it. We’ll start at one inside corner of the covering. We start on an inside corner so we can pull out and away to stretch the covering as we apply it. Start by using your covering iron to “tack” down the corner of the covering (picture #1), your tack should be approximately the size of a dime. Now we’ll start to stretch the covering as we work our way around it tacking it down. Remember as you start to stretch it to always pull straight along the covering, you want to try and avoid pulling across the covering as this will place weird angled wrinkles that will be hard to work out. For our next corner we’ll work to the back inside of the wing surface. When I stretch the covering I will try to use the wing itself as a brace to pull against, but I will warn that this takes a little bit of practice in how you brace you hand against the wing. If you pull too hard you can damage the wood. So you might want to practice on scrap wood first. Back to the wing, picture #2 show pulling the covering towards the back of the wing, once again use a dime size tack to hold the covering in place. Now move the to front outside corner for the next tack. Please notice in picture #3 that we are making our tack on the level part of the wing and not where it curves down towards the wing tip. Stretch the covering as tight as you can get it and tack it in place. Now move the rear outside corner and stretch and tack in place, picture #4. Now we’ll start working our way around the wing tacking it down. On the front edge of the wing place a tack approximately in the middle of the wing panel, picture #5. Now we’ll want to go to the back edge of the wing even with the tack on the front edge and tack the wing to the trailing edge of the wing (very important that you don’t accidentally tack the covering to the aileron). When stretching the covering here I like to let physics work in my favor. I will use the ailerons as a lever to stretch the covering. Lift the aileron up, with your thumb pinch the covering against the aileron, and then push down on the aileron stretching the covering as you push down. When you have the covering tight tack the covering to the trailing edge of the wing, picture #6. You’ll be totally shocked at how much this will stretch your covering. Next we want to repeat this same front/back tacks down the wing panel. How many times we do this really depends on the size of the wing. Continue tacking front and back and keep cutting your area in half each time you do it. After the first time we split the panel in half, now we’ll do it again half way between that first middle of the wing tack and the inside corner of the covering. Once again tack the covering on the leading edge (picture #7), then pull/stretch the covering to the trailing edge (picture #8). Now we will do the same thing half way between the middle point and the outside edge, again tacking the leading edge and stretching and tacking the trailing edge (pictures #9 & 10). Our goal here as we do this is to stretch the covering prior to heating it as well as immobilizing the covering so it doesn’t move as we start to shrink it down. On larger wing panels we may want to put more of these front/rear tacks in, but for this wing I’m happy with how it looks now. If you look at the last picture you will see that the covering is pretty tight already, before we ever start to shrink it. This is out goal here.

Pictures
1. Position the covering and tack the first corner
2. Stretch the covering and tack the second corner
3. Stretch the covering and tack the third corner
4. Stretch the covering and tack the last corner
5. Tack the middle of the covering on the leading edge
6. Stretch the covering to the trailing edge of the wing and tack
7. Tack halfway between the two tacks on the leading edge
8. Stretch the covering to the trailing edge of the wing and tack
9. Tack halfway between the two tacks on the leading edge
10. Stretch the covering to the trailing edge of the wing and tack

Until next time

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

After tacking the covering down around the area to be covered we need to move to the next step, which is to actually seal the entire area that needs to be covered. It’s important to make sure the entire area is sealed otherwise the covering will not shrink properly as it pulls on an area that is not secured to the wing. It will pull in weird wrinkles and be very difficult to correct.

This step is pretty easy and there’s not too much in explaining it. Here the pictures are going to be your best guide. Using the tip of your covering iron go around the entire area we are covering and seal it down. I simple line appoximately ¼” is all that you need to secure down right now. This will be more than enough to hold everything tight when we start to shrink the covering.

Pictures
1. Sealing the edge of the covering area
2. Sealing the edge of the covering area
3. Sealing the edge of the covering area
4. Sealing the edge of the covering area
5. Sealing the edge of the covering area
6. Sealing the edge of the covering area
7. Sealing the leading edge of the covering area
8. Sealing the leading edge of the covering area
9. Sealing the leading edge of the covering area
10. Sealing the trailing edge of the covering area
11. Sealing the trailing edge of the covering area
12. Sealing the trailing edge of the covering area

Until next time

Ken

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

Moving right along with covering. Picture #1 shows the last bit of sealing the edge of the covering area. As I said in my last post, it’s really important to make sure that the entire are is sealed all the way around the edge. Take a few minutes to make sure that it is indeed completely sealed. Once you have the area sealed it’s time to start shrinking it down, and this is where our heat gun come in. When you start using the heat gun don’t start right up close to the covering material as this is a great way to melt a hole in the covering. Instead start back away from the material and slowly move the gun towards the Monokote. When you are close enough you’ll start to see the Monokote react to the heat. What you will usually see is the Monokote darkening in color (on dark colors like blue and black this will normally be too difficult to see) and the covering will start to wrinkle up a bit, this is when you know you are getting it the right amount of heat. As you heat an area try to keep the gun moving so that you don’t overheat one area and melt a hole in it. After the covering wrinkles up it will then start to shrink and the wrinkles will then pull out. As I said in previous posts, start in the middle of covering area (picture #2 & #3)) and work your way out to the edges (picture #4). As you are working towards the edges and you want to try and avoid heating any covering that overhangs on the other side of your seal. Especially in areas where you will be going back later to seal it down, like our wingtip here. If you do heat the overhand and it starts to shrink then that part of the covering is more than likely shot, you won’t be able to seal it down later. If you can’t work the area without heating the overhand try using a file folder or scrap cardboard to shield the overhang area so it won’t be heated. In picture #5 you’ll see that I am working an area on the edge that is wrinkled a bit. Slowly work areas like this to shrink out any wrinkles. If need go back to the middle of the piece of covering and start heating it again, as the covering heats and starts to shrink start working your way towards the wrinkled area. As you get closer to the wrinkled area the wrinkles should start pulling out. Remember, patience is very important when working areas like this. These pictures can be a bit misleading in that it makes it look like this step of shrinking goes quickly, but please don’t be fooled. Shrinking an area like this can take some time to accomplish. For instance, and area this size can take 10-20 minutes to get shrunk.

When we’re satified with the covering being shrunk it’s time to start sealing it down to the wood underneath. I rarely have any bubbles form in the covering when I do it this way, but if you do happen to get a bubble in the covering use your hobby knife to poke a hole in the bubble and use your iron to iron the gas out of that bubble, just move slowly and don’t crease the covering as you do this. When I start sealing the covering down I will start in any open areas such as the bays in our wing. Use the iron first seal around the entire edges of the open bays (picture #6 & #7). After that use the iron to seal the wood down to your ribs or cap strips (picture #8). What I like to do next is to take the covering iron and go over the open bays to make sure the covering is completely shrunk. I rest the iron across the ribs so that is above an open bay, and then slowly move the iron over that bay. You’ll see the covering darken as it heats. If the covering is as shrunk as it can go this is all you will see. But if it’s not completely shrunk you’ll see the covering wrinkle and then start to shrink again. Keep this up until the covering won’t shrink anymore, then go over the top of the ribs or cap strips one last time. For the areas that seal to wood I prefer to use the covering iron with a hot sock on it. This helps press the covering onto the wood, and will protect the covering from getting scratches in is as you seal it down. Because of the material of the sock you may have to turn the temperature of this iron up a little bit for it to be effective. Use this iron to go over the rest of the wing and seal the covering down to the wood underneath (picture #9).

With the covering done on the main part of the wing go ahead and cut it off at the edge of the trailing edge (picture#10). Leave the wing tip material in place as we’ll be using that later. Also, don’t cut away the parts at the front and rear of the wing as we will be working those in a bit. Pictures #11 & #12 show the completed panel. Look at it from differnt angles when you are done and look for anything you might have missed. If you look at the trailing edge in picture #11 you’ll see some scalloping after I cut the covering, use your covering iron to fix anything like this.


Pictures
1. Finishing sealing the edges
2. Start heating in the middle of your work area
3. Start heating in the middle of your work area
4. Work the gun out to the edges of the work area
5. Work the gun out to the edges of the work area
6. Use your covering iron to seal the area around open bays
7. Use your covering iron to seal the area around open bays
8. Use your covering iron to seal the covering on top of the ribs
9. Use your covering iron with a hot sock to seal the covering down to the wood
10. Cut off excess covering after you are done
11. Inspect your area to look for any defects
12. Inspect your area to look for any defects

Until next time

Ken

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

With the main part of the covering done now we’ll deal with the edges. If you look at pictures #1 - #4 you’ll see that this is an example of “do as I say, and not as I do”! . I talked about leaving you enough material to work with at the edges, and unfortunately I really didn’t do that here on this area. When something like this happens this is where a tool like my modified tongs come in handy. What we need to do on the leading edge is pull covering up and around the leading edge as we heat it. This conforms the covering to the leading edge and adheres it to the wood at the same time. Use the tool to grab the edge of the Monokote and as you heat it pull the covering around the edge of the leading edge (picture #1 & #3). Do this all the way down the leading edge, the material should be adhered to the wood over the top of the leading edge when you are finished (picture #2). Use a razor blade to trim off the excess material and then use a covering iron to seal the edge of monokote down (picture #4). Now turn the wing over and we’ll deal with the covering at the edge of the wing. First use the heat iron to adhere the covering to the trailing edge of wing (picture #5). Use a razor blade to cut off the excess covering leaving approximately 1/8” of overlap (pictures #6 & #7). Now use the heat iron to seal this overlap down to the wing (picture #8 & #9).

Because of the shape of this wing we’ll have to take a little bit of different steps than the order diagram I posted in an earlier post. Normally we would put down the bottom piece and the the top piece of covering over that. But if you look at the top side of the wingtip you’ll see that there is very little wood to actually seal the top piece of covering too. If we tried to use that to seal the covering on it would pull off very easily. So what we are going to do is leave this part of the bottom coveirng hanging loose for now. When we cover the top of the wing we’ll pull the top covering over the wingtip and seal it to the wood on the bottom part of the wingtip, then we well seal down the flap from the bottom we are leaving now. Pictures #10 & #11 so this flap that we are leaving for now. Picture #12 show the underside of the covering that we just completed.

While I’m not going to write it up, you should go ahead and cover the other half of the bottom of the wing now. Do it exactly like we have done here so far. Then we’ll move on to the top of the wing.

Pictures
1. Using our tool to pull the covering over the leading edge and heating it
2. The covering needs to be pulled down and over the leading edge
3. Using our tool to pull the covering over the leading edge and heating it
4. Cut the excess covering and then seal the edges to the wood.
5. Seal the covering to the trailing edge
6. Cut off the excess covering material, leaving about 1/8” of overlap
7. Cut off the excess covering material, leaving about 1/8” of overlap
8. Seal the overlap material down to the wing
9. Seal the overlap material down to the wing
10. The extra material for the wingtip will be left until later
11. The extra material for the wingtip will be left until later
12. The underside of the completed covering.

Until next time

Ken

Warbird Joe

hmmmmmmmm Ken I watched your video and didn't realize how shell shocked I was. Are my ears deceiving me or was that artillery in the background noise?

Quinoa

Hi Ken

I´ve got a question about your magnetic board. What material do you use? I´ve read that magnets don't stick to stainless steel. I want to buy one but I don´t know which material is the best.

If the flat surface is the hollow core door, how do you stick the metallic surface to the hollow core door to make it completely flat ?

Alberto