HI,
I am new to kit building and need some help with covering the fuselage of my 40 sized Dynaflite p-51.
There is a lot of information about covering wings, and was able to cover the wing without to many problems.
However, I do not see anything about covering fuselages.
I under stand some basic concepts like starting at the bottem back and work foward, then sides and top.
I am not sure about the techniques for compound curveso on the fuselage.
I would like to hear about some of the techniques people use.
Thanks

see http://www.rcuniverse.com/magazine/a...?article_id=67

thanks Huck,

that was a good place to start. I myself am covering my first model and to be honest it did not come out as well as I would like. Any other tips. Like things to watch out for if your are using Ultracote vs Monocote vs Coverite?

I know i had a devil of a time just getting a straight cut when trimming my excess. The blade kept wanting to grab the material and tear. As a result i got a jagged line and not a smooth cut. I am thinking the blade dulls faster than I was expecting. Any tips on trimming edges? I kept grabbing balsa and taking chunks out too.

I'd like to get more proficient with covering so when I build my Something Extra it looks professional and not ..... like I did it

Yes, plastic covering dull blades very quickly.  I only make a few cuts with a new blade and then retire it for balsa use.  There are some threads here on sharpening blades - I never have had luck with this; I guess I don't do it correctly.  I just buy #11 blades by the 100's and change often.

Sometime in the future you might like to try covering with silkspan and dope, fabric and also fiberglass cloth. Each has its place and benefits/ disadvantages. Practice with plastic coverings is the only way to learn. If there is someone who uses it very well you might have them tutor you. My mantra with plastic covering is to apply it as tight as possible without having to shrink it with an iron or heat gun. I have an Aeronca (seen in my Gallery) whose Coverite plastic covering is still very tight after 6-7 years! It is a lightweight and the covering adds to its strength though it doesn't have the look of a doped finish that I prefer. Keep on buildin'! Good luck!

Practice makes perfect. I am tempted to try and build some practice structures that I can cover and re-cover. Just blow through a roll of my plastic film of choice and make a weekend out of it.

Ultracote changes its "cuttable" character. If you use a low temp trim iron to tack and seal an edge, it is very easy to cut. However, if you turn up the heat (270 or so) then the adhesive gets involved and makes it like chewing shoe leather. For a top quality edge it's best to use a new blade or frequently stropping the edge to keep it from "laying over" and appearing dull. Don't use a blade that has been used to cut material during the contruction phase of the build!

Some like using an Xacto #11 blade as the "pencil" is considered easier to hold and manipulate. Others like a single-edged razor. Your choice - or better - have some of each.

Higley has a nice edge trimming tool - gives you a very nice, consistent 1/8" overlap. It looks a bit like a block plane with vertical slots near the leading edge. There's a single-edged razor blade bolted to the top. The distance between the bottom and the blade gives you the width of the overlap.

BTW - Ultracote has 3 temperature "characters". When you tack it down on low heat you'll notice that the surface is pretty "marbled". The adhesive is activated enough to hold the film in place. It's easily pulled up and repositioned by reapplying the same heat. Then when you want to "tighten" the surface. This can be done with a heat from 270 - 320 (or there abouts). You'll notice that the surface is no longer marbled but a very tight high gloss surface. You can do this with an iron with a sock or a heat gun. So, what's the 3rd? Stretching heat - 400 or so. This will allow you to hold the iron above the surface of the film (1/16" or more) and allows you to pull and stretch the film over and around curves. It will also allow you to shrink the film (you just don't pull). Just be careful where you lay the iron down - it will melt a bunch of stuff before you know it.

That lines up with my observations. I was using ultracote, so when I tried to follow up and trim the excess; the glue would interfere with the cut exactly as you said. I have an adjustable trim iron. I will turn the heat down and see to produces better results.

A quick google search has revealed that Harry Higley has retired. He is selling off his stock and unfortunately his trimming tool is no where to be found. What is a noob to do?

I may be in the minority for someone who likes to use the Higley trim tool. There are plenty of other good techniques.

I figured out pretty quickly that I needed more than one iron. Mostly I have a standard and trim iron. I keep the trim iron on low for initial tacking perimeters. The standard iron is kept at 270 - 300. Sometimes I pull out an old iron (donated by a friend) and turn the heat up - use it for shrinking.

Hangar 9 has some covering topics too. Check out their website.

A trick I came up with about 20 years ago is to wear cotton gloves when stretching covering around compound curves (i.e. wingtips).  This prevents skin oil from interfering with the adhesive. allowing the covering to stay down.

Before I even start the real covering I put fillets of covering in a lot of places so I cn just butt up to some of the compound curves. As Hookie pointed out, a glove can be a very good idea but I don't worry about the oil, I tend to run the hot iron over my fingers and legs, burns tend to hurt a lot over time. I do a lot of work on my lap and I wear shorts about 9 months out of the year. One year I had scars.
Cutting covering is easy as long as you have a very sharp blade. I have a home made strop loaded with rouge and just keep sharpening as needed. This way my blades are sharper then when they are new right out of the box.
Jim, Anyone: I broke the flat shoe on my trim iron if anyone has any extras?? I too use a couple of irons at different settings.

Gene - common problem - looking for a replacement myself ...

I call your strips "tack strips". Ultracote sticks better to Ultracote than it does to wood.

To conceal seams you can use the tip of your standard iron or the entire foot of a trim iron to "press" the bottom bit of film into the underlying wood. This will recess the bottom piece so that the top piece lays flat across the seam.

Fellows, Top Flight makes a trim tool. I have used it for years and it works very well. It uses 2 #11 blades and has a removable spacer.

When covering a regular shaped surface try to cut your material to size before you apply it. Yes it takes some time to get it cut to size. But the end result is very rewarding.

Leave some over hang of approximately 3/16 to 3/8 inch. I tack the piece into position with scotch tape. Then I use the iron to attach the piece. Apply to the middle and work out to the sides.

This technique has helped me do a pretty good covering job.

The other thing that needs to be said is that any imperfections on the surface to be covered will glaringly show through the covering.

Covering is a science not an art. You have to believe this and work out the techniques that make you a great builder.

Todd

<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS">if you don't mind painting, quite fun for me, i just jumped on the band wagon for using fabric. Sig's koverall and stix-it. i'm working my cub right now, so not too many compound curves, but the stuff conforms like pulling different directions with fiberglass. it lays down nice whichever way you pull it. a little more of a process than putting down some already colored stuff, but i think it looks a lot better than a plastic toy. if i had the time and money, i'd probably strip all the monkeykote off my other planes and re-do them in the fabric.</span>