T F DAnca

I’m writing this post, seeking the general feeling around the building community. Regarding the changes secretly made to Top flyte super monokote. As a modeler with over 40 years of experience I am Thoroughly dissatisfied that Great planes or hobbico or whoever is in charge over there. Just decided one day to change something that was perfect (super monokote) and start distributing a far less quality product under the same name. The new stuff doesn’t seal permanently at seams and is almost impossible to shrink tight like the old stuff. It’s very rubbery and wrinkles seem to come back after heat is removed or simply wont shrink out without leaving a hole. (It melts very easy) Also when striping with it or overlaying it won’t stick to itself permanently (it peals off over time).
My hope is to get a response here big enough to possibly convince Great planes / Hobbico to please reconsider releasing the old formula. I myself would not mind paying more for the quality I once enjoyed.

My intentions here are not to bash Great planes / Hobbico. I am very happy they are still offering many of the wonderful Balsa kits we as modelers have enjoyed building over the years. Just Please give us back The Monokote we once new to be far superior to any other covering material known to this hobby.

Please chime in with your thoughts

T F DAnca

these planes are all covered with the old Super Monokote

T F DAnca

test

SeamusG

And while they are at it - bring back the old RCUsoftware that worked.

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

Wish they would post the Mono problem thread on as a STICKY or people would do a search and look for threads about product problems. Mono changed the formula 15 or 20 years ago. Sometimes a roll will work fine and the next one not at all. Not a secret, everyone knows about the change, TF isn't going to do anything about it. Just the nature of the beast. People that got fed up with Mono just went over to Ultracote, it's that simple. Others have kept using Mono and swear by it.
The topic comes up about every three months and there are pages and pages written about it.
When the problem was first noticed TF would tell you it is an operator problem, it took them years to say they changed there product. I still use it for trim work so I can use the Windex to put it down. Ammonia doesn't work at all on Ultra.

frets24

My Feedback: (15)

I feel your pain, DAnca. There have been numerous threads and discussions on this topic over the past few years and the consensus seems to be ...yeah, it's different and not as good as it used to be but we'll have to relearn our covering technique to match the new stuff or use something else cause it's never going to go back to how it was. A bit of the drive behind the new formula has also been attributed to EPA compliance. A big heartfelt thank-you to our ever intrusive gov't for messing in our business once again. Who cares how many lab rats died from eating the equivalent of 30,000 rolls of the good stuff!

ramboy

You might as well use Towercote. Much cheaper and similar quality to the "new" monokote.

davidgeorge212

ahh, its that time again! add another to the tally

mikegordon10

Ya just gotta love it baby. The subject just keeps on going and going and going. Just like the little rabbit. Hum, must be somethin' to it! Ya think!

T F DAnca

Guy,s I Have had conversations with three different people regarding this. 1st about two years aggo our good friend Charlie B told me there were no changes made at all. Then about a week aggo he sugested to me that Dupont had secretly changed the base material without the permission of great planes. And that Don Andersen Knew about the problem since Tower was having too many returns. He said Great planes only bcame aware of the change in Jan of this year. GRINN.
As of today I called Great planes / hobbico service to see if they were going to do anything about it. and the idiot customer service guy told me they never changed the formula and then two minuts later he said they had to change the glue because it had lead in it. OK if there was lead in the color why did they change the base material ( the film)??????? I asked. He then went off on some long in depth BS story about the epa and wisconsin. make a long story short it sounded to me that they changed the film to save a buck. In any case the new stuff sucks. It is workable but very much harder to use. I have been using this stuff since I was 12 ( now 52 ) thats 40 years and have won several awards for covering and think it may be time to go with Ultra cote. the only problem is It comes from the same place. Goldberg models bout by great planes owned by TOWER.

Sure is sad to see this hobby being tranformed by the likes of Horizon and Greatplanes /Hobbico/Tower.

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

Ultra is Oracover and not from the same place as Mono at all. The problems we have had with Ultra {and Mono} is paint matching. TF made the paint to match Mono but there quality control went south on us and the color match is really hit and miss plus the paint is pretty much crap. So, mono crap with hard to locate color match.
Ultra made a great matching paint for years then quit making the matching paint??
Go figure??
So, once in a while you can find some mono that works very well but the matching paint may {will} be a problem, Ultra works great, doesn't have as many colors to choose from but you will have a heck of a time locating matching paint.
Learn to use Mono?? If you get it to iron down and it won't shrink even with a flame then what's to learn? How to peel and toss?
Mono has a problem, they know about it but refuse to fix it. Users answer is to just use something else. Mono isn't the only game in town.

smkrcflyer

I’m in the process of covering a Ultra Sport 60 and I have always used Monokote and planned to use it for this plane. I purchased three rolls of yellow and proceeded to cover the wing. It took me four hours using lots of heat and pulling but I was able to cover it and it looks ok. So for the fusealage I decided to try Ultracote for the first time and it worked very well. I will not go back to Monokote. Maybe if people stop buying it they will do something about it.

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

They did something about it last year. They had a nation wide covering contest. Some of the colors work some of the time. It's a crap shoot and it can change from roll to roll or batch to batch? This topic comes up about every three months and gets several pages of Mono bashing. If people would just do a search before posting about Mono then I'm sure the product would not be purchased or used. If that happened then I bet we would see the problem fixed and big banners running across RCU and RC Group announcing the new and improved Mono.

Live Wire

If RCU would fix the site where you could use the search and a few other things there would not be so many POSTs on the same subject Just like Mono It works PART OF THE TIME
Larry K

suburban95

My Feedback: (9)

I have not been in the hobby as long as most of you posting here but about a dozen years or so. I have sworn off of MonoKote because of the problems I encountered a couple of years ago. I have gone to Ultracote and found it much better and easier to use. If Top Flite would change the MonoKote I would probably try it again but as has been sugguested here by a few "the only way to get them to change it is to STOP buying it".

Lets just hope Ultracote doesn't change or we will have to back to using fabric and paint............

T F DAnca

Well,,, and thats a deep subject. Maybe it,s time to try a boycot,, and while we are at it how about a petition to all the hobby stores who refuse to stock Kits for the builders. Im sick of hearing we can order it for you.. DAAAAAAAA I can order it myself and not even have to drive to the hobby store....(Gas - 4 bucks a gallon) thats a tube of glue!!! Hows that for a vent.... ?


How about this, everyone call cust service at great planes and complain,,,,,, 1-800-637-7660 or 1-217-398-3630

If your in one of those moods and want to leave a nasty voicemail,, here is the place to do it. Grinnns

KBP-UT

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

No hobby shop owner is going to stock kits these days. They would and do just sit there and collect dust. The kit builder is not what keeps a hobby shop going. Builders of kits will not purchase enough covering to make any huge impact on a company to force them to make changes, as mentioned, the ARF industry is the main customer of the covering so that is who gets catered to. Ultra for Horizon and Mono for Great Planes. A covering that caters to builders would be SolarTex, very few ARFs using it but it is a perfect product and no threads about it. So, as a builder I use Ultra for my plastic covering and Tex for my fabric covering. Glassing and sheeting when I want to paint a plane. I do use Mono for trim and I like it. I put it down with Windex and don't care if it shrinks or not. I use it over the top of the Ultra and have no problems.
You as builders aren't going to be putting much pressure on any companies. I buy kits on line, not a hobby shop. I'm not going to order anything through a hobby shop when I can order it myself and get it sent to my door step.
The day of the super hobby shop are about over, my GOOD LHS just sold, I went to the shop yesterday, they just moved it around the block. They bought out the shop completely but I don't know what they did with the inventory, it isn't in the new location. the new shop is now worse then either of the two chain type hobby shops two blocks away. Modeling is sure changing fast, now I'm back to mail ordering again!

Live Wire

Well when I closed my doors I had KITS hanging on the wall and they seemed to always be the wrong ones, you can't stock every thing on the market. Not even the big boys do that they drop ship what they don't have and back order the rest

YES people can put up with the out of stock and back order with on line but not the LOCAL HOBBIE shop
Larry K

dbacque

My Feedback: (3)

Give it up folks!

Hate MonoKote? Don't use it! Love MonoKote? Use it! But either way can we dispense with the incessant threads on how terrible it is that the world isn't what it was 35 years ago?

While you're at it, why don't you also complain that we don't have DDT, agent orange or high volatile paints anymore. Yeah, lots of "great" products have been killed off by due to regulation changes. At least MonoKote has managed to stay current with regulations and keep a usable product out there. All of my favorite paints are gone because they couldn't keep up with the regs.

Did older MonoKote work better? Could be. Is modern MonoKote a good producct? My beautiful airplanes say it is. It does handle differently and gee, you have to learn how to use it. If you don't care to learn how to use the best, use the low temp, low strength alternatives. If you're a perfectionist, you've already learned how to work the new stuff.

Use what you want and quit the moaning.

Dave

Javier-RCU

My Feedback: (6)

+1

scaleman57

My Feedback: (23)

Lets face it the problem is the stuff is now made in China to save a few bucks, that should be all you need to know.I tried to recover a giant scale crop duster with white and green, couldnt get it to stick threw it all away then put the plane away till i can figure what to cover it with.

WacoNut

I switched to fabric back in 2005 and never looked back. A bit more work but holds up much better than iron on films. I like the idea of iron on coverings but I never had any luck getting the edges to stay put for the long haul. I have never had my fabric covered planes develop a wrinkle or have an edge come up.

Scirocco14

I have no problem with that! I just finished an Ultra Sport 40 and covered it in silkspan, fabric, and dope. Don't have to worry about seams coming up, the sagging in the sun, etc. And done correctly, it's light. This plane came out 12 oz LIGHTER than the "recommended" weight on the box.

After the paint cures for a couple of more weeks, I'll use some polishing compound and wax on it and it'll be as shiny as the "kotes".

FWIW, I've also used Monokote for my planes that I've built recently and had good success.

Mark

[email protected]

My Feedback: (1)

i go along with you ive had 5 rolls and everyone was bad no more monokote for me