I'm on my second kit, a GP Ultimate 40, and I've finished covering the fuse and am about to start the wing.

The question I have is how do I best cover the wingtip? On the Ultimate, the wingtip is just a flat surface, i.e. the last rib. I've seen videos and covering techniques for covering rounded wingtips, but never seen the best way of doing these?

My last build was a Sig SE, and it has the same wingtips. My approach there doesn't seem to hold up too well, so I would like some input from more experienced builders.

Do I cover the tip first and streache the covering around to the wing and then proceed to cover etc?

thanks,

-tychoc

Heat gun, a glove and carefull pulling of the covering down over the rounded surfaces while heating the covering material.

Trick is to work small area's rather then one big surface. Work one small area and then move to the next. Do a search of this site and you'll find a couple of pretty useful videos that have been posted.


Cheers,

Obviously there's a few ways to do it, but I do mine the following way.

I first cover the wing normally and allow about 1/4" of covering to overhang the wing tip. I then take a razor blade and cut slits in the overhanging covering every 1/4" or so around the leading edge bend so it will lay down without wrinkling. If there is a sharp bend area such as the leading edge I'll put the cuts closer together (every 1/8" or so) and for long gradual bends I'll put them every couple inches.

What you end up with is a 1/4" overlap onto your wing tip and then cut out a piece of covering to iron over the wingtip that overlaps the seams and you have a nice clean wing tip.
I don't have any good pictures, but on the White wing you can see the overlap at the wing tip before I put the covering cap over it, and the other is the finished product on my SSE.

I think the heat and stretch method would be cleaner but does take a little practice to get right.

Good luck

**edit**
Found another picture with the overhang before I cut it and ironed it down.

Whether you cover the wing or the tip first make sure to leave yourself a good 1/4"-3/8" of material to cover over .Myself I do the tip first slitting the overlap then ironing it down to the wing then cover the wing .Trim it at the edge of the tip with a exacto knife or sharp sissiors then iron it down for a virtually seamless joint .Use the heat gun to shrink it and your done .
Hint get the covering as tight as you can when applying it and dont add excess amounts of heat to the tip where the seam is .Even a 1/2 overlap can pull if it gets to hot and also will create air bubbles that can show after it cools off.
This what I do for monokote, Ultracoat is about the same with allot less heat involved .
This I might add depending on the wing its a good idea to cover both sides and shrink both sides at once .do a little then switch to the other side and do a little this will help prevent any warpage or twists.

Thanks for the replies. I will give it a try and let you know how it goes.

thanks,

-tychoc

ty, IF you've seen the covering videos I did recently, you've seen the technique for doing a rounded tip. For a flat tip the technique is very similar.

Do the Tip first - Cover the flat part with an iron, then use a heat gun to stretch the covering around the top and bottom.

Trim it off at about 1/4" past the tip

Now cover the bottom, and then the top, and trim the covering flush with the tips

I covered round balsa tips on my first kit after watching MinnFlyer's short videos on it. I would have never tried that on my own, and I almost gave up on my first one halfway through. I stuck with it and it came out like a beautiful paint job. Covering will do things you never thought it would. You can find his video files if you search RCU.

No need to search. Here are the links to all of Minnflyer's covering resources

[link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/magazine/article_display.cfm?article_id=67]Minnflyer Covering how-to[/link]
[link=http://67.18.81.100/rcuvideos/magazine/reviews/352/cov1.wmv]Minnflyer Covering video, part 1[/link]
[link=http://67.18.81.100/rcuvideos/magazine/reviews/352/cov2.wmv]Minnflyer Covering video. part 2[/link]
[link=http://67.18.81.100/rcuvideos/magazine/reviews/352/cov3.wmv]Minnflyer Covering video, part 3[/link]

newest covering videos
[link]http://www.rcuniverse.com/magazine/article_display.cfm?article_id=726[/link]

Ken

Thanks guys. Yes, I have seen MinnFlyer's videos and article. The original ones were the ones I looked at and got me through when I did my SSE. I just wasn't sure if there was a different method for the flat wingtip v.s. the rounded one.
When I did my SSE, I stretch the covering (bottom and top) over the windtip by about 1/3 inch using the pliers with balsa glued on to them to grip the covering and stretch it over. THis worked well, however, the problem I've had with the SSE is the piece I put on last covering the end and cutting flush with the wing. It is sort of getting loose here and there. I must not have done a good job when I ironed it down.

I'll try the other way around this time and start with the end piece, stretch it over the end and then cover the bottom and top.

I better start moving faster on this project since I've had my wife's ironing board in my shop for over a week now, and I've only finished the fuse. She's not too happy about this..[]

-tychoc

heh heh, you may get some hassle over the ironing board. If I had not seen those videos I wouldn't have trusted Ultracote to bend, shrink, and conform to just about any curve. Those videos showed me to keep working with it until it did what I wanted.

Minnflyer's videos are great! I use a pair of needle nose pliars with balsa Epoxied to the tips. Wing tips are more about stretching than shrinking. Slow and sure.... Use sand bags to hold the wing down, gloved hand with pull tool. I always use my heat gun first on wing tips then once stretched, a good iron around the edge. Botton wing first then top. Trim even with the opposite surface.