I finally got a nice contoured wingtip with Monokote and ruined it when I applied trim. THe pattern is like a pitts special and the stripes that went over the wingtip did not go well. I had to cut and overlap them and I still got wrinkles. Is painting the answer or is there a technique that works?

Jeff

paint for me on monokote doesn't work. after some years, in the hot sun, it just flaskes off.

when i do wingtips, leave a lot of excess material and just pull hard on it, and use a heat gun. for the trim, i would say use a heat gun also. some desings on wing tips just don't work well, well that's in my case, so i design something else.
that monokote trim stuff isn't good for anything round, only flat surfaces.

use good heat, and when applying, just pull it good and tight.

good luck

GB

Hi jwc, when I cover with Monokote or Ultracote on the corners or wingtips,I'll leave a couple of inches of covering to hold on to and long enough that the heat doesn't cook my fingers,generally I run the heat up to 400 to 425 degrees,the covering will really stretch nice around tips,after I have the covering shaped around the tips then I'll tack it down to the wood,I prefer Ultracote,but each to there own, covering is easy but you might practice on scrap wood to get the hang of it.

That's right. Heat, excess material to pull with and patience are what you need for wing tips or any other convex surface such as around the nose.

John

You know, I've been using monokote for some twenty years now. The last time I used it it wouldn't shrink and compound curves were near impossible to do. I switched to Oracover on the one I'm finishing now and love the stuff. Oracover makes Ultracote and is about 4 bucks a roll cheaper. Thanks Minnflyer for turning me on to this stuff.

Try using trim solvent or the Windex method. Just spray it with Windex, place the stripes and let it dry... afterwards you can lightly seal the edges.

Everytime I try Ultracote/Oracover, I learn something new. Then, I take that knowledge back to Monocote and improve my covering techniques even further.

John