Monocote Shelf-life
 

Does anyone have a idea about how long Monocote covering will last, on the roll, if kept in a climate controlled environment? I finally found some left over rolls in the back of a closet and need to do some repairs. I just don't want it turning into an edge tacked flag in mid-flight.

Monocote Shelf-life
 

Years and years. I've used monokote from partially used rolls that was at least 4 tears old w/ no problems.

Monocote Shelf-life
 

Yup, many years, I just finished recovering a 16 year old plane with 16 year old monocote. Gotta keep old stuff with old stuff :)

It went on with no problems.

Later!
Chuck....

Monocote Shelf-life
 

Thanks for the info guys. Hopefully, I will get to re-covering the wing next week. I am in the process of laying the counter tops (3/8" aluminum plate) in my new shop.

Not very long
 

Todays monocoat is just plain junk. It doesnt stick as well as it used to, and after only 1-2 years it comes right off the plane in big sheets. Ive had this happen several times and im talking a 6" square pieces right out of the middle of a fully sheeted wing. Heat is the worst enemy of monocoat. Ive tested mono and after the heat gun had been put to it thats when it really weakens. Try Ultracoat youll never go back to mono

Monocote Shelf-life
 

That's funny. Every time I try Ultracote, I go back to Monocote.

John

Monocote Shelf-life
 

I'll add my two cents to this thread. I have MonoKote that is over 28 years old. It has the same smell as the stuff that we have today and it goes on just as good. I have a plane that was covered with the stuff over 25 years ago and it is perfectly fine.

BTW - I have tried Ultracote and I don't think it sticks as well as MonoKote, but that's what's great about this hobby, there's room for all of us and all of our opinions. :D :D

Andy

Monocote Shelf-life
 

What I hate is real fresh stuff it will stick to its self too well just from handling.

Monocote Shelf-life
 

I noticed several years ago that the color of monokote has a lot to do with it's weight and ease (or lack of ease) of application.

Since the monokote color is actually the adhesive, it seems the deeper or more lustrous colors are less favorable to work with because they need to have tons of color/adhesive. Pearls, Fluorescents, and Black are nowhere near as nice to use as transparents or white, yellow, red etc.

Yak

Monocote Shelf-life
 

Having taking a vacation from R/C for about 5 years and recently getting back into things, I noted the aircraft covered in Monokote were in much better shape than those covered in ultracote after long term storage. Both ultracoted aircraft were saggy all over and in particular had airbubbles and wrinkles over the sheeted surfaces and to make it worse the ultracote was not all that ammenable to being re-tensioned.

My new projects are all using using monokote and econokote exclusively. I have used the regular colors as well as the transparents and personally it smells, sticks and handles the same today as it did in the late seventies and early eighties when I built my first R/C models with it.

The only problem I ever had was my first model where I had a hard time getting econokote to stick. After completing the covering of the foam wing and sheeted fuselage and tail surfaces and making the first few flights, I discovered that econokote and monokte actually have a backing and they they stick much better if you peel it off first. It's also a lot lighter :stupid: Anything that can work even with that level of applicator error has to be good.

Monocote Shelf-life
 

HGU 34,
No offense to you, but the mistake you mention, didn't remove the backing, is the most common covering mistake I have ever seen. In fact, it's so common that one of the clubs I used to fly at included a "covering properly stuck to model" check on beginners planes before the instructor would put it in the air. Eagle 63's don't fly too well when all of the covering blows off of the wing. :)

Why does this happen? It's clearly called out in the instruction sheet included with every roll over covering. It's been a while since I've looked at the instructions, but I believe there was even a picture showing the covering being removed. Don't new modelers read the instructions?

John

Monocote Shelf-life
 

Well John, some beginners like me do read instructions but only the first and last pages and leave the pages in between to the imagination. Beginner's luck is what they call it ! LOL :D

Monocote Shelf-life
 

The only problem I find with old monokote is you can blow holes in it easier. Might have to turn the heat down a bit. It gets a little more brittle. Not enough to throw away though. I have some that is probably 20 years old and I use it.

Monocote Shelf-life
 

JWN,

No offense taken. Actually I am a little relieved that I was not the only R/C beginner to ever have done that.

It was one of of those stupid things you do when you're 12. The odd thing is that monokote is loads easier than applying dope and fabric or tissue and I had completed several free flight models with dope and tissue. So oddly enough, I suspect the root cause of the error was over confidence. (I mean really, the 12 yr old says to himself, how hard can it be to iron something on?)

Fortunately it was a single channel pulse proportional .020 powered glider and never really generated enough speed to lose the covering.

Of course with the high heat required to get it to stick, the foam wing had a distinct pebbly texture and was I suspect less efficient than designed.

It was a learning experience and amazingly enough it actually flew pretty well.

Monocote Shelf-life
 

HGU 34,
OK, I'll buy your story. I was 12 once too :)

FWIW, I glued the fin and stab on to my Kadet after it was covered. But, I never removed the covering before doing so! Now, in my defense, the kit instructions didn't say anything about doing this, and when I asked people at the field, they said it wasn't necessary. When I showed up to fly the first time, they told me differently. Doh! Oh well, nothing a little tri stock an exacto and epoxy couldn't fix!

John