RCU Forums - Monokote splicing?

Another technique that works very well, especially if you're doing large areas of a trim color, is just what you had originally asked about, pre-assembly and ironing on as one 'skin'.

I've used this technique to cover a 4*-60 and a Fazer, with very nice results. In a nutshell, here's how it works:

First, make a template for the area you're going to cover. I just tape together enough sheets of heavy cardstock to get a big enough piece, then lay it over the wing, trace, and cut out. For fuselage sections, tape it on, and either trace and cut or just cut directly along the edges. Then, design your scheme on the template. I just use a pencil, and keep erasing and re-doing until it looks the way I want it to. Once you've got your template made, label each section by color so you won't get them mixed up later, and cut the wrong piece out of the wrong color (trust me, with pearl Moneykote, it gets expensive :stupid: ). Cut the big template along the lines you've made into individual templates for each color.

Next, plan your seams, and label each seam for which ones need an underlap. Notice I said underlap, not overlap. For instance, if you have red and white going together, obviously the red must go over the white. So, for this seam, you would add extra to the white to go under the red, not add red to go over the white. (hope that makes sense)

Once you've got your seams marked, you're ready to start cutting. Tape the templates down to the covering, making sure you have proper orientation (i.e., if you're cutting from the backing side of the covering, your template should be upside-down as well). Cut right along the edge of the template if this color will be on the top of a seam, and for where you marked the underlap, cut about 1/4" away from the template. If you want to be super-perfect about it, cut the first edges, then move the template 1/4" away from them to cut the underlap edges, and you'll have a perfect underlap. I just eyeball it, as theoretically that cut shouldn't be seen anyway, it'll be underneath. On the edges that will be the edge of the surface, leave the amount of overlap that you normally would. For the other wing, or the other side of the fuselage, just invert the templates, and you'll have a perfectly symmetrical design.

Once all the colors are cut, you're ready to assemble the skin. You'll need a regular or trim iron (either one works fine), and a sheet of glass preferably large enough to hold the entire assembly, or at least large enough to get under every seam. When I built my 4*, I went down to a local glass shop and grabbed a 16x38" piece of 1/4" plate for $10.

First, make sure the glass is clean. Then, starting with the color furthest underneath, remove the backing and position it on the glass. I've found that Monokote will static-cling to the glass, but Ultracote needs to be ironed along the seams to stick. Now, place the template for the color you just laid down on top of it, with the underlap sticking out at the correct edge. Place the next color on the glass, right up to the edge of that template. Iron down the seam, first with low-medium heat, make sure it's right and bubble-free, then go back over with high heat. Repeat as necessary, continuing to place additional templates over their respective colors, and lay the next color on right up to the edge, then iron the seam together.

Once the whole section is on the glass, and all seams ironed together with high heat, peel the whole thing off, always peeling from the color on the bottom. If you try to peel from the color on top, you may peel the seam apart. If you do get any seams that come apart, just lay them back down on the glass and re-iron. On some particularly recalcitrant seams, I have had to go so far as to peel the assembly off the glass, flip it upside-down, lay the backing sheet on top of the adhesive side, and iron it that way.

Again use your paper templates as a guide for positioning the whole assembly onto the surface, and then just iron it on like you would a full sheet. Be careful about the amount of heat you use along the seams, especially if you use a heat gun. Too much, and the seam will pull apart.

I'll post a series of pictures here, a couple of which I took of the glass-assembly process for an article I'm planning on writing for the local club newsletter, as well as the completed planes.

This first one is a picture of assembling the pieces on glass. I've got the glass tilted up and resting on a tape dispenser, so I can get some light in from the back, and get an even overlap. In this particular case, the template wasn't really helpful, it was easier to just eyeball it. For the scheme on the 4* though, I had to line everything up with the templates.