jwrich

My Feedback: (17)

I want to recover my RC Guys Decathlon. I would like to try Hobby King's covering if it will hold up well under normal flying. Has anyone used this covering? Is there any tips or special instructions on how to apply it? For the cost it may be worth a try.

Thanks
Rich

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

I went from Mono to Ultra and used Ultra until a couple years back when Rick Stubbs gave me a roll of the Chinacote to try. Fantastic covering and now my go to brand. It goes on at an even lower temp then Ultra and shrinks up better and faster. I no longer bother to cure it in the sun before I put down the trim, just shrink it once and it's done.
I have had freshly covered planes out in the hot {{112 degrees}} sun for hours and no sags or wrinkles at all.
It's a low temp covering, if you squish out any of the white glue while ironing just use a rag with a bit of acetone on it to wipe the glue off. Really good stuff!!!! The US warehouse stocks it and shipping is fast and cheap. Always phone in your order to make sure it is in stock, HK is still KK and back orders can take forever.

jwrich

My Feedback: (17)

Thanks Gray Beard, for the information, I'll try it, can''t beat the price.

Rich

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

I did a thread on the covering in the kit building forum when I built the Prime Cut+20 a couple years back. There are a few of us I know on RCU using it now for a while. I really like the stuff. About as easy to use as the TEX coverings!!

ETpilot

I just tried some of that ChinaCote for my first iron on covering job. It came out pretty good for the first time. It took a bit to get the temperature right. I started at around 210-220F. Then I worked my way up to around 275-300 max. For covering on covering I set the bottom coat at 275-300. For the top coat I started at 220 and worked up in temperature. I started using mostly the iron. Then towards the end I was using the heat gun more. First time at this and it came out decent. A few mistakes but still good for me. Time will tell how good or bad it came out.

See my my thread in the Scratch Building Aircraft Design Forum. Kwik Stick I.

jwrich

My Feedback: (17)

Gray Beard, do you have a phone number for the US Warehouse? I am on their web site , I see phone number listed.

Thanks Rich

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

Sorry , I thought I had it book marked but it didn't work. I found the number on the US warehouse site at the bottom of the page as Contact us.
I was surprised there was a phone number.

hsukaria

I have used the Chinacote on a few planes now as a cheap way to restore old planes that had crashed or had the old covering wear out. I have not had any problems with it except that sometimes the edges don't seem to stick so well. I am sure it is because I am not using the correct temperature. Otherwise, great way to keep those old planes in flying without spending a lot of ;money on covering. I tried the transparent yellow and it is my favorite so far. I bought transparent plum and will use it on a retro plane with the transparent yellow, should be nice. The size of these rolls is so huge that you can cover more than 2 average sized planes and still have lots left over for trim on other planes.

badger5964

My Feedback: (6)

I think it is great stuff. I covered a couple planes in it and it works similar to UltraCote. You get more than twice the material for less than the price of Ultracote. I am happy.

JollyPopper

My Feedback: (6)

Yes, the stuff is absolutely the best I have ever used including both MonoKote and UltraCote. But DO NOT ORDER IT FROM HOBBY KING. I just went through a miserable experience with HK in which I ordered two colors of covering that showed in stock but turned out to be not so. As HK is accustomed to doing, they don't inform the customer of that, but just leaves the order pending until the item comes back in stock be it weeks or months. And they really resist refunding the money, really making for a very bad experience. There are firms in the states selling the same stuff as Hobby King and do not play the games that HK does. I have ordered many times from Value Hobby and they have always had stock and ship promptly. They call it Neucover and a roll of it is five meters, almost 16 feet, unlike the five foot rolls from MonoKote or UltraCote. And another plus for this stuff is that it does not come on a cardboard core. They obviously cut whatever you order off a very large roll. I ordered 3 rolls of white once from Value Hobby and got almost fifty continuous feet on one roll, no center. The ONLY complaint I have is that they wind this stuff very tightly before shipping it and it has a lot of memory. It keeps wanting to roll up on you when you lay it out flat on a board to cut it and that can be a bit frustrating. However, the stuff is so superior to others that I will put up with that draw back.

tacx

My Feedback: (1)

Jolly, I had the same experience with HObby King. The covering was listed as "in stock" at their East warehouse. So, I ordered it, but after 10 days went by and it showed that it had not been shipped yet, I called them. Only then did I find out it was not in stock. I was pissed.

The west warehouse also showed it in stock, so I actually called them and had them check before I reordered.

What pissed me off is ..........if they realized it was out of stock in the east warehouse WHY the h_'ll didn't they just send it from there?

ANYWAY, back to the question. I have been using it to cover a Sig Ryan STA. I find it very easy to use. Pretty much like Ultra. The only difference is the adhesive will show along some edges that have been shrunk allot. But, that's not a problem because acetone takes it right off. So far I really like the stuff.

BTW, acetone activates the adhesive. So it's great for trim on top of itself. I also did a test board with mono and ultra. It stuck well to both a nd both stuck well to it.

JollyPopper

My Feedback: (6)

I have wondered why HK refuses to update their inventory when they are alerted to an out of stock situation. The two rolls I discovered were out of stock the hard way have never been updated even though I alerted them via live chat as well as corresponding with the New York rep. So there are folks who know those two colors are not available but nothing has been done about the web site inventory. The only conclusions I can draw from this are not flattering to HK.

jwrich

My Feedback: (17)

When I did decide that I would try the Hobby King covering, the colors I wanted were out of stock. Thank Jolly, I ordered from Value Hobby what needed. I have ordered from them on several occasions with good results.

Thanks for all you guys responses

Rich

sailr

My Feedback: (25)

SLOW shipping. I ordered neucover from value hobby and it took 11 days to receive it. Hell, I get stuff from China quicker than that. Value shipped quickly enough but they use slow boat shipping (first class mail) and it takes forever. Haven't used it yet but yeah, tiny roll....wound very tightly.

jester_s1

What did you expect from a vendor whose primary selling point is the cheapest price?
I used this stuff a few years ago on two planes. The edges started to lift the first day I flew the glow powered, but I've had Ultracote do the same thing. The gasser I did has held up pretty well, only the occasional wrinkle. I've gone to using Monokote for anything glow powered since it not only handles the Texas heat better, but also seems to hold better at the seams.