decombs21

Okay, you Monokote pros, I need your help with this one.

I haven't built a plane for 20 plus years and I'm about to attempt the covering of my Sig Astro Hog with Monokote.

I've covered the tailfeathers and found that an exercise in patience and I'm about to do the wings. Given all the fun I had with the relatively simple curves of the tailfeathers I thought I'd seek your best tricks and advice with what I think is the most complicated aspect of this job - the belly pan on the bottom of the wing.

One thought comes to mind and that is I likely need the TF heat gun I have on my wish list at Tower. Is this so or can I get around it?

Don't be shy, feel free to chime in and help this balding middle-aged man. Here are some photos.

majortom-RCU

My Feedback: (40)

I did a similar wing this winter on the AK Sukhoi. I did not try to do it all with one piece of monokote, rather I cut the major piece with a scallop cut out that went into the valley between the fuselage contour and the wing contour, and up maybe a half inch onto the fuselage contour part. Iron that down carefully with a trim iron. I use the Hobbico iron with the two heads, one rounded for just this kind of work, the other a little flat-iron shape. Then cut another piece of monokote more or less a semi-circular piece, and lay that down so it laps over the valley by a half inch. These pieces have to be ironed down every little square millimeter.

The hot air gun is the ticket for convex compound curves, like many wingtips. Here the heat glove with the little rubber gripper knobs is very useful. For this kind of work you need to be able to brace the wing somehow so you can pull and stretch the monokote with the gloved hand while you heat it with air gun in the other hand. Some guys who build a lot invest in sandbags to drape over the wing or other part. I usually get by OK by draping a towel over the part and then clamping the towel to the edge of the table top. It helps greatly to work on a walk-around table rather than a bench against the wall.

Monokote will iron down well enough that overlapped seams are visible only on very close inspection. Follow the rule that you lap pieces front over rear, top over bottom, inboard over outboard.

Don't omit wiping your surface with a tack cloth before you cover. Nothing is more irritating than doing a beautiful job except for a few conspicuous pimples that stick up because of a tiny bit of something that didn't get brushed off.

MinnFlyer

My Feedback: (4)

No doubt about it, that is one of the toughest areas to cover. MajorTom said it all, except to say - the good news is, unless you're really anal about these things, at least it's on the bottom where a sloppy job won't show

Campy

My Feedback: (1)

I wish you luck with the Moneykote. This is not a "put down" of MonoKote, just a "heads up".

I stopped using the stuff a couple of years ago when almost every piece/roll had QA/QC problems (adhesive problems, brittleness and poor shrinking ). I now use Ultracote. IMHO, the Ultracote goes around curves much easier than Moneykote, and the color selection, while not equal to Monokote, is pretty good. The backing is also MUCH EASIER to find and remove.

The other thing you may or may not have problems with is the Lusterkote paint. My experiences with this product has been that:

1. It "spits" a lot.

2. The paint doesn't "lay" that well.

3. Their "color matching" is like a crap shoot. Frequently it is close, occasionally it is way off, but the odds of you winning the lottery are better than you getting an exact match. I have pretty much gone to latex for painting followed by a clear coat. I can get an EXACT match for about $10 a quart.

J_R

Normally, I would not attempt this in one piece. On a recent model, the wing was on top and I decided to do the entire top in one piece. Here are a couple of tips.

I am not a fan of Balsarite, but in this case I used it on the joint.

I used a trim iorn and not a heat gun. You need all the heat you can get from the trim iorn heads. A sock reduces the heat too much, so you need to fix the heads so they don't scratch the film first. You need to make a minor modification to the heads. Most have a protrusion that prevents the head from going into the iron. File those off so that they go in all the way. This allows the head to get hotter. While your modifiying the heads, they need to be polished smooth so they don't scratch the film. I started with 400 wet and dry, used wet, and went to 1500, then rubbing compound. This leaves a smooth surface on the head. It should look like a piece of chrome when your finished.

Before you start to cover the wing surface, put a piece of film on the area where the wing meets the fuse (where the dowl area is). You need that first so you can get the film on the wing to stick when you get there. Now cover the entire wing, ignoring the area of the joint. When it is the way you want it, it is time to tackle the joint.

Let the heat of the iorn stick the film down. Don't press or you will wind up with dents that show. Do stips 1/8 of an inch at a time, pulling to stretch the film. Don't trap any air. Let the film cool before going on to the next strip. If all you can get in a pass is a 1/16 stip, take it and don't push your luck. The other ingredient in the process is patience... lots of it.

J_R

I won't try to convince you to go back to MonoKote, but here are a couple of tips.

To pull the backing off, put a loop of tape on the backing and one one the film near a corner, then pull.

If you really want a dead on match for film, you can, with patience, apply it to fiberglass, eliminating the need for paint.

Bax

My Feedback: (11)

To get a seamless appearance in corners, such as where the belly fairing meets the wing surface, or where the stabilizer meets the fuselage, cut a strip about 1/8"-3/16" the length of the joint, fold it in half and then carefully iron it down. This will allow the the pieces on the wing and fairing to meet without any gap in the covering.

Check out Harry Higley's book, "There are no Secrets". The latter half of the book had a lot of good techniques for covering.

Also, for maximum effectiveness on MonoKote, the iron's temperature should be just below the melting point of the covering. If the iron dulls the material, it's still a bit too hot.