BykrDan

Hello;

Can you shed some light? I'm building a GeeBee Z, and have just completed the wing fillets. Most of the airframe is now complete, and by the way, I have to say "thanks" to the helpful person who advised me to just sand the front of those fillets out of a large block of balsa; that worked like a charm. In fact, it only required a 1/4" piece to cover the hard radius, befor the fillet smooths out into a part that can be handled with a sheet.

I plan to be covering soon, and I was wondering, some of the curves and corners around those fillets look as though they'll be hard to completely cover (the sharp radius near the front comes off the fuse at a 90 degree angle, creating one heck of a compound-curved joint).

Would you recommending spraying a coat of paint in those corners before I start covering? I imagine the monokote will stick to paint with no problem. I wouldn't be using LustreKote (I find it too watery) - I'd use an automotive touch-up, most likely. That way, if I can't cut the Monokote cleanly enough to get it all the way into the corner, I won't have any bare balsa showing. Does that sound wise?

Also, I think I have this process covered, but I wanted to check and make sure - when I'm doing two colors (this is the black-on-yellow wing, in this case), I cut my scallops out of the MonoKote, overlapping about 1/4", and use Windex to activate the adhesive on the upper layer. This is the non-adhesive stuff, right? I don't have to use trim sheets when using this method?

Thanks so much,
Dan.

TLH101

My Feedback: (90)

Don't use Monocote. It will not look scale, and wont do the tight compound curves very well. You would be much better off using one of the pre-painted fabrics in yellow, and painting the black on. Use some balsa loc in the areas of the reverse compuond curves to help adhesion. You will be much happier with final results.

Wayne22

My Feedback: (2)

The original had 30 coats of hand rubbed dope, and was very shiny like mono/ultracote. So you would not be far out of line using mylar covering....

Personally, I find the prepainted fabrics are thick and heavy, and really don't do compound curves as easily as they would have you believe. The lighter fabrics may work, but they are translucent, and you can see the balsa (grain, nicks, filler, etc) beneath it.

I used the plastic front fillet on mine, and painted it black, and faired the ultracote into it...... Have you considered fiberglassing the fillet, and painting it, and covering the rest of the plane in your favorite covering?

BykrDan

Well, the Monokote issue is already settled - I covered my tail surfaces before they were ever attached to the fuse, long ago.

I glassed the fillets just last night and this morning. There's no plastic involved, by the way - they are built entirely from balsa, as this is a completely scratch build to an odd scale. I'll never do that again!)

I never considered just painting over the whole glass part. Thanks - I may do that. If I do, and decide the paint is not a good match, can glass then be covered with 'kote? I thought I'd heard that care must be taken to get the wax off of epoxy before covering (which I suppose would appy to paint, too).

Thanks,
Dan.