Looking for the best way to apply panel lines and rivets on Monokote. Some say to use a marker and clear coat after. Im using a gas engine,and thinking about what the gas might do.

I saw one of the Hangar 9 P51 ARF's this summer that a guy used some sort of marker and also airbrushed some smoke & weathering, but he didn't clear-coat it. Looked awesome for a film-covered ARF, but I don't know how it will hold up to glow-fuel. It was his maiden flight, so it hadn't been through the mill yet.

There are a couple guys in my club that claim they have had great success painting solid colors on Monokote, after they lightly scuffed it up with a sanding sponge. But, I don't know what kind of paint they used.

When all else fails... test! You could just make a simple rectangular "frame" out of balsa, then cover it with whatever film you intend to use and heat-stretch it the same way you would if you were building the plane. Then scuff it up, draw your panel lines, shoot your clear and let it cure. After a few days or so, test it against some glow fuel and see how it reacts.

I definitely would stay away from "burning" flat rivets in with a brass tube like you do on glassed planes. Don't know about using glue dots for raised rivets on film... not sure whether they would want to "pop off" when/if the film flexes. I suppose you could test that along with the paint.

Neo

I saw one of Charlie Bauers Skyraiders on display once. It was covered in chrome Monokote. It had no panel lines, but it had rivets. He put them on with a pin, he just didn't push the pin all the way through. It sounds weired, but it looked awsome! I have never experimented with it yet, but its coming soon. I built a .20 size House of Balsa p-51 once, that the pictures of the one in the manual were done in a similar way. Try it out, ya never know!

Elmers or carpenters glue placed in small dots then coated with the appropriate color of lustercote works for raised ones. If you just want to place a row of indentions, micro mart sells the old "sewing" pattern tracing wheels - just run them down some sort of a straight edge.

Dave