Can anyone tell me how they get ultracote to stay down and not wrinkle in the sun. I am finishing an airplane and every time I put it in the sun its a mess. The lighter colors all have no problem the only color I seem to have found that does this and of course it is on my airplane is the blue. I can take it back in and re-heat and it shrinks but the problem I have is once I put on vinyl graphics, that will mess the whole thing up. I am over sheeted wings using med to med high heat and I try using only an iron to put it down. The only thing that I use the heat gun for is to re shrink. My only thoughts are you want to try and get the covering as hot as it will ever be when you apply it, so it reaches its max shrinking point, but soon as I put it in the Florida sun, it bubbles right up...Its driving me nuts!!!!

Any suggestions?

Pete

Under Florida sun I wrinkle up too!

I was going to suggest that you use an iron, but it sounds like you're already doing that.

The best way to keep covering from bubbling is to get it on right the first time. The surface must be DUST FREE. Just blowing or wiping doesn't help much. You should vacuum it with a brush attachment and then go over it with a tack cloth (Or a cloth with spray adhesive on it) to get as much dust off as possible - otherwise, the covering sticks to the dust and not the wood.

Another trick I like to do is after the final sanding, I mix white glue with water (Lots of water, only a little glue) spread it on, and let dry completely. This stiffens the fibers (Even raises some of them) and they can be sanded off nicely. It leaves a really smooth finish that dust comes off of more easily.

But regardless of which covering you use, or how good you put it on, Florida sun is a trial by fire

I live in the sunny and hot southeast too and my solution is MonoKote.

Similar problem here in Oz. (Hot sun - wrinkly film)

I've given up on plastic film for that very reason - learn to cover with 3/4 oz fibreglass cloth and your problems will be gone forever! (On solid surfaces anyway!) Also, more ding-resistance.

Most people baulk at the idea of fibreglassing, but 3/4 cloth and WestSystems epoxy is EASY to apply and sand, and you can then just fill and spray it with auto cans if no airbrush.

NEVER wrinkles, NEVER lifts at edges, TOUGH, STRONG.

Food for thought!

Cam

It is my belief that ARF's are being covered 'so good I couldn't do that good of a job' but are done WRONG.....They are just laid down and shrunk - and you will always have those wrinkles when exposed to the sun....IMHO anyway....

Switch to SolarTex. It is a prepainted fabric, and even with a clearcoat (to prevent fuel/exhaust stains) it will breath, so it will not wrinkle.

Also, as mentioned above, make sure the surface is ABSOLUTELY clean and free of dust (after vaccuuming use a tack cloth ) so the covering adheres to the wood, not the dust.

I have an Ultra Coat covered Waco that's eight seasons old now. It doesn't have a single wrinkle and has never been retouched except to repair damage. The trick on solid surfaces is to rub down a small heated area with a soft cloth. Your iron should only be used as a heat source. I also have a Nosen Citabria that's six or seven seasons old and covered with pre-cut and overlapped sections that shows only the slightest bagging in direct sunlight. probably because of the overlapping I don;t dare heat it as much as I might otherwise.
Walt

And Walt you prove my point....you put it on right!

Read an article in Fly RC a while back on getting a better covering job........you've already heard the diluted white glue trick.........the other one is Aqua Net hair spray.....one or two coats on the airframe surface before applying the covering, gets the covering to stick better and less bubbling on solid surfaces. Generally much better adhesion without air bubbles............less chance of wrinkles later on......[8D]

I had a question I bought a roll of topfight covering had trouble geting the plastic backing off, I used all the different tapes I could think of they said to use cellophane tape the hardware store told me cell tape was packing tape? Has anyone ever ran into this problem before I used hanger9 and it worked fine I wonder if I got a bad roll or what

Getting the temperature dead on what the instructions say for Ultracote goes a long ways to keeping it down. That means having an iron and a means to read the temps. There is a sticking temp, max glue sticking temp, and a range of shrinking temperatures. I recently bought a 21st Century iron and I can't believe how much better my last covering job went.

The temps here get very hot too.

I have lost all faith in Ultracote on Florida airframes. Monokote covered airplanes, side by side behave quite nicely. Time to get out the heat gun and peel the Ultracote off for the last time!