Builders,

I want to share a tip I stumbled upon last night when I was covering my plane. I accidentally left a small amount of covering to pull on at the intersection of top fuse and LE of rudder. You know that little 1/2 inch excess that should be 2 inches, and ya can't hold on to it to pull hard enough to pull that last wrinkle or two out without scorching your fingers with the heat-gun.

I don't own a covering puller, so I decided to make one. (Here comes the tip). I took my bent-needle-nose pliers (90 deg) and placed 2 inch pieces of regular fuel line; one on each nose. Worked like a champ. Holds that short piece firmly with fingers at a comfortable distance from heat gun. Of coarse, on the other side of the fuse I had almost 4 inches to work with. Amazes me how I can do that.

If ya ever get in a pinch (pun intended [sorry]) this will work.

Ed;

I cut some covering material a little short and attached a piece of packing tape to the covering. It was then easy to pull the tape and covering as tight as I wanted.

Take a small piece of scrap covering, reverse it so that the scrap piece and main piece have the adhesive facing each other, then tack the scrap with a touch of the iron. It will hang in there as you heat the main piece, and gives you more inches to pull on without the dreaded thumb burn!

Works great on wing tips too, where I always get too cheap to leave a large excess to pull on! (I didn't think this up, I read it someplace, and it does really work).

Clair

Thanks Guys,

Great Ideas!! :idea:

That's what I like about this forum. You post one tip and get two in return. (Wish my portfolio was as reactive)