I have just pulled off all of the Super Coverite from 1/3 scale Spacewalker. I had painted it with Krylon and had lots of troube getting a good finish. I weighed a section of covering approximatley 1 square foot in area and it was close to twice the weight of a similar unpainted piece of material. Anyway I am going to use some colored Solartex for a replacement and wondered if anyone had some good tips.

Lite is good!

Solartex is very easy to use. Clean the surfaces to be covered. I then spray mine with hair spray. The cheap kind. Let it dry and then spray a second coat. It seals the pores and seems to make all coverings I've used stick better. Solartex does not require as much heat as MonoCote. It irons down very well. I set my iron at about 225 to 240.

I use the heat gun to pull arond curved edges and it works great. No wrinkles. Remember, after covering you can use the heat gun to take out any remaining wrinkles. Just be careful and keep the heat gun moving. Solartex will shrink a lot and could damage the structure. What I'm saying is, it don't take much heat to shrink it. Keep the gun moving and a little higher off the surface than you would with UltraCote or MonoCote.

I do the top of one wing and then the bottom side of that same side to eliminae warpage and so forth. When cutting off extra material, use a new blade. Sometimes you will get a little fuss or strings when cutting off, but just iron them down. Then I use clear fingernail polish on the seams. If you are going to pait you probably won't want to do that.

I love Solartex. It is the easiest material to work with. Just be careful with the heat. Don't leave the iron or gun in one spot too long.

Thanks Jim.

Solartex is great stuff to work with. The adhesive is excellent so balsrite on the framework is not needed.

Keep the heat down. Solartex is a low temp covering.

One suggestion - While Solartex is fuelproof as is, I suggest giving the finished plane a clearcoat. Because Solartex has a more open weave, it picks up the dirt and grime. Solartex says you can clean it by scrubbing with a small brush, however I can not get the covering as clean as I would like. The dirt and stains that remain are not that noticeable on dark colors, but are noticeable on lighter colors.

Don't want to start a fuss, but I never use a heat gun when covering. You cannot regulate the temperature with a heat gun. Use an iron, and get a good thermometer made for setting the iron temp, and follow Solartex's instructions on heat settings.

And what Campy said about clearcoat. I love Solartex, but the finish isn't as glossy as I'd like on some planes, and the clearcoat fixes that, in addition to making it easier to keep clean. Also, if you want to paint any areas, latex paint works great with Solartex, but it does require the protection of a clearcoat.

I used Solartex on a .60 sized biplane for the first time and found it much, much easier to work with than Monokote finishes that I am accustomed to. While probably not as critical a factor on bigger planes I was surprised at how much heavier it is than the plastic stuff. Then it was painted and clear coated adding even more weight. I haven't used 21st Century or Super Coverite and am curious if these products are the same weight/area? Has anyone weighed this stuff with an accurate scale?

I plan to keep track of the weight I add when I put Worldtex on my Andrews Aeromaster. I will be painting the trim and clearcoating it also. I was told Worldtex is the same as Solartex, but I'm not sure it is.
Ralph White, Neoga, IL

I think your correct Ralph, all the tex's (Colortex, Worldtex, Solartex etc. are all the same) except that some color choices are different. As to weight, there is really not that much difference between the fabrics and the films although there is some. For larger planes, IMHO the weight difference is negligable.

Take a look at this site for weight comparisons.

http://www.wattflyer.com/forums/arch...p/t-10443.html

I love Solartex! Less work but not as good as Sig Koverall in my opinion. I used Solartex on these two planes painted with Acrylic Latex hobby paint and overcoated with Oil Based Satin Polyurethane Minwax. Great combo just watch the light colors as the Poly will yellow with time.

JEB

As far as comparisons of weight go - I did 2 identical 70" span planes. The bare airframes were within 1/2 oz of each other. Both planes were equiped with the same make/model engine fuel tank and the same brand/model receiver and the same brand/model servos.

One plane I did in Silver Coverite Fabric, the other I did in Silver Solartex which I did clear coat. The Coverite plane was almost 4 oz heavier than the Solartex plane. The worst part was after installing the engine and electronics. Because the plane was a "short nose/long tail" type, the Solartex plane required 3 oz of nose weight to balance. The Coverite plane required almost 8 oz to balance. Final weight difference after equipment and balancing was 8 1/2 - 9 oz heavier for the Coverite plane.

Part of the weight gain COULD HAVE been the Balsarite on the Coverite plane, but I figured the clear coat balanced that out, so the difference had to be in the weight of the covering.

Thanks for that link Glowplug! It reinforces what I suspected. The colored fabrics are about twice the weight of the plastic films even before adding paint trim and clear coating. Something I didn't realize is that "natural" fabrics are a bit lighter than the "colored" fabrics(7.5 vs. 9to13). Would this be negated by a need to fill the weave before painting?

Campy, it sounds like the colored Coverite is heavier than the colored Solartex.

Hi!
Solartex is good but Oratex ...same company that makes Oracover (Ultracote to you Yanks)is slightly better.

Always remember to cover the bottom of a wing first! Never ever the other way around.

Correct, jaka. In an earlier post when referring to doing the top of the wing, I was talking about using the heat gun to do the final shrink after everything is covered.
You just want to be careful and when shrinking make sure you go from one side to the other in order to stop twisting.