Hello expertens,

On some of my scale planes, after I ultracoted the plane and painted, using the iron is out of the question should I need to remove some wrinkles. The problem is when you use the heat gun, the seams pull away and in turns destroy the model. I have found the acrylic paint, clear Lustercoat and water slide decals can take the heat without any kind of deformation but not the UC. A few days ago, I had to strip and redo my Fokker DVII because the seams start to pull way. So what should I do in case like this? I hate to spend TONS of hours on the plane then have the fiasco like I did few days ago. How do you all handle in cases like this? DP

First, make sure your seams are VERY secure when covering the plane. BEFORE shrinking the covering, I go over ALL the seams with a trim iron set on hot.

Second, when shrinking (or reshrinking) the covering, put a wet cloth on the seam. This will reduce the amount of heat on the seam and minimize/eliminate any pulling apart.

FWIW - I have successfully reshrunk the covering on many occasions with the iron. The trick is to KEEP THE IRON OFF OF THE COVERING. I usually jack the heat on the iron up somewhat and keep the iron about 1/16" - 1/8" away from the covering. As with anything, this takes some practice, but it provides better control of the heat - the heat is only going to be in a small area compared to the heat gun which puts the heat over a larger area.

Hope this helps.

Quit using that plastic covering. Go to a fabric of some type. I myself use Stits Polyfiber . It is about the same cost per square foot. But it never wrinkles and adds a bunch of strength to your airframe.
You can find it at F&M enterprizes.

I would love to as these are my planes that I did in Solartex. However, with small scale (40"WS), fabric is too heavy. DP

dai build them a we bit bigger your finish work is excellent .you wont ever get that look with monokote.I wish I could match your skill.