Originally Posted by Spackles94

Bruce,

Here are some pics of that Das Mini Low Stick I was telling you about. Thanks to your tutorial, the covering job was my best ever!

Thanks for all your help!

Dear Napo,

You are most welcome. Nice job on the Das Mini Low Stick! She is a beauty! I noticed that your plane graces the RadicalRC on-line catalog. I am proud of you! I am interested in how she flies. It appears you opted for the LPS-RXC-A motor. I have a Mini-Stick that I need to build. However, I used the Waypoint micro servos I bought for the Mini-Stick for my SA MudBug! I opted for the EPS 300 motor system. I am thinking of going with a small brushless instead.

Again, great job!

Thanks, Bruce

Bruce

Would you be willing to give a demo on constructing and attaching rondelles, crosses, arrows, stripes, and alpha-numerics? Like most Newbies, I have this naive urge to immediately jump into the most complex decals and covering techniques first. BTW, your postings have saved me a LOT of frustration and expense. I owe you big-time.

Chris

Originally Posted by Jugjock

Bruce

Would you be willing to give a demo on constructing and attaching rondelles, crosses, arrows, stripes, and alpha-numerics? Like most Newbies, I have this naive urge to immediately jump into the most complex decals and covering techniques first. BTW, your postings have saved me a LOT of frustration and expense. I owe you big-time.

Chris

Dear Chris,

Good suggestion regarding a chapter on decorating a plane with insignia, letters and numbers.

Post #31 of this thread shows the basics of decorating a plane with pressure sensitive trim sheets. Most roundels, stripes, numbers and other insignia available for RC planes are printed on pressure-sensitive film. Some older kits used water slide decals, which worked nicely on tissue and dope.

There are two challenges associated with adding pressure-sensitive insignias and alpha-numeric characters:

(1) Getting the decoration where you want it, and
(2) Eliminating air bubbles.

The mild soapy water trick with credit card squeegee works well for *most* pressure sensitive decals. I have found that GWS stickers have an adhesive that is ruined when it gets wet. I test the decal adhesive before I try the credit card squeegee/soapy water technique. Generally pressure-sensitive decals have to be cut out individually. The surrounding clear film can be used for testing. GWS decals are easy to reposition when applied "dry” since GWS uses an adhesive that does not stick all that well. Since pressure-sensitive decals vary by brand a little testing is always a good idea.

Jumping in with both feet is exactly what I do! I continually try new tools and techniques. Some of these new techniques work for me, and some don't! Maybe I should include a chapter on techniques that I that have tried that were disastrous!

Thanks, Bruce

Originally Posted by brucea

<SNIP>

Jumping in with both feet is exactly what I do! I continually try new tools and techniques. Some of these new techniques work for me, and some don't! Maybe I should include a chapter on techniques that I that have tried that were disastrous!

Thanks, Bruce

Bruce that is a great idea. We get the benefit of your 'failed' experiments and maybe you will get some feedback about some successes with those same techniques.

This is a great thread and is full of good ideas and techniques. Thanks and keep up the good work.

Jim, KK1W

When the adhesive of a pressure sensitive decal (or dry transfer) has gone bad....

You can spray the back of the decal/transfer wtih 3M 77 or similar and it will stick fine

I am covering a plane with blue on the top and white on the bottom. I am trying to overlap the blue over the white for a nice uniform looking seam. The problem is that it is hard to cut the covering straight and very close to the edge. I use a sharp pair of scissors and run them down the edge and can get pretty close but there is still a tiny bit of overlap and it's not quite flush. When I seal it down the blue covering smears across the white. This was done using a fresh sock, you can see what it looked like when I was done. I need to do a 55" wing and ailerons like this. What do I do?

I don't cut with scissors. I cut it with a new X-acto blade after ironing it down.
Just enough preassure to get through the top covering.

Peter

Originally Posted by IH8VTEC

I am covering a plane with blue on the top and white on the bottom. I am trying to overlap the blue over the white for a nice uniform looking seam. The problem is that it is hard to cut the covering straight and very close to the edge. I use a sharp pair of scissors and run them down the edge and can get pretty close but there is still a tiny bit of overlap and it's not quite flush. When I seal it down the blue covering smears across the white. This was done using a fresh sock, you can see what it looked like when I was done. I need to do a 55" wing and ailerons like this. What do I do?

Hi IH8,

Go to Post #6, and picture number 15 in this tutorial for a closeup of the technique.

If I can do it, with my shaky, nervous hands, anyone can...

Chuck

When the adhesive smears...

Acetone will clean it off.

Or CA debonder (which is just acetone in a small expensive bottle)

Acetone based nail polish remover will work... but it takes longer. Nail polish remover has a lot of water in it.

What an excellent covering tutorial, very, very good job with it!!! I like solite, but my personal favorite is Ultracoat, the heat required is almost as good as solite, yet since it's thicker, it streatches farther and is easier to handle, I've worked with monocoat before, I don't like the extra heat it takes to apply and shrink down. I think the biggest obstical is to slow down while you are tacking it down, it's easy to move too quickly and not get it properly secured, which will rip loose from the areas tacked while you are trying to get the edges adhered, that and not giving yourself enough overlap.

With the more advanced complex curves, they can be a puzzle to figure out what and where to apply the covering first, I used to piece mine out similar to doing tissue covering and got good results until I heard of a guy that produced a video and in one of the examples, he covered a golf ball, this got me hooked upon how far I can push it with the least amount of pieces. You also tend to look back at each new plane and see how you are progressing, especially when it comes to figuring out how to go about what cut out and areas to pull prior to shrinking on complex curves. You get better the more you use it, and coming from a dope and tissue background, these plastic coverings are a dream to work with!

Again, good job on the turorial, this should be of great help to those not only doing their own kits, but for patching up repairs as well.

Originally Posted by fhhuber506771

When the adhesive smears...

Acetone will clean it off.

Or CA debonder (which is just acetone in a small expensive bottle)

Acetone based nail polish remover will work... but it takes longer. Nail polish remover has a lot of water in it.

The debonder worked just like you said, thanks.

Originally Posted by NoFlyZone

Hi IH8,

Go to Post #6, and picture number 15 in this tutorial for a closeup of the technique.

If I can do it, with my shaky, nervous hands, anyone can...

Chuck

I saw that, tried it, failed so miserably I had to add trim stripe so I didn't have a crooked LE. I will try again

I found out just the other day, wd 40 will also clean up glue residue from the covering, it also will clean up epoxy if it hasn't fully cured. I was installing some dubro hinges, and you gotta expoxy them in place, I got some on the pivot points and when it got close to fully curing, I hit it with the wd, and it freed it right up as well, which as you all know, those hinges tend to be difficult to keep free from expoxy overflow...

Originally Posted by saucerguy

wd 40 ... it also will clean up epoxy if it hasn't fully cured.

Also try normal isopropyl alcohol for cleaning up epoxy, it works very well.

hehe, I was in a mad rush, the hinges were drying and as I was moving them to keep them from sticking, they were curing up solid, so I had to grab what ever I had on hand, and most people have wd, so was lucky it worked.