I am in the middle of my first balsa bashing session and am using multiple layers of solar film for the coverinig. Has anyone got any favourites resins varnishes etc to ensure the solar film does peel from fuel being spilt on it ?. My trainer is the calmato 40 and the go faster stripes started peeling fairly quickly after I started flying. I am using 5% fuel..

many thanks

Richard

If its stuck down properly I assume it should already be fuel proof. Ultimately whatever is used joins always seem to get fuel in them.....but that will take quite some flying time.

Actually if you look at my avatar picture you can see the 3 layers. blue, yellow and red. I was just going on how the calmato covering performed.... or not ...

If you use something like Prymol where the overlaps will occur BEFORE ironing them down, that helps to make the joint really tight.

I also brush the edges of particularly fiddly trim with Clearcoat or similar.

One solution, albeit a heavy one, which I saw work well was to cover the entire wing with clear (ie colourless) solarfilm after applying the trim.

Really though, solarfilm is 100% fuel proof, and if applied properly, the joints and trim should be too. Part of the issue you had (?) might be that the film wasn't applied properly, it really does need some pressure with an iron to make sure that the adhesive is really melted. Any small airbubbles will eventually migrate to the edges of the trim, the edge will lift, and "whoooshfffff" off comes the covering... (erm...I know this because...ah...well)

Many thanks Carlton. Since I have spent a bit of time cutting out all the fiddly bits, and I havn't done the main wings or body yet, presevation is the key .....