Covering methods

[ButtonFly]

What are the most common methods of covering park flyers? I have heard tissue and mylar mentioned on this board in general. What about a monokote type of covering? Too heavy? How is mylar applied? I have worked with both tissue (my current choice for my 1/2A crop, as it does not require special tools such as an iron or heat gun (which I have, but are hard to use on small models), and is harder for me to overshrink like a film covering. Any alternate ideas? Is there someplace to find a weight comparison? I like the durability of film, but it seems too heavy, as opposed to tisse.

[Jim]

I don't know if it would be appropriate for the model you are covering, but I recently had a go at using the Reynolds plastic wrap and I am hooked! See Gymflyr,(Sept. 00)by John Tracey, and Plinker,(Aug. 00) by Dave Robelen for some tips on using this stuff. I found it very easy to apply and it seems surprisingly tough once it's in place and shrunk. I shrunk it with a hairdryer. I covered both sides of the surfaces to intensify the color, at the expense of a little extra weight, however. The Skyhooks & Rigging website has a comparison chart for a bunch of different covering materials.
Have fun,
Jim

[ButtonFly]

I am flying mostly 1/2 and 1/4 A gas planes... not sure the reynolds would work. Thanks for the info though, I will look into it. Also, does anybody know anything about silk?

[Jason Nowell]

Button:

All I know about Silk is that it is HEAVY. Especially when you put a nice finish on it.

I've had really good luck with LiteSpan. It's kind of like tissue, but much stronger and heat shrinkable. I use Balsa Lock, a heat sensitive glue to hold it on.

You basically paint the outside perimeter of the object being covered with a THIN coat of BalsaLoc, then iron the lite Span on around the edges and shrink it tight in the middle with an iron or heat gun.

Read the directions that come with it carefully if you decide to try it. The temp settings are not the same as monokote and the like.

LiteSpan is fuel proof also, which you will like.

Good Luck

Jason

[anticoli]

Air span is just a tiny bit heavier than lite span but shrinks a little better than lite span. I have used them both. You will not find a light wieght covering that will shrink like monokote will, so when you use lite span or air span keep it as tight as you can befor you shrink it. Go with balsa lock to secure it.

Good luck! Mike

[gjohnson]

Dave Lewis sells RA-Microlite, a Monokote-like covering film (comes in lots of colors, has heat activated adhesive backing, and shrinks with an iron). It weighs 9-12g/square meter, depending on color. This seems to be considerably lighter than Lightspan at about 28g. Has anyone used this yet? Do you have photos you can post? Other than the cost, this seems to me to be the covering that a lot of us have been waiting for. I'm thinking of building a Herr Fokker D-7 and am wondering whether I should cover it in RA-Microlite or Lightspan. I recently bought some of the Microlite to try out, but wondered what other people's experience has been. Do you like the colors, is the finish too shiny for a WWI plane, etc.
--Gordon

[groo1887]

Where can this covering be purchased? I am thinking of building a Dream Stick and need to find some covering.

-Amir

[jimwalker]

I bought some from David Lewis at the "Homefly" website (listed in the vendor links of this site). I intend to use it on my latest project, a conversion of the Herr kit "Fairchild 24". David seems to be the cheapest vendor I have seen for this product and he doesn't charge for shipping,(probably because it has virtually no weight). Even so, it's very expensive. It cost me $28 for two 4' X 2' sheets.