Monocote covering tips ?

[Terry Terrenoire]

Over the years I have build and covered close to 300 airplanes. The vast
majority were covered with some kind of iron-on material, mostly
Monokote. While my jobs are not on a par with Faye Stilly, they do look
good, and more important, they hold up 

There are really no "secrets" but here is a short course.

It is important to make sure the surfaces are very well sanded and
vacuumed. Faye refers the this as "polishing" the wood. i usually go down
to 600 paper in prep for covering. I then use a rag to get most of the
dust off, then a vacuum, then a tack rag. Then the parts are taken out of
the workshop and all covering is done up in my den, mainly to get away
from any dust that might still be floating around in the shop.

Starting with the lightest color, cover the intended area by working from
the edges and pulling the covering as tight as you can get it. When doing
demonstrations for our club, guys have told me they were surprized at
just how hard I pulled on the covering to try and stretch it over the
surface. 

I continue to do that for all colors. overlap them by 1/8th inch and make
sure they are well sealed to each other, but be careful not to put so
much pressure that you damage the wood underneath.

Once the sruface is done, go over it with a heat gun at least 3 times. On
the first pass I stay about 4 to 6 inches from the surface and just get
everything to start puckering. On the second pass yo want to be about 1
inch from the surface and you want to see some real shrinking going on,
but don't be concerned with little problem areas at this time. On the
third pass concentrate on getting each color patch to lay perfectly
smooth. be careful aoround seams. They can be covered with a thin piece
of card stock to protect them from the direct heat.

Now it looks like you are done, but there is one more step for a surface
that you will probably never have to touch again. Seal it down to the
surface. Pick one color section to start with, and work from one corner
of it to the far corner, heating with the gun. If all is well you will
get a slight rise, or "bubble" as you heat that patch. This is assuming
that you are over a solid surface. Now do it again but follow the heat
with a soft cloth pushing the Monokote to the surface. The heat is
activating the adheasive, and you will be sticking the entire under side
to the surface of the wood. This proceedure will make the plastic look
like a coat of paint, and will show up any imperfections you have in the
finished surface.

A little trick here is the use of an air escape whole. Before you start
sealing the covering down use a needle to poke several holes in the
covering at the far end you will be working toward. This gives any
trapped air a place to go as you make your way toward the edge.

If you have any specific questions feel free to ask, or give me a call if
 that would be better for you. 607-748-1846.

Terry T.


On Fri, 11 Oct 2002 16:42:20 -0600 "Tomic, Stephen" <stomic at CoorsTek.com>
writes:
Does anyone have any monocote covering techniques/secrets  . . . Do you
use grain filler, etc.
I’ve read Dick Hanson’s tip(s) but am looking for other options!
 
 
Stephen Tomic
Set_62 at hotmail.com
NSRCA :3474, AMA :742205
 
 
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