3D EMHW 2.15 Ultimate

[ThePledge]

The covering continues. It goes really smoothly once I figured out what the covering will do and what it won't.

Any concave "angles" are tough. They may be possible with enough heat/stretching, but I just cheated and pre-placed little patches so I could cut the excess overhang into easily foldable sections. The patches are necessary because unlike the convex "angles" which leave overlap, the concave "angles" leave a gap.

Going around the round edges just took some heat. I've learned to stretch the covering and slowly fold it over around the curve while applying heat to the portion of the covering which is about to be stuck down. In other words, stay ahead of the curve ironing out the wrinkles before covering hits the surface.

Made a skin for the tops of the stabs just like the rudder. Works perfect, just need to take care with heat over the seam when shrinking over the open bays or these tiny, melty bubbles will appear.

On the tail feathers I used this sequence:

Tack the edges at 250F keeping things as tight as possible.

Shrink over the open bays with the iron turning the heat up a little at a time.

Cut lines so the covering can be folded around corners.

Pull the covering around the round edges.

Still have a bunch of trim work to do with the orange!

 

[Naughty Monkey]

You're making it too difficult. Just don't make any concave angles on the plane.
I have gotten to where I can actually stretch the covering around the corners too without doing the cut and fold. Lots of heat and just enough pressure and kind of let it stretch itself out.
Looking great so far. If you are covering over the top, you can spray a coat of windex with ammonia in it and you can slide the monokote around and squeegee the bubbles out. It activates the adhesive. then you can tack the edges or wipe with a little trim sovent around the edges.

 

[ThePledge]

You're making it too difficult. Just don't make any concave angles on the plane.

Haha, I didn't take any of this into consideration when putting the plane together...

I'll be using the windex method a bunch. I played around with it to make sure I had it working before I started with the monokote. Didn't want to end up painting myself into a corner if I couldn't.

 

[ThePledge]

Did the covering in a bit of an odd order. Needed to get at the struts from underneath the plane to bolt them in. Figured the front deck would be much easier to cover without the struts in place so covered it first. Left the bottom open so I could bolt the struts in.

Used the windex on glass method for attaching two colors of covering into one sheet. Made a pattern, then cut the pieces out, then connected them over glass. The glass acts as a heat sink so it's hard to mess this up or have any bubbling when applying heat. The attachment is extremely strong.

Quite a bit more tricky using these sheets over open panels. Without the heat sink the covering is prone to really big ugly bubbles that can't be ironed out. Over the bays the way to go to tighten it up is really light, careful use of the heat gun. That way any bubbles can be seen before they get huge. It might also be possible to use a damp rag as a heat sink, but the heat gun was working fine to tighten it up.

One of the pictures shows some aluminum covering being held off some blue with my finger. Most of the aluminum was attached to balsa, but when a large section needed to by layed over blue, it was sealed just over the edge of the blue and windex was sprayed underneath and pushed out sealing it down. Worked perfect.

The orange stripe on the bottom was done with windex.

 

[HRRC Flyer]

Looks AWESOME. I wish the Windex method would work with Ultracote, but it won't.

 

[Terryscustom]

WOW

 

[ThePledge]

Working on the trim for the wings.

The trim is positioned with windex and squeegeed out and left to dry for a day. Then all the edges are wiped down with trim solvent. Then once that is all dry the edges with overhang are tacked down with the iron, overhang trimmed and the edge sealed with the iron. I only use the iron to deal with the edges with overhang.
From testing the trim solvent is pretty effective simply wiped on the edges. If the colors bleed I just wipe it down again when it's dry with a very slightly damp bit of paper towel with trim solvent.

 

[Terryscustom]

Working on the trim for the wings.

The trim is positioned with windex and squeegeed out and left to dry for a day. Then all the edges are wiped down with trim solvent. Then once that is all dry the edges with overhang are tacked down with the iron, overhang trimmed and the edge sealed with the iron. I only use the iron to deal with the edges with overhang.
From testing the trim solvent is pretty effective simply wiped on the edges. If the colors bleed I just wipe it down again when it's dry with a very slightly damp bit of paper towel with trim solvent.

Looking good, can't wait to see it.

 

[Billy J]

Awesome

 

[ULTIMATE]

I have pics of build from EMHW give me your email and I'll send you the file! Here is a link to a build that I sold my 2.15 to still have my 1.85 kit!
http://www.rccanada.ca/rccforum/showthread.php?t=135629&highlight=Ultimate