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Martyn K's Tucano


Martyn K
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Well

Greenacres came and went and I suffered the ignomious embarrassment of a major chunk of Solarfilm coming off mid flight on the Sunday. A very hairy landing and a decision was made to rip it all off and start again..

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Just to show the problems that I was having, the entire covering over the wing came off in one piece without tearing. And it wasn't eased off either.

I had a couple of jobs that I wanted to do while she was naked again.

I had cracked one of the ply u/c plates the week before greenacres. This was replaced and a cap of 1/16" ply was added on both sides ( a matching pece of 1/16" sheet balsa was removed first..

I have reduced the fin and rudder size by about 10%. I thought it was a bit big and ground handling in the wind was very difficult.

I have cleaned up the front end.

I then re-dressed her.

Tucano lovers may want to run away at this point..

V

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Adopting a fantasy theme for the image..

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Just keep your dirty feelings deep inside...

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Underneath so I can tell which way up she may be..

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The revised sleek front end.

Tim@ Modelmarkings.com did an amazing job with the marching hammer roundels and of course any Pink Floyd fan will explain the squadron letters to those less informed. Thanks Tim..yes

I am delighted with it. It is now covered in Profilm and no sign of anything coming adrift. I am not sure if I need to fuel proof the vinyl, I may do just to be safe.

Well - have I ruined what was a nice safe uniform mass build? nerd

BW

 

Martyn

 

Edited By Martyn K on 04/07/2013 22:29:05

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Not at all Martyn. I think that the paradox at the heart of the Mass Build is that, yes it is a joint activity, but part of the point is to show the enormous scope for personal expression once you start to "roll your own"! In a way they start from the same base point but each one is an individual expression of each modeller's personal vision of the project. That's what makes them different from ARFT's!

She looks great and make a very smart sports model now!

BEB

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Thanks BEB

TBH, I wish that she looked as good as this for Greenacres. I was really disappointed with the finish on the initial covering, caused by reapplying the silver film over and over again, This is much better and much more appropriate for a 'show'.

I just hope that I haven't added too much weight. These small models dont like being overweight.

Martyn

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It's looking neat Martyn. Do you think the Oracover sticks any tighter than Solar* films? It'll be interesting to see if the PVA stops the film bubbling with the predicted high 20s forecast this weekend. I've used all makes of film and have yet to find one that doesn't bubble over sheet, or am I missing something in my application technique?

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Hi Bob

It seems to stick much better than Solarfilm. I have to admit that I have never had a problem with SolarTex or the polyester version of Solarfilm.

The downside of profilm is that it is heavier than Solarfilm and much more expensive.

However, it is (or seems) much more sticky, goes round compound curves without any problems and seems much tougher.

I am away this weekend, but the model is sat assembled in the shed. I am not expecting to come back to puddles of plastic

One alternative to Solarfilm that seems lighter but with similar characteristics to Profilm is Light-Tex which I got from SWM a couple of years ago. I was very impressed with that.

Martyn

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Sorry - regarding bubbling, I tack the edges than wipe the iron from the inside moving outwards with just enough heat to make the film tack stick without shrinking and use a soft cloth to ease out the air. It's an iterative process, the risk is too much heat so that the film shrinks than pulls asymetrically from the centre. When there is no air left, I then finish the edges and then shrink the middle part of the wing with a heat gun then wipe over with a cloth as the film cools..

M

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I've got the WM Toughlon on the Tornado, Profilm, Eazycote and Solarspan on the Skybolt and GS chinacote on various models but every one of them bubbles in storage. Still, it's only 2 minutes with the iron to rectify it. Toughlon also goes on well, I was very pleased with the metallic colours and nothing's come loose yet.

I've had problem rolls of Solartex and Solarspan polyester but not Solarfilm, lack of stick seems more a quality control issue than a generic problem with all Solar* products.

I've got a roll of HK 'Cub Yellow' kicking around that is definitely more Tango orange than banana yellow, I'll be trying that on the current build.

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Hi Bob

I would have thought that the only thing that will cause the bubbling will be the fact that the air trapped in the wing (by the film) is expanding in the heat. I would have thought a strategically placed pinprick may be a solution..

Martyn

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Posted by Bob Cotsford on 05/07/2013 09:38:12:

It's looking neat Martyn. Do you think the Oracover sticks any tighter than Solar* films? It'll be interesting to see if the PVA stops the film bubbling with the predicted high 20s forecast this weekend. I've used all makes of film and have yet to find one that doesn't bubble over sheet, or am I missing something in my application technique?

Hi Bob

I have been away camping this weekend. Got back this lunchtime. There are no bubbles under any of the sheet surfaces that I can see. The temp in the shed is way up in the 90's at the moment..

BW

Martyn

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Hi Bob

The stuff I used was floor sealing PVA - it comes in gallon bottles at a fraction of the cost (pro-rata) of Resin-W. Thinned out really easily. I am going to try the same stuff (thinned) on the Magic tailplane to stick down F/G cloth before it gets varnished. I'll let you know how I get on

Regards

Martyn

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