A question of coverings... help please?

[Richard Walton]

Very late, I know, but I've just arrived at the stage where I can think about covering my Ballerina. But, I have a bit of a conundrum that I would like some advice on please? I'm set on covering the model in Stearmanesque colour scheme. Blue fuselage with yellow wings and fin without the red and white tail stripes. Other club members are singing the praises of Solartex saying how easy it is to use and how so much better it is than Solarfilm. I'm looking at the Vintage Blue and Vintage Yellow Solartex but note that it is heavier than Solarfilm. The Solarfilm website recommends it for use on medium size models upwards and this raises the question of will it be too heavy for the Ballerina?

Question is simple then Solarfilm or Solartex?

Thanks in advance for any help given.

[john stones 1 - Moderator]

Hobby king Film strong,light easy to use, good price, far better than solar film.

John

[Don Fry]

Second that, and some nifty colours.

[Don Fry]

And to a certain extent, putting on covering is a knack. Solarfilm do good instructions, but sometimes you mess up, and pull it off and cut a new piece. Much less frustrating if it's a bit cheaper, and you have more to waste.

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[David Davis]

I only use Solartex on models with a wing area bigger than 600 sq.ins, but having said that, if you're new to covering, Solartex is very easy to use compared with film.

[Jon Laughton]

I use Oracover as a preference to Soalrfilm or Solartex...easy to apply and goes round curves beautifully....it can be pricey though

If you do use Solartex the company that makes it made some useful 'how to' videos which would be worth searching for

[Peter Miller]

Send 4 first class stamps to Solarfilm and you will get a free DVD on covering.

Personally I use Solarfilm Supershrink Polyeaster. It is more tolerant to over enthusiastic application of hear. Shrinks perfectly and is less "plasticky|" than the others

[brokenenglish]

Richard, Just to encourage you a bit, IMO your question isn't of any great importance!

Think about it... Although it seems logical to think "Solartex for bigger models and film for small", the simple fact that only big models use a lot of covering material, while smaller models use much less covering, means that the weight difference is only significant on bigger models.

On a small model, the weight difference between tex and film is very small indeed.

I have a friend who has a 36" Vic Smeed Tomboy, covered in Solartex... It looks superb and flies perfectly. It was seeing that small model that made me realise that, with the small areas covered, any extra weight due to Solartex is negligible...

So to reassure yourself, calculate the weight difference between tex and film, for the area that you're going to use, and then ask yourself whether that weight difference (certainly less than 1 oz on a smallish model) could possibly make the plane overweight...

Edited By brokenenglish on 23/12/2016 09:58:49

[Don Fry]

To answer your question from another angle. Build a top half of a wingtip, and a few inches of wing inboard. Any scrap will do, and if it takes more than an hour, including design, sourcing scrap and build, you are being fussy.

Then practice till you get it right, with whatever you choose to use. Well worth the effort. You have invested a lot of time in that airframe. You care about the result. Don't use it as a test bed for learning to cover.

Remember, no one knows what horrors you bury under covering and paint. Cover neatly and you are the man.

[Peter Miller]

Posted by Donald Fry on 23/12/2016 10:47:34:

 

Remember, no one knows what horrors you bury under covering and paint. Cover neatly and you are the man.

Or as we used to say back in the days of dope and tissue.

A good covering job will hide a bad building job but nothing hides a bad covering job

I also remember what Klaus Maikus who used to build super control line stiunters.

Everyone looks at the nose and cockpit  and that area. No one looks at the wing tips and tail unit. so they won't notice any rough bits in those areas

Edited By Peter Miller on 23/12/2016 10:58:51

[cymaz]

Posted by Peter Miller on 23/12/2016 10:52:49:

Posted by Donald Fry on 23/12/2016 10:47:34:

Remember, no one knows what horrors you bury under covering and paint. Cover neatly and you are the man.

Or as we used to say back in the days of dope and tissue.

A good covering job will hide a bad building job but nothing hides a bad covering job

Everyone looks at the nose and cockpit and that area. No one looks at the wing tips and tail unit. so they won't notice any rough bits in those areas

Edited By Peter Miller on 23/12/2016 10:58:51

Too true, and not many people tip the model upside down either!

[Don Fry]

Oh the cynicism, I am shocked.

[cymaz]

It's true !!

You look at a model, look at the cockpit, see what the engine is...........and then stroke the wing !

[Richard Walton]

Thanks for all the advice guys; it's really appreciated.

I looked at the Hobby King film and whilst I agree it is cheaper to buy, the only place I can get a yellow colour is to pay nearly £12 p&p to get it from Holland. Plus I don't need 10m of covering to leave at least 8m sat in the shed.

As many have said the additional weight of the Solartex won't be that significant and there will be an inverted OS52 Surpass up front to haul it along. So I'm going to order the vintage yellow and blue as previously stated.

Anyway, today saw the first time I put all the structural bits together, so I took a picture or two. Hopefully these will come out below:

Edited By Richard Walton on 23/12/2016 17:59:28

Edited By Richard Walton on 23/12/2016 18:05:16

[Peter Miller]

That looks briliant.

[Richard Walton]

Posted by Peter Miller on 23/12/2016 18:00:21:

That looks briliant.

Thanks Peter! Coming from you, sir, that is indeed a compliment.

It's pretty much as you designed it with the exception of:

1. I went for micro-servos in the wings so that I could have differential aileron throws, and
2. I made the underside of the fuselage in front of the wing removable so that I could get direct access to the SLEC fuel tank.
3. Steerable tail wheel - we have a grass runway.

 

Edited By Richard Walton on 23/12/2016 18:11:39

[David Davis]

Posted by Peter Miller on 23/12/2016 18:00:21:

That looks briliant.

Doesn't it just!