Jump to content

Covering vintage models.


Recommended Posts

I noticed the thread on mylar covering, something I toyed with some years back but, being a lazy so and so covering a model twice then decorating it didn't appeal.

I bumped into an old (now late) acquaintance about that time (10 years or so back?), his forte was wakefields and he said smart money is using icarus PC 31, this is a material for making kites, a kind of ripstop nylon that is actually polyester with a polycarbonate coating. At that time I was happy to continue using solarfilm products but nowadays, needs must when the devil rides.

Back then it was about £20 for 2 square metres but, if you google it you'll find you can buy similar today at around a fiver a metre off the roll which is about 1.5 metres wide, btw the 31 in the name refers to the weight of a square metre in grammes. 

The material heat shrinks.

I'll give you the cons first as they are significant to armchair modellers

1. It needs a solvent type adhesive due to the polycarbonate coating, you can try but I settled on a heat activated adhesive called heatseal 2000 (google it), this is noxious stuff and needs to be treated with plenty of open air. It's about a fiver a bottle. FWIW balsaloc didn't work too well. Some folks actually use contact adhesive but that's a real chore.

2. When using the adhesive it is best, where the material overlaps, to paint both mating faces with the glue. This glue is extremely tenacious so practice first and get it right first time.

3. It is permeable, ever so slightly, if you use IC power it is best to seal it with one of the fuel proofers, gliders and rubber powered can use thinned dope. I don't do electric so can't comment. I'd suggest that even with an unthinned coat of fuel proofer it doesn't weigh as much as untreated solartex, just my view you understand.

4. When cutting it it seems to blunt scalpel blades much more readily than say solartex.

5. Needs a significantly higher heat seating on your iron to shrink it than solarfilm.

The pros 

1. many colours available.

2. about 1/3 the weight of solartex

3. The chinese have been mass producing it and it's brought the cost down.

4. Once glued and shrunk in place it seems quite stable, ie the sun doesn't make it sag.

 

My junior 60 is stripped ready to recover as soon as the fine weather gets here. I also have a Great Planes slowpoke 40 to finish off and I'm going to use it on that, too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When I first covered my KK New Junior 60 in 1963, I used nylon which I glued to the balsa frames with balsa cement, and then stretched the nylon and hardened the balsa cement with an electric fire. I then clear doped the nylon which I also dried with an electric fire to avoid condensation blotches. I replaced the nylon in 1976 using the same procedure. I have recently recovered the fuselage and tail plane and fin with Oratex which was an easy task, but I am not sure how it's weight compares with nylon or anything else so I will be interested to know how the kite material works out.

 

P7150088.JPG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...