Projects New purchase

Topgun73

Member
I bought today my first Nitro plane. It's a Ultimate Biplane. 2 stroke engine which sounds sweet as a nut. The covering on it however is faded and somewhat tatty. I'm thinking of recovering and wondered if anyone has had experience in a project like this? The previous owner has patched it up here there and everywhere. I'm sure it will fly with its existing covering but it just looks ugly. Any comments would be helpful. Cheers guys
 

Tony

Staff member
You will need a covering iron and a heat gun. A hair dryer may be able to be used to help shrink the covering. Make sure to get an extra roll of covering. You will make mistakes and it sucks when you run out of covering. Monokote is the norm, but Ultracote is what many of the top builders use.
 

Topgun73

Member
Thanks Tony, Available in the UK is a product called solarfilm exactly the same a monokote and ultracote but at a reduced cost. a roll of solarfilm 2mtrs is £7 GBP against for same coverage of say monokote £17 GBP. Was really looking for answers with best way to take old covering off. Thanks
 

Tony

Staff member
best way to take it off? Take an exacto or razor blade and cut the film where it's NOT touching wood. Then just peel it off. It will pull wood fibers up with it though. You can try heating it up with a hair dryer on high, might reduce the splintering when you are removing it.
 

Topgun73

Member
Fantastic cheers Tony, I've ordered an iron and will think about what colours I'm going to re cover the plane. and pop to model supply store in the next few days to get some film. looking at the top wing I may need to make some repairs as the previous owner looks to have bodged the fixings. I'm going to take some pics of the plane from start to finish.
 

Tony

Staff member
Can't wait to see the pictures. It can be a pain doing this and getting it smooth, but you will get it down pretty quickly. I know all of my planes have hangar rash on them. It happens lol.
 

Tony

Staff member
Great stating point! I would find something a little less restrictive on the exhaust though. Those rubber tubes are cutting off some of the air flow. May be robbing the engine of power. Keep us updated with pics!!!
 

Topgun73

Member
Yeah Tony they are a little short also. I want the exhaust to go under the plane any crap etc can be blown down under the fuse. The motor by the way is a Thunder tiger .40 size, runs sweet as before I bought the plane asked for bench test. The plane cost me £75 GBP the motor to buy new is £52 GBP. So I got a bargain, what with the servos installed too.
 

Tony

Staff member
No matter what you do, it's going to blow oil everywhere. Keep some windex or whatever kind of window cleaner you have over there handy and a couple rolls of paper towels. You will need them lol. Oh, and get some plugs for the exhaust. They drip like mad. my 600 has a drip, I think he needs to go to the doctor lol.
 

Topgun73

Member
HI guys, quick update. The plane has been stipped down and repairs done to wings as found cracking and holes near leading edge of both wings. When removing covering from turtle deck at he nose of the model I noticed that this didn't come off quite so easy as the rest of the fuse. The reason for this was the builder of the plane had used polyfiller and the holes around the mounting bracket for top wing were so big they just looked crappy. Ripped that all off made new former for pilot side as this was knackard. need to get some more Balsa as do not have enough to replace turtle deck and complete repair prior to the recovering process. Pics of progress to follow in a few days but won't be able to do anymore until next week now as busy over the next few days with work.
 

Tony

Staff member
Isn't it great when you find hidden issues? lol. We have all been there. I will look forward to the pictures.
 

Topgun73

Member
All repairs done to turtle deck and covering will comence this evening after work. I'll post some pics of the before and inbetween pics. see you later with update.
 

cml001

Well-Known Member
No... I'm the one who needs to go see the doc...great look'n plane bud! I'd be very excited if I were u.... Like Tony said keep snap'n photos and keep us up to date. I look forward to seeing what u do with her!
 

Ron B

New Member
While you have the covering off make air holes between all the sections of the wing so once it is covered and it gets hot the open area won't want to blow up like a balloon. If yu get wrinkles you can use a pin or an exacto knife and cut the wrinkle open then iron down again. Just don't get in any hurry putting it on to help reduce wrinkles. If you are using opake film instead of transparent just put new film over the old film (after you cut out the wrinkles) on solid wood places like the alierons and rudder or elevator or cowling but you have to make sure ALL dirt and oils are clean completely off.
Good luck
 

Topgun73

Member
Slow but steady progress being made all parts cleaned and recovering has commenced. here are some pics of the progress so far.WP_20140205_17_49_51_Pro.jpgWP_20140205_17_50_08_Pro.jpgWP_20140205_22_56_41_Pro.jpgWP_20140207_00_17_22_Pro.jpgWP_20140207_00_17_55_Pro.jpg

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Topgun73

Member
So I've got down the fuse and all control surfaces all covered, Underside of fuse is all yellow and the rest of the plane is Red. got some parts to paint and then put it all back together. There are some additional things I'm planning but I'll leave these for when I put pics up showing completed job. Overall pretty happy with the recovering there were a few things that I found difficult but didn't rush it and not too bad for first ever attempt at covering with film.WP_20140207_00_17_55_Pro.jpgWP_20140209_21_04_17_Pro.jpgWP_20140209_21_05_03_Pro.jpgWP_20140209_21_05_55_Pro.jpg

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