Using a covering frame is critical for getting a good covering job. I personally don't use lip gloss, as it just doesn't hold the film firmly enough for my needs. Glue stick has served me well on most cases, as it has a good grip on the film while still being somewhat repositionable.
Plastic wrap really is terrible stuff for covering models. My experience is that it goes slack in hot weather, has zero torsional rigidity, and snags on anything it gets close to. Mylar is great for covering outdoor models, and it's lighter than plastic wrap. For the purposes of indoor flying, plastic wrap is just as heavy as tissue.
I'd recommend you start out by getting some Ultrafilm and Super Ultrafilm from Ray Harlan. Both are easy to use as indoor films go. You'll need to use a covering frame, and your best results will come from very carefully wadding the film up into a little ball before putting it on the frame. When doing this, make sure your fingers are *CLEAN and DRY* lest you tear the film. You want to thoroughly crinkle the film. Once done, the film will be statically charged and will unwad itself most of the way. You can gently tease it back out flat onto a clean, snag-free surface, and use a soft, clean brush to stretch it out flat on that surface. The more time you spend on this step, the better your covering job. If you get it right, you can just spray 3M-77 on your covering frame and gently place that right on top of the film, press it down for good contact, and lift it away for a perfect panel of film. Then go mist 3M-77 on your flying surfaces, arrange them on that clean, snag free surface, and lay the covering down on top of them. Once you carefully press the film onto the entirety of the top surface of each flying surface, you can cut them out with a soldering iron or cautery (I use the former). When using a soldering iron, you can leave about 1/32" excess on all edges and then go back afterwards and get that bit to fasten down to the flying surface for even better security (I've had trouble with covering peeling after a few years, and that's one of my tricks for preventing it).
This set of techniques is a little different in some ways that what a lot of other folks use, but it gives a perfect result with a little practice--the covering stays seemingly drum tight on your flying surfaces, but isn't so tight that it will warp even the lightest of parts (and that includes the 15 mg stab of an AROG). I've found from experience that time taken in getting a perfect covering job is rewarded by larger numbers on the stopwatch.
-Joshua Finn
Received on Fri Sep 05 2014 - 21:23:26 CEST
This archive was generated by Yannick on Sat Dec 14 2019 - 19:13:48 CET