I've got my J'tech Panzl covered with Monokote. As usual, my covering job was nearly flawless. Not to toot my own horn, but Cspaced even commented that it looked like a composite. Not a single bubble or wrinkle. I took my wings over to Cspace for vinyl. Some bubbles and wrinkles had appeared prior to taking them across the street, so I smoothed them out with the heat gun and an oven mit. Chris did a fantastic job on the top of the wings - see avatar. Tonight we attemped to apply the "Air Guard" to the bottom. More bubbles and wrinkles had appeared. I attempted to smooth them out with the same heat gun and oven mit method. I was a bit taken aback, cause I've never had Monokote bubble up like this before. Most of the bubbles were removed, but once we attempted to apply vinyl, the Monokote lifted and many large bubbles appeared. I poked a hole in one of the bubbles and peeled a strip of covering off. There was absolutely no adhesion to the wood. Now I've covered and re-covered many planes with Monokote and in some cases, I've had to sand the covering off. The wings were sanded with 600 grit and wiped down with a cloth many times prior to covering.

Now I'm going to have to re-cover the entire plane. At least it wont be difficult to remove. I'm definitely going to DEMAND my $200 that I spent on 4 50 foot rolls back. I wont get the money I spent on matching paint and vinyl back though... nor will I get the countless hours I spent covering and all the time Chris spent on the vinyl.

I'm so freakin' pissed right now I cant see straight!

I had the same issue covering 40% Carden wings a few weeks ago. Could not get it to stick and in trying to do so with the iron, the finished product was unacceptable to me. I ripped it all off and used Ultracote. I just sent the rolls back to Hobbico last week. I really prefer the finish of Monoktoe over Ultracote but I just can't deal with the quality issues.

Did Hobbico offer your money back or have you got to that point yet?

I have used Monokote for many years with no problems and always an awsome job, but my latest project I had many problems with it. Seemed to be more difficult to get it to stick and shrink right. Also seems like mabey it has been changed in some way, not as satisfied with Monokote as in the past.

i am surprised to hear this. i have always been an ultracote guy myself. but i know a couple of pro builders that will use nothing but monokote any more due to the finish and painability and believe it or not...the adhesion! sorry about your bum deal there. i guess i'm glad i've continued to use ultracote!

i'd definitely talk with hobbico and see what they are prepared to do for you. they are a good company and if you are polite about your complaint i bet they'll atleast offer replacement monocote....that is, if that is an acceptable answer for you.

just my $.02

matt

It sucks for sure, the plane was shaping up to be a beauty. Whats more of a bummer is the time that's been put into it so far and now we are back to square one *sigh*. Well the second time around it'll be even better

I just can't get over how easy the monokote pulled off, Jeff is a master monokote guru and his work is always next to flawless. When I saw the wings and stabs after he had finished them they really did look like composite parts, they were so smooth and shiny. Then it just went down hill. A few wrinkles started popping up, no big deal - just iron them down. But then they just kept coming back and in more places. The more we tried to work them away the worse it got, there was just no adhesion to it at all.

Just had the same issue with Ultracoat......but mine happened in flight.



I prefer Monocote for the sheen. Its a little harder to work with but worth the effort. This plane was done with Ultracoat to match the cowl and get the plane in the air quickly.

I've always prefered Monokote ot Ultracote until now. Cost, adhesion, gloss and the overall finished product (at least for me) has always been far superior to Ultracote. IF I get replacement rolls, I'm definitely asking for a couple cans of Balsarite. Hindesight....

I talked to Hobbico and they said to send them back for evaluation. I'm hoping they at least replace the rolls with new ones. I had bought 4 25 ft rolls so $200 lost if they do nothing. If they do replace them, I won't use them unless I can be sure that I can get adhesion without pressing the iron down on the surface. I used Balsarite on my first few Monokote jobs 25+ years ago but stopped because it was not needed. I guess I could try it again now that there are issues. Anyone have a guess how much weight Balsarite would add on a 40% plane?

By the way, I covered a 35% about 2 years ago with Monokote and although it had that nice smooth paint finish, I did have some areas come loose on that plane. I had to use pressure to get those areas back down but overall that plane still looks very good.

MonoKote- what else can I say? "Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!" ( Like a pist off animal ). I used to love the stuff. Back when it stuck! I've been dressing all my planes and customers planes with Ultracoate since. You'd think they would spend a little more time in the R&D department!!!! My 2 cents for what its worth.....

I just checked RCU and it looks like I'm not alone... The Hobbico rep is adamant no changes have been made to the Monokote formula. Maybe so, but the QC department needs an overhaull!

Damn, this is going to set me back a month...

Dang this is not good. I covered a couple of planes in MonoCote and could not stretch it well and ended up pulling my hair out but it looked so good. I've seen planes cowls covered with it and it looked like paint. Of course this guy knew how to work it !

I switched to Ultra Cote just because I could do a better job with it. I am no covering guru I tell ya but I hate wrinkles and bubbles.

Good luck and tell us how it goes with Hobbico.

Hey can any one help. I hate to change the subject but how do we go about starting a new thread?? Its been awhile since ive started one and have a question about QQ yaks i would like to get advise about. Thanks.

On this page go near the top......you'll see the thread listed with folders.

Simply click on the folder "Building tricks etc...."

This brings you to the Giant Scale forum with Building as the Sub forum. Once on that page at the top of the threads there is a NEW THREAD button on the left. Click it and away you go.

well I am no pro when it comes to covering although I will admit I have had far more success with Monokote than Ultracote. Some secrets to my success are as follows:

I always sand my balsa with 400 grit sandpaper, then take my parts outside and blow them off with compressed air, then use a vacuum with a brush on it and lastly use a tack cloth to get even the finest of dust off each piece.

If I am covering a plane where seams in the monokote will end up over top of open framework I will join the pieces on glass first using a trim iron and then monokote trim solvent, leave it 24 hours then apply it to the plane using a covering iron.

I have found recently that monokote seems to require a higher heat than the past, I use a scrap piece to iron down a scrap piece of balsa to find the correct temperature where the adhesive sticks really well, as I have said it seems as though monokote nowadays requires higher heat, for both the iron as well as a heat gun.

I always use a sock over my covering iron, I use an actual sock that is thicker than the socks that are available specifically for covering irons (or use two covering iron socks at the same time), this does two things, allows me to use more heat when needed and also press a little harder and not have to worry about denting the balsa below.

I do not use Balsarite...that stuff seals balsa and often times you can work out small bubbles through the balsa itself.

I will say this, some of monokote's colors act differently than others. Seems as though the darker colours require more heat and have less shrinking capabilities than the lighter colors, white is easiest to work with, black is more difficult and will show finer scratches.

I NEVER use paper towel when cleaning my planes. I use cloth baby diapers (clean ones of course) and for removing oily residue I use Dow Aerosol Scrubbing bubbles and to polish I use monokote polish or Plexus plastic polish. both work excellent and leave the plane super shiny.

In my avatar you will see one of my planes. It was covered in solid white, then I applied vinyl graphics over it. This plane is over two years old and I have only needed to reshrink the underside of the fuse once after a small repair, all other surfaces have never been touched and there is not a wrinkle or bubble to be found

Good Luck!