Originally Posted by markbogus50

While preparing the fuse to get it ready for finishing,I did the following mod to the bottom deck cutout areas. Almost anyone building these kits will likely be making similiar cutouts for lightening purposes,but this creates a potential problem I feel when it comes to covering. Monokote has a lot of pull while shrinking,& the bottom deck always seems to be an area where it wants to continue to shrink,due to the wide unsupported area of foam/balsa running crossgrain. Length wise,balsa/foam is stiff,but flexes easily crossgrain.
I added 1/2" wide strips of 1/16" balsa across the open face of each crossgrain cutout w/poly glue & taped in place. Long grain area is already strong enough. I definately feel this is worth the extra hour or so it takes,& really adds a lot of stiffness to this area. Rudder & elevater cutouts seem ok because of the extra thickness of foam in these areas.
One other note-make sure to add vent holes inbetween cutouts (rudd./elev.) to prevent covering from ballooning from trapped air.

You are right, I did this on the proto type and have already done this on both the new ones we are currently building.

Bob

Originally Posted by walkerk122

What the heck, it's not covered yet...only kidding

Looks great Mark! Thank you for sharing, every time I read one of your posts or look at one of your pictures I see something I'm want to incorporate in my current project! Please do more build threads

Thanks Kevin,been doing builds for a long time. Here is a link to some recent projects :

http://community.webshots.com/user/markbogus46

Originally Posted by markbogus50

Thanks Kevin,been doing builds for a long time. Here is a link to some recent projects :

http://community.webshots.com/user/markbogus46

I did not make the connection until I saw the Hamilton Watch extra in there...we've crossed pathes at least once Mark. I saw it at Toledo and had the privilage of talking with you about it.

For anyone who has not seen this airplane it is UNBELIEVABLE!! If I remember correctly Mark hand cut individual pieces of monokote for the graphics on that baby!!

Ah yes! I read all about that plane to! One of the finest covering jobs around!

I saw in some of Bobs photos that he had put some balsa on the belly in between all the holes!
Thanks heaps for sharing Mark, I'm also learning lots from your post!

Originally Posted by Mr.E

Sure, if you buy the plane ticket..

And Yea Greg, I have heard stories about the women of Australia. If the chick from the Miss Universe pageant is any indicator or the norm, it could be a great visit...

No probs! If you bring over a Da 120 and a slick 540 kit for me as a gift, I will happily pay for your plane ticket! Lol!

Thanks Guys,only problem is I never get to keep any of them But my customers take very good care of them ,promote them & fly them hard. Dave Kelly owns the Tic Toc (Hamilton Watch) Extra & has hundreds of flights on it & still flys it regularly.Joe has been a good customer & friend for almost 10 yrs. now,& has several of the builds. Had the Tutima Extra owned by Doc Martuccio at the Toledo show this year,along with a modified Carden Extra done in the Breitling scheme,& a Russian Yak both owned by Dave Chisholm.
Have the 55% all ready to go,wiped down,& ready to start the process. First task will be to pre-cover all the bottom hinge-line edges up to the centerline-then about an 1/8 " onto the upper edge,so all the hinge holes are covered. The upper edge is left bare for now-& I will seal the top hinge line in one piece eventually. I wipe down the entire airframe several times with mineral spirits until no dust residue shows up anymore on the cloth. Also,my shop area has been vacuumed,& is hyper-clean.I also start each session by wiping down the 4' x 8' glass table .This makes an excellant surface to cut Monokote on & cover in general,& also comes in handy when cutting out graphics.Most of the Toledo entries all have wood cowls/pants & are completely Monokoted including lettering & logos.

As long as I have known Mark, I have always marveled at his covering jobs. His building is one thing, but his covering skills are another thing. Through the last few years, I think that we have learned from each other. I try to explain what a giant plane needs to stay together the way we fly them, and he has taught me some of his covering skills.
I have build and covered many planes, but a few year back, I decided to do another Carden build myself and lighten it up quite a bit and posted the build here on Giants during the process.

https://www.flyinggiants.com/forums/...en+260+project When it came time to cover it, Mark did some explaining of his techniques. I followed them and ended up with a great job that still looks great today. And not a bubble anywhere. When I see postings of how guys complain about Monokote not being any good, I see Mark produce another Toledo show winner that holds up to the sun and the test of time. Up until it's demise by the present owner, the first plane Mark built for my nephew in 2002, I would have gladly put it on the table at Toledo this year and felt it would have stood a chance at placing. His covering jobs hold up that good.
So, As Mark starts to cover this plane, I know it will be a plane to be proud of and I will gladly tell everyone who did the job.
As Mark mentioned earlier I will have this new plane covered in a scheme I did on my 260 build to have a matching pair.

Crazy! Would love to vet some tips from you Mark on covering to last!

Andrew,
Well, I don't know how far he will get into his covering details, but he has already mentioned his first big tips. Having everything clean from the work area surrounding, the table and surface to be worked on. But the biggest is cleaning the wood of the model by vacuming and then wiping the area to be covered with mineral spirits until no dust shows up on the rag or white paper towel used to wipe the surface down. It surprised me how much dust I still picked up after I thought I had cleaned the plane competely. His believe is that not only is he getting the dust out of the wood, but when we build our models we handle them and there are oils in your hands that get into the wood, so this process is like prep work for getting rid of oils prior to a paint job on a car. The next big one is washing your hands frequently during the covering to help prevent the transfer of oils in you hands.
Also, the new Monokote takes more heat to apply. he has some neat ideas here,I will let him explain as he goes along here.
I hope Mark explains some during this process. Sure worked for me.

Stay tuned.

Here's a nice set of tips on covering. I followed them on my last build and it did end up pretty nice! Some wrinkles only showed up where I made some mistakes, in the parts which I was still "getting used to the method". Where I managed to get it right, no wrinkles showed up!

https://www.flyinggiants.com/forums/...ad.php?t=25649

Another very important thing I noticed is to use a sock on the iron. It really helps a lot in keeping things mirror smooth. I ended up following the advice I got on another thread here in FG and used a baby sock. I set the iron to 300F, but you may want to experiment a little to find what temperature works best for you, as I believe it depends on the thickness of the sock.

Another tip is to cut the covering over a glass surface. The blade slides a lot more easily!

Below is a picture of the "bench" where I left all my covering tools. I found it really handy to keep them all on a separate table, so my main workbench was completely free for the part being covered.

Originally Posted by RMaia

Here's a nice set of tips on covering. I followed them on my last build and it did end up pretty nice! Some wrinkles only showed up where I made some mistakes, in the parts which I was still "getting used to the method". Where I managed to get it right, no wrinkles showed up!

https://www.flyinggiants.com/forums/...ad.php?t=25649

Another very important thing I noticed is to use a sock on the iron. It really helps a lot in keeping things mirror smooth. I ended up following the advice I got on another thread here in FG and used a baby sock. I set the iron to 300F, but you may want to experiment a little to find what temperature works best for you, as I believe it depends on the thickness of the sock.

Another tip is to cut the covering over a glass surface. The blade slides a lot more easily!

Below is a picture of the "bench" where I left all my covering tools. I found it really handy to keep them all on a separate table, so my main workbench was completely free for the part being covered.

Good advice & pretty much how I do the basic job of covering-although I feel it is important to wipe down the airframe with a solvant based cleaner like mineral spirits/Prep-sol,ect. to get the surface really clean-this may take several passes.
When doing anything more advanced,including any type of graphics-I use poster paper to make up an accurate template.Just about any type of design can be made,including lettering,logos,ect-& this same template can be used to either cut out the graphic on glass,or locate & mark on the model.For marking-I use a Staedtler pigment liner pen (03) & have found this to give the best combination of smudge free line & easy cleanup wiping off with acetone.
It is important when applying a graphic or second layer-to allow the underlying area of covering to "breathe"-I use a modified Woodpecker tool (use a single wheel-& have sharpened each spoke very sharp like a needle)-this will allow you to aerate the area fairly quickly.
Ironing down the ENTIRE surface after shinking like mentioned is very important-& always use a sock unless doing edges or hard to get areas. Going around compound curves takes a lot of pull & shinking small sections at a time-& patience-using a combination of iron & heat gun.
Doing all the hinge line edges currently & getting ready to start gluing in hinges tonight on the 55%. When doing hinges-I prep them first by putting a small dab of vasiline on the metal center pin on both sides-then getting the heat gun & flowing it in to the joint-be careful to only do the hinge joint area itself. I glue all the hinges into one half of the surface (ail.,elev.,rudder) and let this set upright (so epoxy doesn't flow out into the joint). Basically I have the surface sitting upright -then go down the line of hinge holes & fill each one with slo-epoxy using a glue syringe.
After the first surface has set up in about an hour,I repeat & do the other half,making sure the second component is setting upright.
Mark

Originally Posted by Mr.E

Sure, if you buy the plane ticket..

And Yea Greg, I have heard stories about the women of Australia. If the chick from the Miss Universe pageant is any indicator or the norm, it could be a great visit...

Nah she ain't much of an indication. Fortunately we only send the ugly ones overseas

Cheers,

Jeff

Just got the wing bags! man they are quality! And heavy! very impressed with them! also got a prop bag

Took a break from building the 55% this weekend and went flying! Also picked up a little sebach 30e from sebart and have nearly finished putting this together!

How are things coming Bam?
Dan

Great but slow! Life keeps getting in the way, you know, wifes birthday here, working on the new house there etc etc...
I also took about 1 kilo out of my EF yak by taking out the old school DA 100 on RE-2 pipes and changing to a DA-120 on standard muffs. Changed the tank to a soda bottle as well. Just need to fly it now!

As for the 55%er, the build is finished and I have been installing all the flight gear before I prep for covering. Have nearly finished this! Will take some pics in the morning.
Used a powerbox royal spectrum, a123's, jr 8911's every where. Probably my neatest install so far!
Cheers!