jbloom

And another question...

I'm anticipating the arrival of an already assembled Carl Goldberg Super Chipmunk. It's in need of some new monokote. I want to put Art Scholl's colors on it, but I'm not sure of the best way to do that.

Should the red stripes on the wings be placed on top of a fully covered in white wing? Or, do I try to overlap white and red to create the stripes. This seems much harder, but might save on the weight. It seems doing it all in white, then trimming with the red on top of that would be the simplest.

John

airborne

My Feedback: (1)

John,

I wouldn't think of it as a weight savings. You're not talking enough covering to matter. I would go individual pieces of red and white, overlapping by a 1/8" or so. This should give the smoothest, bubble-free finish. Putting iron-on covering on top of iron-on covering most always leaves to bubbles, no matter how careful you are.

As for the amount of work, they're about the same. You still have to measure and place the pieces regardless.

Best of luck.

campbec

Hi John,

I covered mine in white monocoat and added the red and blue trims and stripes with the matching paint from the spray tins. I'm no expert painter but I was happy with the finished result.

I'm also sure that airborn's suggestions are better but for me a little too time consuming.

Cheers,

Colin

jbloom

I was also thinking that I'd put the white down first then use the top flight monokote solvent to adhere the red stripes.. Ever use that method before?

MinnFlyer

My Feedback: (4)

The MonoKote solvent works great!

What I did (And would do again) is to cover the wing in white. Then cut your red stripes. Lay down a red stripe, then, use the backing as a spacer between the last red stripe and the next. It's a good way to keep them spaced properly.

jstrawn

I did mine years ago with Coverite and Dope. Took me 6 weeks (3 or 4 coats a night of a given color), but was the most beautiful, hardest finish I've ever seen. Too bad when the wing fell off (inverted, the wing dowel fell out!).

CafeenMan

Does anybody know what Monokote solvent really is? It would be much more economical to buy it from a hardware store than in little bottles. I'm sure it's just a standard solvent or a mix of solvents such as MEK or something. Anybody happen to know?

huggins

I alway thought Monokote solvent was acetone based. I think it also has something else in it to keep it from evaporating so quick like straight acetone does. I don't know for sure, it's just my theory. You can use acetone the same way you use the trim solvent, but it dries off pretty quick. For no more than you use for each application a bottle of the solvent should last a long time.

Mike

CafeenMan

That's why I suggest possibly MEK. It's probably the next "cooler" solvent from acetone. Basically can be used for the same things, but has a slightly slower evaporation rate, but still evaporates quickly. I know that MEK will clean the adhesive off the back of monokote, so I see no reason why it wouldn't work. I wonder what can be mixed in to slow it down.

Gringo Flyer

My Feedback: (18)

I talked to my wife (she was a chemist ina former life).

The trim solvent contains cyclohexanone (which is in the same class as MEK or even acetone), naptha (is a volatile compound with a higher boiling point than acetone or MEK), and gamma bytrol acetone (another acetone with an added compound). Her guess is that the naptha is what slows the drying.

I guess the trick would be try to find naptha and knowing what portions to mix.

Gringo Flyer

My Feedback: (18)

FYI the naptha is what is in mothballs and gives off that distinct smell.


Man its fantastic when 40,000 in tuition and 4 years at a private catholic institution allows you to figure out what is in trim solvent

Xrod

My Feedback: (2)

A ready source of naptha is a bottle of lighter fluid such as Ronsonol. Can be found at every super market.

mstroh3961

My Feedback: (4)

One other method is using blue and red sign vinyl on white mono.

Gringo Flyer

My Feedback: (18)

I just remembered that most paint stores like Sherwin Williams will carry naptha in quarts or in gallons.

PlaneKrazee

My Feedback: (14)

A seven dollar bottle of trim solvent will last for several complicated trim schemes. You only use a tiny amount. I would suprised if you used more than one ounce per plane.

apalsson

My Feedback: (1)

jbloom,

I did my Chipmunk (1/5) in Monokote by laying down the white base colour first, then the red colour of the trailing edge of the wing, then the blue leading edge. I overlapped the red and blue by about 1/2" over the white where it joined.

I then cut the red stripes and aligned them like Mike described, or by using the backing as a guide.

If you are careful with the iron and only seal the edges with higher temp, you won't get any bubbles. If you want a top job, you can always lay the stripes down in Windex and leade it overnight to dry. Then seal the edges with your iron on low temp.

blvdbuzzard

I have found that brake-cleen works well for trim solvent. It evaporate enough to do the job but is not so fast it is gone before you get the covering down. I spray the area I am putting the covering, slide it in place and use a rubber squegee to pull some of the solvent out. Let it dry for a day or two and you are ready to go.


I also did the over all white and then red and blue over the white.


Dru.

Zipperneck

My Feedback: (1)

I figure that if I'm putting around 700 bucks into my Chipmunk build - plane, 4 stroke engine, fiberglass cowling+pants, pitts muffler, OS mount, high-torque servos, 2.4 GHz receiver... I'm not going to try to save a few pennies on trying to use some "imitation" monokote trim solvent substitute!

My 2 cents,

Zipperneck

Avaiojet

John,

Measure the red strips, length and width. I'll cut them out of vinyl and send them to you for cheap. Save you a bunch of time.

PM me if your interested.

Charles