Covering a Wing With Polyspan
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- Опубликовано: 24 фев 2013
- This is a detailed (read: long!) video showing the process of covering a model airplane wing with Polyspan. The subject for this video is the upper wing of the new, beautiful Aerodrome R/C 1:6 scale Albatros D.III. The wing is very scale, and incorporates an undercambered airfoil which can be tricky to cover. The video will show you that it is not a difficult task, and anyone with some time and patience will be able produce great results. The video starts with applying adhesive to the structure, attaching and trimming the covering, and shrinking. Watch for the next video in the series, which will pick up where this one leaves off, and show you how to get the wing ready for paint, apply the paint, and finally how to apply markings.
The things I am not: I am not an actor, nor a passionate raconteur of tales of greatness, nor a professional video editor. Nor am I a fashionista, or a stickler about grooming. I am a modeler with many years of experience building traditional balsa model airplane frameworks, and I hope to pass some of my skills and knowledge on to other modelers so that the art of building will continue. 
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Great video. Nice to see building and covering skills being promoted. Building your own plane is half the fun of the hobby, surely!
Awesome video, thanks for the much valued lesson.
I just acquired a Top Flite S.E.5a kit and was wondering what I was going to use to cover the undercambered wings. I now have my answer. Thanks for a most helpful and informative video!
I really appreciate the detail you give in this video, thanks for helping a fledgling first-time builder.
MsSingingcrow My pleasure! It's great to know that the video is helpful. Thanks for the comment.
Great video Frank! Very informative.
Immer gut, etwas neues dazu zu lernen. Danke für das Video!
Many thanks for this great video. I think I'll have a go at covering with Polyspan.
I hadn't intended to watch all 57 minutes of your video, but just to see how another modeler applies covering, I did. I laughed to myself when I saw your method of picking up a #11 blade because I use the same method. Ouch! What was also interesting is that we use the same procedure when cutting and sealing around ailerons and convex portions of the wing structure. I guess if you do it long enough, the best methods come to the top for all modelers. Great job!
Thanx for sharing your technique with us.
Great tutorial, thanks!
That sir was a master piece in covering I am in awe of your skills you are a very clever man
Thanks Stuart! Don't give me too much praise though. It really isn't that hard to do.
I think that covering probably scares a lot of would-be builders from building models. Your video demo goes slow enough with enough detail to inspire people to go ahead and do it. We in California have some problems obtaining Stiks It and dopes. I have tried water based Mod Podge and it seems to be fair substitute for Stiks It or Balsa Rite. Brodak and Sig apparently can ship to California . A video done like this for iron on coverings like Parklite would be good too..
Good vid. Unfortunately I used the heat gun for a hair dryer and it was the last time I ever dried my hair ;)
Excellent video. Thank you
Good luck with the Top Flite SE-5a. I haven't seen one of those in a while! Perfect candidate for polyspan.
Excellent video, thanks much. There's a lot of experience in it and I learned a lot. Couldn't find the "next video" though, unless I'm missing it somewhere. Would love to see the doping, painting and markings from an obvious expert! Thanks again.
J Bee Thanks so much for the kind comments. I'm glad the video helped. One thing I learned when making videos is to never promise more videos! I'm ashamed to say that I have not made the next video showing the painting and markings. I meant to, I really did, but........
vonJaerschky Understand :). Perhaps on one of your next WW1 projects then!
I've never heard of polyspan till I watched this video. it's been a really long time since I've built a kit and honestly I'm thinking about getting back into it and ditching the BNF stuff. I miss the old peanut scale rubber band balsa kits I had as a kid so I figure I'd build em and convert em to rc. didn't want the weight of the tissue paper and I bet this stuff is probably even lighter! gonna have to try it out! thanks for the vid! love the info =)
+John Stewart Hi John. Polyspan is great stuff, but it is heavier than tissue. Truthfully, converting peanut scale models to RC is not that easy because everything is so small. It's possible and lots of guys have done it, but it's not that easy. One thing you could do is enlarge the plans by 75-100% and then cut out your own parts. Lots of free plans for models of all sizes available for download too. aerofred.com/ is a good site for that.
You are welcome, Gary Wingdowel! (If only everybody knew the history behind that username!) Are you going to use Koverall? It's great stuff too, and it is applied in the same way.
thanks for the info on the the video, gracias por la información en el video
could this be used on a wood frame as well?
Would a small roller be a quicker method for applying SIG stick it, the data sheet suggests an even coverage to the contact edge, with a roller a constant thickness of adhesive is achieve more easily.
Thanks for the great video.
Chris
+Chris Boyce Thanks Chris. A roller would probably work fine, especially on larger surface areas. I think for ribs and narrow edges a brush is the best choice, but I've never thought about a roller. You could always give it a try and let us know!
Do you mean on a fully sheeted surface, or solid wood? The wing in the video is a wooden framework. Yes, polyspan works well on solid surfaces, too.
Awesome video !!! Quick question: when sealing the polyspan after you have tightened it with the heat gun, are you using a regular nitrate dope or a low-shrink butyrate like the Sig Lite-Koat ? The reason I ask is because the polyspan is already "tight" after applying the heat gun, and with a couple of extra coats of tautening nitrate or butyrate I am afraid we could wrap the wing. Any specific product you use ?
I would very much appreciate your feedback.
Regards
Charles Bovalis
Thanks Charles. I used regular nitrate. In this case, I used Randolph nitrate dope that I got from Aircraft Spruce & Supply. I got it there because I was able to buy a gallon of dope and a gallon of thinner for much less than normal hobby brands. Randolph Coatings makes dopes for full scale aircraft. Brodak model dopes are actually made by Randolph. I haven't had any issues with warping, and as you can see with the Albatros wing, it's very thin.
Hi, really enjoyed your tutorial on Polyspan. After watching this a few weeks ago, I decided to use Polyspan instead of a plastic film on my scratch built Navigator seaplane. The Polyspan came in and I am having difficulty finding the "shiny side" as it looks like both sides are shiny. Is there another way to determine the correct side to lay down on the structure? Thank You!
+Gage 2k5 Hi There. Sorry it's taken me so long to answer your question. I missed reading it somehow. Anyway, try holding the covering up to a light and looking across it into the light at a very shallow angle Sometimes you can see one side is shiny and smooth, and the other is a bit rougher.
Hello Eolpertinger and thanks for the very usefull video you shared!
Can I ask you wich airfoil you used on your Albatross?
Thanks in advance
+Alberto Bettelini Hello Alberto. I do not know what airfoil it is. The Albatros is a kit from Aerodrome R/C. Perhaps you could contact them and ask.
+Der Wolpertinger Thank you :)
Can you use sticks-it on monokote to double your adhesion?
I think so. I'd probably thin it with lacquer thinner to make it a bit more fluid. You could run into trouble over sheeted surfaces with more air bubbles, but I'm not sure. Like any finishing method, try it on a test piece first rather than mess up your model.
im learning all i can before i build my first kit and do a none dope tissue finish. so far iv only built one rubber band A/B free flight kit. i had no clue what dope was so when igot to the finish part i was lost and searching for dope did not help. LOL.. anyhow, so i made a static stand for it and just kept it as art work while i learn to fly and build quads etc. now im ready to get into a more advance finish etc.. so i found some eze dope.. water based.. and the tissue went on no problem.. with EZE dope. when it drys it shrinks, then you can sand and paint.
my over all goal is to build X-wing fighter i am from the starwars generation.. my plan is to use the Astron X-wing.. since its a proven fuselage wing design.. i just have to do up the art work and make i look even cooler. when you use this method of adding the glue to the frame it self, then paint the material to does it make your covering more durable stronger? or is this method more desirable for large scale wwI planes that would enter into the national etc contest which are graded on looks, and flying.. so that why this method is chosen. in the vintage RC visual magazine videos you can watch on yuotube.. they build a wwI wired frame plane and they use a cloth material that is adhesive on the back.. was a new product when the video was made in 1984 then he goes into using wood stains etc to make it look vintage and used war bird. also the cloth slippers yuo see for the heating irons.. are they used for the plastic materials not the clothes etc. thank you for your time.. i look forward to exploring your Chanel :D
Doping the covering material does toughen it a bit. The fabric covering iron socks work best on plastic coverings. Fabric on fabric sometimes creates too much friction for the iron to slide. There are some fabric iron ons that have a fairly smooth surface, so the covering socks are OK with those. The only way to know for sure is try and see what works. Good luck with your project.
Beautiful wing. But it's harder than this guy's level of skill makes it look. Under cambered wings are very difficult to cover.
Thanks John. But seriously, if you have covered a wing or two, it really is not that difficult! Polyspan is a dream to work with.
vonJaerschky Right.... I just looked at the Albatros D.III after you finished it. I think you missed a nail... and the brass tail skid... well it could use a little more polish I think, but when I looked at my PopWing.... darn no wires and you can see the servos sticking out on top! What the.... I better cut it in half and send it back;-) But seriously I'm finishing up two 3 meter gliders going on 30 yrs with foam wood covered wings and some might say doping the wing is the proper way to do it, I know the designer would but after getting the petrified masking tape off one of the painted canopies without damaging it or the paint I think I'll use Ultracote or some other low heat modern covering;-) But man... if you want your polyurethane paint nice and hard.... give it a few decades. Got a nice clean paint line too. Time has its rewards. Nice to see there are still some real model builders left. Truth is I'd like to give Polyspan a shot but I have no shop to paint the wings in and stuck in a small apt with poor ventilation so until I move into a bigger place with a workshop I'm forced to do it the easy way.
BTW the Albatros turned out really nice, and just kidding about the missing nail. I could tell just by looking it had rusted off.... that should be easy enough to fix.
Lol, good post John!
Do you have any tips on how I would go about doing something similar but on a airship?
Oh wow, that's a tough one. Is the airship meant to fly? If so, then this covering method would be far too heavy, I think. You would have to use some sort of super light mylar film.
+Der Wolpertinger It's going to be decoration only. I think I'm going to cut out pieces similar to a football, leave some edges to sew it together like a pillow then slide it over the rigid frame I've built. This would be with some sort of fabric, then put some starch on it to give it a sort of stiff feeling, or the stuff used on canvas.
Yeah, that should work. Not sure about the starch, but aircraft dope for fabric coverings would be good.
You have a huge reserve of patience. Covering is not something that can be done in a hurry. Do you really live in Bavaria?
I was born in Munich and we moved to Canada when I was 3 years old. I still speak the dialect, and have gone back to visit my relatives many times. I still feel very at home there and miss it greatly!
Génial on dirait du papier Japon ! par contre plus facile à manipuler et surtout à poser.
+Michel Camargue Merci.
Polyspan est beaucoup plus forte que papier japonais. Aussi, Polyspan résistera crevaisons beaucoup mieux que le papier Japon.
Polyspan durera beaucoup plus longtemps
+Der Wolpertinger Ok merci pour votre réponse
Has anyone ever told you that you sound like Jeff Goldbloom?
No, first time. Don't know if that's good or bad!
quick question. im doing a guillows model a cessna 150. what process do you recommend for covering the plane with tissue? 50/50 glue and water and then spray the paper with water so it shrinks? im a bit confused. thanks
Ramon Ponce There's a good tutorial here Covering a Model Airplane With Tissue He uses an Uhu Glue Stick, which is pretty quick and clean.