Welcome! This site
was created to chronicle my lifelong model aviation hobby, and to provide some valuable resources for visitors.
- Kirt Blattenberger
AMA 92498

My Models:
Airplanes, Boats,
Helicopters, Rockets
Airplanes and Rockets
Modeling in Erie, PA
 
Airplanes & Rockets
Modeling Forums
©1996-2012
Kirt Blattenberger with E-flight Taylorcraft on Snow Skis - Airplanes and Rockets
Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) | Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) | Int'l RC Helicopter Association (IRCHA)
League of Silent Flight (LSF) | National Association of Rocketry (NAR) | National Free Flight Society (NFFS) | Society of Antique Modelers (SAM)
Covering a Compound Curve with MonoKote
Airplanes and Rockets - Covering a Compound Curve with MonoKoteI took the occasion of having to cover the wingtips of my AAR-X1 electric control line model to make a short video of how I cover a compound surface (one that curves in two or three dimensions) with MonoKote. The only "trick" involved is being daring enough to apply the amount of heat needed to exploit MonoKote's extreme ability to shrink, while pulling on it to stretch it. By daring I mean that it can take quite a bit of heat, even to the point of being dangerously close to the melting point. It can also put the phalanges is peril while attempting to stretch the MonoKote while heating it.

In the case of these wingtips, there is an open framework, but the method works equally well on solid compound surface. I have smoothly covered carved sailplane nose blocks and curved wingtips using this method.

Be careful with the stretching force as it can become so thin that it is semi-transparent.