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Academy of Model Aeronautics Museum - Airplanes and Rockets
Academy of Model Aeronautics Museum - Airplanes and Rockets
Academy of Model Aeronautics Museum - Airplanes and Rockets

About Airplanes & Rockets

Kirt Blattenberger, Webmaster - Airplanes and Rockets

Kirt Blattenberger

BSEE - KB3UON

My Engineering Web: RF Cafe

Carpe Diem! (Seize the Day!)

Even during the busiest times of my life I have endeavored to maintain some form of model building activity. This site has been created to help me chronicle my journey through a lifelong involvement in model aviation, which all began in Mayo, MD ...

Airplanes And Rockets Copyright 1996 - 2026

All trademarks, copyrights, patents, and other rights of ownership to images and text used on the Airplanes and Rockets website are hereby acknowledged.

My Main Modeling Websites

Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) - Airplanes and RocketsAcademy of Model Aeronautics

Tower Hobbies logo - Airplanes and Rockets

Tower Hobbies

Horizon Hobby logo - Airplanes and Rockets

Horizon Hobby

Sig Manufacturing - Airplanes and Rockets

Sig Mfg

Brodak Manufacturing - Airplanes and Rockets

Brodak Mfg

Model Aircraft Covering Weight Comparison

Model Aircraft Covering Weight Comparison - Airplanes and RocketsWhen deciding which type of covering material to apply to a model airplane structure, it would be helpful to have a table of covering density for comparison. Here is such a table which shows, for instance, that 21st Century Fabric is the heaviest type of covering you can use. MicroLite covering is the lightest weight. Not shown are most doped or painted coverings because finished weights are so dependent on substrate type (silk, Silkspan, tissue, etc.), paint or dope type, and number/thickness of coats. To calculate the covering weight, multiply the density by the total surface area of your model.

HomeFly has a very extensive table of model airplane covering material weights. Note that they use units of grams per square meter. I have not verified the numbers there, so be sure to investigate further if weight is critical. Here is a units converter for you.

 

Name Weight per Area Brand
(oz/ft2) (oz/yd2)
Monokote* 0.20 1.8 TopFlite
Econokote 0.20 1.8
CoverLite 0.10 0.89 Coverite
MicroLite 0.07 0.60
21st Century Fabric 0.34 3.1
21st Century Film    
Black Baron 0.19 1.68
MicaFilm 0.14 1.25
TowerKote 0.20 1.8 Tower Hobbies
LighTex 0.20 1.8 The World Models
ToughLon 0.27 2.43
Koverall 0.14 1.25 Sig Mfg.
Silkspan (light)** 0.00027 0.35
Silkspan (medium) 0.00038 0.48
Silkspan (heavy) 0.00048 0.62

 

   * Opaque, transparent, pearl, metallic (other sources claim transparent is lighter)

** w/o dope