Grey Ultracote on Foam

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Alex Treneff
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Grey Ultracote on Foam

Post by Alex Treneff »

I am covering my blue-foam 3696 P-51 mustang with grey Ultracote, and I can't get the wrinkles to stay out like with Monokote, or even towerkote. Is there some special technique required with this stuff? I guess I'll pull the TE off and see if I can stretch it harder, but every time I shrink it with the heat gun, the wrinkles come back when it cools. Not like Monokote.

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Alex
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Post by Rabbit Leader »

Alex, you might have to play with your heat setting. I usually set my iron where it's JUST making a very slight discoloration/deformation on a piece of blue foam when applied to it for a couple of seconds. Also, is your wing taped? Most of mine are 3/4s taped combo bi-di and regular filament tape. When I do the wing, I generally tack it to the LE, pull the living heck out of it and tack the TE, tack the root and tip, then shrink it..I don't use a heat gun as I don't have much experience with them, just a good iron..
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boiler
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Post by boiler »

Ultracoat is designed to use two heat setting in the iron on process. I think it is stuck on with about 250 degree and it doesn't shrink. Then you can go up to 300 or so degrees to shrink it. The directions should be in the package.
Alex Treneff
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Post by Alex Treneff »

Bob, do you use a heat gun when you use Ultracote? according to the label it shrinks from 320-350 degrees. I am getting nice shrinkage, but the wrinkles re-develope as the covering cools.
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Post by THend »

Ultracote, 200-220 activates adhesive. 300 shrinks.
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boiler
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Post by boiler »

I use a heat gun to do the final steps but you may have over or under gunned it. A heat gun gets over 400 degrees. Ultra coat is considered a low temperature covering compared to monocoat. I haven't used it on combat planes so I'm a little out of practice. All my sport planes are covered with it and no wrinkles. Even after hanging on the wall for years. You may try a iron at different settings or play with the heat gun. I cover all my combat planes with tape. It's easier and a lot cheaper.
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Ed Kettler
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Post by Ed Kettler »

Be careful with both the heat gun and iron, as you can melt the foam. Ask me how I know[;)]

Practice on scraps first.
Alex Treneff
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Post by Alex Treneff »

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Ed Kettler</i>
<br />Be careful with both the heat gun and iron, as you can melt the foam. Ask me how I know[;)]

Practice on scraps first.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Yeah, I'm using a TopFlite iron and have to set it just below "1" to not melt the foam.
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Post by crash_out »

Hey Alex. I always used Econokote/Towerkote on my foam stuff. If you don't prep it some way, it will eventually peel off like packing tape will. You can use the spray adhesive-it will help a little, but in my experience it will eventually pull up anyway. I've HEARD there is some kind of chemistry change that takes place in the hot wire process that makes things tend to not stick.

The best way I've found is to use masking tape (or a lint roller, tack cloth, etc)to clean the surface of all dust and what not. I've used thinned Elmers glue to coat the airframe, then iron on the covering. Easier to work with than the spray adhesive. I've picked up some water-based contact cement at Lowes, and am going to give it a shot on my next one.
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Ed Kettler
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Post by Ed Kettler »

Good point on cleaning the surface. I use my air compressor to blow all of the foam dust off after sanding. I have used 3M77 misting to help, but not recently.
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boiler
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Post by boiler »

I sand the foam with a shop vac attached to a drywall sanding block. Then before covering, I take the shop vac with a brush attachment to clean the wing. A little adhesive mist to dry, then tape away.
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