old monokote

It hasn't for me and I've used Monokote that's way older than 3 years.

You already know this, but just in case . . . Did you remove the clear backing from the Monokote? I once monokoted a whole wing until I figured it out.

yup... it is very slow going.. the super cub wing tips did not come out glorious... it will be a 50/50 plane.. looks great from 50 feet away going

50 mph.... have never had monkote need so much heat to shrink... good thing it's winter here.

Ted shuffled out of his cave and grunted these great (and sometimes not so great) words of knowledge:

Are you sure you have the old stuff? The "new" Monokote doesn't shrink worth a d*mn unless you have the heat up high enough to light a fire.

I had the same problem a few years ago with Monocote, on a Cub. Olive drab color. It wasn't worth unrolling it from the roll. Would not shrink with a blowtorch! Some people told me to try "stretching it", but I switched to Ultracote, and it worked as advertised. Maybe you can use it under the car to catch oil drips in the garage.

Hope this helps,

Rich.....

well, as mentioned, I did get it to shrink.. our electric bill will be noticeably higher.. and this was only the wing.. I'll bet I spent 25 minutes on it... had to almost touch the heat gun to the material...

"Peter" wrote in news:HDeGh.944$C snipped-for-privacy@newsfe22.lga:

Don't know if it's age, or just a bad batch, or what, but I've occasionally had problem rolls. One was so bad that after spending 3 hours covering half of a wing, I finally gave up, stripped it, and started over. When I recovered it, I used a different brand (don't remember which, offhand).

I just covered a big powered glider using several colors, and the opaque yellow was much more difficult to work with than the other colors.

I suppose this would count as "sympathy" more than "help."

I despise "MONEYcoat" with a passion. Use Ultracoat. You will be much happier.

I think I might give it a try on my next plane. I've heard good things about u/c....

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Ultracote's colors are too wimpy for me.

Ed, NM2K

Personally for a Cub I would have gone with Solartex. Wonderful to work with and a lot more scale look. But yes, I have had the same trouble with Monocote recently. Ultracote is a little more expensive but it's so much easier to work with and I think the adhesive holds to itself better also (great for small seam overlaps!)

That's right, the opaque colors are not opaque. And if you mark the plane with an ink pen while building the ink will not only show through Ultracote, it will run in the adhesive.

Also, Ultracote doesn't stay stuck when you heat it. Some say this is an advantage because when you make a mistake you can lift it and reposition it, but I say it's a disadvantage because when you try to heat an open panel you have to stay away from the edges because they will lift and pull if you heat them. When you stick Monokote it stays stuck.

Regarding your 3 year old monokote, sometimes you just get a bad batch that doesn't stick or shrink well. I got three rolls of maroon like that once.

Yeah, just hang in there. I have some monokote that is pushing 20 years old and it still works just fine. There have been many batches where the adhesive was a bit wimpy, but a good sanding job and a light coat of BalsaRite fixed that. Of course the other solution was to be careful, but I am lazy...