Tutorial program appllying Ultracote

Sep 20, 2005 27 Replies

specifically THIS book:

formatting link

Harry Higley has another book "there are no secrets" that covers all types of finishing.

Has a great section on Monokote Covering Techiques.

formatting link

Thanks to Bob and Double Ace. My friend definitely wants books on how to cover with Monocote. But he is not a beginner, so I wonder if the books you recommend are written with more advanced techniques? Does "all types of finishing" include double convex curves such as fillets or double concave curves such as wheel pants, rounded wing tips?

Wan

What happened to the old method of paper and dope? I know that goes wa

back, but in the 60s when I was into control line flying, we covere with some type of stuff that looked like tissue paper, sprayed it wit water to shrink it tight, and painted it with airplane dope. I resulted in a drum-tight, tough, shiny finish. I see no reason tha wouldn't work today

-- cracker3

----------------------------------------------------------------------- cracker39's Profile:

formatting link
this thread:
formatting link

It's called Silkspan - a paper with a silk content:

formatting link
It takes a many coats of dope to get a finish as smooth as monokote, adding weight and cost, and taking lots of time. Also, monokote repairs are less visible unless you put time into doping a silkspan patch.

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

It works extremely well. I recently finished a 55" span Monocoupe 90A with Silkspan and dope. Wanted to "re-live" the olden days - I do miss the smell of dope though.

Only one problem with the silkspan/dope.....It is noticably heavier than Ultracote.

For one thing, the government got upset about kids getting high from the solvents in good old "dope". The last airplane I built for control line use (1966) was covered with silkspan and "beautyrate?" dope. The task of recovering a fabric (real) aircraft with wing "socks" and dope was the next task. You even have to spray fungicide/rotproofer on the fabric.

Join the Discussion

Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.

Didn't find your answer?

Ask the community — no account required