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Just about have a Top Kick (Jetco A1) framed up and am now considering the covering material.
I am partial to using Ultracote Light as opposed to jap tissue or silkspan. I do beleive (and have had input) the structure is ridgid enough to go the Ultracote Light route.
What do you think??
Thanks guys.
Rob
The only problem you might run into is during towing. If you get the slightest twist in the wing, the model will be squirrily. Especially in any kind of wind.
Since I just built a Top Kick also, I’ll give you my two cents worth. I covered mine with Jap tissue with 5 coats of Nitrate dope. I would have preferred Microlite covering but it does not offer enough added strength/rigidity for the towing aspects of towline flying. My finished wing feels like it’s got full geodetic construction in it, it’s super stiff!
Scott
Have you considered tissue over mylar? It takes only one coat of dope or two very thin (20% – 25% dope to thinner) coats to seal the tissue. The combination is lighter than tissue/dope and is better resistant to punctures.
It is very easy to do as well. The mylar (1/4 mil is fine for this application) goes on very easy and the tissue, with mylar underneath is far easier than covering open structure.
The best instructions are on Mike Woodhouse’s site. See the NFFS “Community”, “Free Flight Websites” on the NFFS Home page. It is not really like covering the model twice. You save a bunch of time on the doping stage.
I am a convert, and I am lazy. 🙂
Thanks for the info Bill, Scott and Dean.
Very nice looking Top Kick Scott. Flown it yet??
I’m just about to join the tip panels and a bit more work on the fusalage and it will be ready to cover. I was hoping to avoid the dope all together, but it appears I’m in for some of the smelly stuff!
The mylar sounds interesting Dean…Never heard of that combo before. Is the mylar clear?? I’ll take a look at the link you posted.
Little out of the loop with regard to the best free flight covering methods as I have been flying RC sailplanes for several years.
Had a Top Kick as a kid and flew it in many contests….oh about 35-40 years ago. It was a great model.
Had this in a box (very old box!) and thought it was time to try free flight again.
Again, thanks for the info guys.
Cheers,
RobI have a tissue over mylar pictorial pdf that I put together last year. You are welcome to a copy if you PM me your email address. The initial series is on the small flying arts page at:
http://www.smallflyingarts.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1200281786
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