wonwinglo
SMF Supporter
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2004
- Messages
- 6,754
- Points
- 113
- First Name
- Barry
Over the years I have noticed a tendency for iron on covering ( especially the fabric variety ) to lift at the edges after a lot of flying hours,I recently experienced this happening in flight when my clipt wing Cub lost the covering under the tailplane,admittedly this was an ARTF model but it could have been avoided.
When cutting the film instead of using scissors use pinking shears,this is full sized practise as the idea is that only a few edges will lift and not the whole area,when used in conjunction with film it is very neat and the edges even seal down better anyway.
By the way the Cub suffered a dramatic down trim as the covering departed company and I had to really hold the nose high to stop it pulling in,if it is any consolation the prototype Westland Lysander had exactly the same thing happen as the covering ripped from the wings on its very first flight,needless to say future aircraft had improved covering sewn to the ribs.
When cutting the film instead of using scissors use pinking shears,this is full sized practise as the idea is that only a few edges will lift and not the whole area,when used in conjunction with film it is very neat and the edges even seal down better anyway.
By the way the Cub suffered a dramatic down trim as the covering departed company and I had to really hold the nose high to stop it pulling in,if it is any consolation the prototype Westland Lysander had exactly the same thing happen as the covering ripped from the wings on its very first flight,needless to say future aircraft had improved covering sewn to the ribs.