View Single Post
  #19  
Old September 27th 12, 12:53 AM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
[email protected]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 114
Default Glider Wraps, Gelcoat Refinishing

I would call Dick Butler he can tell you about that. Dick Butler's Concordia has - from the reports I've read - some control surfaces wrapped in Monocote, a shrink film used for model airplanes. This was done solely for mass reduction

I could see Monocote(high heat film) and Oracover(low heat activated film) being used in this capacity but it depends on what is underlaying. Generally RC films work well and easily with balsa and obeechi sheeting. They can be applied on raw, clean (parting wax removed completely) fiberglass but that's not as easy and really hard if the surface is a curved or of complex shape. And films often have to be tempered meaning the first few times in the sunlight they can bubble/relax and sag from heat and have to be reheated/re-shrunk. The car wrap technology sounds interesting and appears to work well on complex surfaces. It would be interesting to see how it is done.