Covering holes

My Speed Astir has a couple 1 1/2 ish holes in the fuse. One for the
ballast dump, and another required to work on the undercarriage. I've
always hated using 3 strips of tape to cover them. Today I went to a
hobby shop and bought some trim MonoKote (TM). It's 4 mil thick mylar
with an adhesive back. It comes in lots of colors, including white.
I cut a bunch of circles to apply this weekend. The adhesive may be
difficult to get loose at the end of the season, so I'll let y'all
know then if it's a real pain.

A slightly more expensive, but much neater solution is to have a sign
shop make up some dots of various sizes. They typically have a
minimum order of material used, so check with your friends and order
up all the various sizes needed.

-Tom

On Thu, 01 May 2008 12:22:27 -0700, 5Z wrote:

A slightly more expensive, but much neater solution is to have a sign
shop make up some dots of various sizes. They typically have a
minimum order of material used, so check with your friends and order
up all the various sizes needed.

I'm using Monocote trim film to cover the rudder mount access holes
on my Standard Libelle. I think its thickness is marginal for the task,
but after two years its not shown any sign of damage or of coming off.


--
martin@ | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. |
org | Zappa fan & glider pilot

James,

If you ever intend to fly with water in your Speed Astir, do not cover
over the hull drain hole. As you know, the water ballast dump valve
is inside the fuselage and when that valve leaks you need to provide a
way for the water to get out. I flew with a Speed Astir for many
years.

Guy Acheson "DDS"

On May 1, 11:48 pm, wrote:
James,

If you ever intend to fly with water in your Speed Astir, do not cover
over the hull drain hole. As you know, the water ballast dump valve
is inside the fuselage and when that valve leaks you need to provide a
way for the water to get out. I flew with a Speed Astir for many
years.

Guy Acheson "DDS"

I assume that this cover could be removed without much trouble. Is
there any reason why not ?

Todd Smith
Grob 102, "3S"

I assume that this cover could be removed without much trouble. �Is
there any reason why not ?

Todd Smith
Grob 102, "3S"

People forget things at the worst times. I know James would not. But
I have. Also, some of the tapes/films that are being discussed become
very hard to remove if they are left in place for a long time.

There is one more function for the rather large fuselage drain hole.
To allow air to exit the cockpit. When I taped mine over the cockpit
ventilation became very weak.

Guy

Another source of material for this is number plate background for
motocross racers. The material is thick (.010"), tough, and has really
good adhesive. Available in most dirtbike stores, it comes three 12" x
18" sheets to a package for about $15.