Plastic/Vinyl letters

Hey Bill/All,

This is Ritch with Mobile Colors. I found this thread from someone
that came to our website today. I'm going to list some basic info for
those who are interested.

Our paints will work easily on any metal surface. It also works well
on gel/clear-coats. Mobile Colors paint actually protects underlying
surfaces. So, painting on a plane shouldn't be any problem. However,
the de-icing fluid can damage the paint. This paint will stay on for
at least two years in normal outdoor weather conditions. Though, harsh
chemicals can adversely affect it. We are going to be releasing more
durable formulations in the near future. These will withstand moderate
exposure to very aggressive chemicals.

As far as styrene plastics go, don't use our paints directly on them.
Cloth and very light/porous plastics are surfaces that we do not
recommend for use with our paints. The free-floating pigments will not
come out.

Hard, finished surfaces are ideal for Mobile Colors paints. Though,
some unfinished surfaces can achieve excellent results. I'm referring
mainly to unfinished concrete. White, unfinished concrete is very
difficult to remove any paint from its surface. Our paint works on
that surface. A link to a concrete removal demonstration is at the
following location:
http://www.mobile-colors.com/showcase/remove.asp

Our website is: http://www.mobile-colors.com

More information about our surfaces is located at this link:
http://www.mobile-colors.com/prodinfo/surfaces.htm

If you have any questions, please contact me at
or 866-626-5671.

Thanks,
Ritch

wrote:
Monocote is extremely difficult to put on sheeted surfaces and get a
finish that resembles paint. I have used Econocote (similar, but
thinner than Monocote and requires less heat to activate the adhesive
and shrink the film) to cover many scale R/C gliders with wood sheeted
wings. Wrinkles and bubbles are a problem, plus you can always see the
grain of the wood. The amount of heat required for Monocote is more
than Econocote needs, and will definately melt/delaminate a foam
core/sheeted wing. Then, changes in temperature can make it bubble.
These coverings are good for open bay structures and add strength to
them. Considering the labor involved in an iron on covering vs. paint,
the paint will look nicer longer.
I have been looking at removable paints for contest IDs and found
this - http://www.mobile-colors.com/autohome.asp Alcohol based and
no bleeding or staining (so they claim-will test myself next week).
I've always used "Lift Off 2" for getting adhesive residue off of
gelcoat with great results on composite model, with both foam and balsa
core layups. I believe the problem with using solvents lies in the
foam used. Styrofoam is the worst, but is not used in female
mould/hollow construction by anyone in the model industry.
Bill

wrote:
These coverings are good for open bay structures and add strength to
them.

Total disagreement. Those plastic films add NO torsional rigidity.
Fibafilm is better, if fragile. The best, provided your model will work
with a textured surface, is Ikarex (a polycarbamate coated polypropylene
kite fabric). The stuff is bullet-proof, has great colors, and is much
less flexible than any of the monocote type films.


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

"Bill Daniels" bildan@comcast-dot-net wrote in message
. ..
Yes, but you wouldn't need it for long.

bildan

"Udo Rumpf" wrote in message
. ..
Bill,
I would be very difficult to apply this kind of finish on a larger scale.
You would need a clean room not unlike a chip manufacturer.
The smallest dust particle, if trapped, magnifies the imperfection.
It is difficult enough to do it on a smaller scale.
Regards
Udo
Monokote is just the model airplane brand of a heat shrinkable plastic
film which is probably avialable in widths and thicknesses that are big
enough for glider wings. I've wondered if somethng like this woldn't
make an inexpensive refinish process.

bildan

Plastic wood grain stuff used to be common on station wagons.

My dad decided to replace some that had faded pretty badly on a '60s or'70s
vintage station wagon - when he found out how much the "real" stuff cost, he
went to K-mart and bought shelf paper...

--
Geoff
The Sea Hawk at Wow Way d0t Com
remove spaces and make the obvious substitutions to reply by mail
Spell checking is left as an excercise for the reader.

You must be a modeler Bill.

You are right, on an open bay structure, Monocoat adds much torsional
rigidity. Anyone building an open bay wing can easily test this by
twisting the wing before and after covering the wing-BIG DIFFERENCE!

Putting a like film on a full scale wing would be a disaster I think.
Going from a hot trailer to cool altituted would cause stretching and
wrinkles in the finish as would wing bending in flight. In application
one would never get tolerances to .004" due to dust and air bubbles
trapped on such a non porous surface as gelcoat-on ratty
gelcoat-probably much worse.