"Eric Greenwell" wrote in message
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It's going to take some practice to get it on smoothly, I can see.
Part of the problem is the temperature required to activate the
adhesive (instructions say to set the iron at 275 F), which is well
above the epoxy limit. Another problem is avoiding air bubbles when
covering large areas. I'm sure these can be dealt with.

The biggest problem I can see is ensuring that the covering doesn't
peel up in flight, perhaps rendering an aileron or elevator unusable.
Determining the effects of long term exposure (longer than a year,
say) will be important, as gliders typically spend far more time
outdoors than model airplanes, so their experience might not be a good
guide. What will sunlight, desert temperatures and wave flight chills
do to the material when applied over fiberglass or carbon structures?

Eric Greenwell
Richland, WA (USA)

To answer some of your questions, I used such material on my Discus back in
1985. It was still intact when I sold it 16 years later.

First, rather than Monokote, use Econokote. Made by the same company but
requires a much lower temperature for application. Econokote (vice
Monokote) is recommended for covering over solid surfaces. Also, Econokote
is more easily stretched around curves. Solarfilm also has a lower
application temperature. With Monokote, the required bonding temperature
heats up the surface (Fiberglas wing in this case). The wing, which has
mass, holds the heat which results in many bubbles of the film. The lower
temp film is much less susceptible to bubbling. If a small bubble does
occur, you can puncture it with a pin and iron it smooth.

There is no real need to worry about the heat damaging the wing. The iron
should not be held in contact long enough to really heat the wing. Due to
the difference in mass of the film and the wing surface the film is heated
to the proper temp before the wing surface gets too hot.

What I used the film for was to make an "omega" seal in the aileron gap.
One side of a strip of film (about 1/2 inch wide) was ironed to the wing,
then looped into the gap, and about 1/2 inch of the other side ironed to the
aileron. Of course the strip of film was the length of the aileron. After
16 years there was no tendency to peel. I did this on the bottom of the
wing, no sun. However, I have not seen any bad effect on models that have
been in the sun for extended periods. Also, I did only small (two1/2 inch
wide) strips. Ironing the film on a large area (complete wing) would be
much, much more difficult to control bubbling and wrinkles. The film does
shrink with temp, however, when it is heated the adhesive is also heated
(and melts) and sticks to whatever it touches. Therefore, when doing a
large surface, it is difficult to heat the film without it touching the
surface that is being covered. Not impossible, just difficult.

Duane