Sola Film

[Hai-Lee]

I do restorations on old RC planes and there is something I still am having problems with so this post is to find out if anyone has a solution that I may use.

The problem is that old covering films wrinkle and even can become somewhat brittle in extreme damage cases and of course it tears and rips. So removing the old covering and replacing it is the obvious step. Sadly the old film can be so bad that the plastic and the colour layer can and do separate leaving the colour and the glue stuck firmly to the wood work.

Apart from sanding which often just spreads the glue and colour and can reduce the thickness of the wooden sheeting I am seeking a method that allows the glue and colour layers to be removed from the wood cleanly and yet still allow the glue on the replacement film to bond properly.

Your help would be appreciated!

Have fun!

 

[Turbojoe]

"Restoration" is the wrong term to use for what I've been doing lately but I have several older planes that I'm stripping and recovering right now. Most I got from someone else and they all seem to have different brand covering material. It's easy to tell Ultracote/Oracover as it sticks OK but pulls off relatively cleanly with little color left behind staining the wood. Solarfilm and Solite tend to melt the color into the substrate and require a lot of sanding to remove the color. When I strip and recover a plane covered with any Nelson film product (my absolute favorite) I always have to sand off the color from the balsa. Thanks to Nelson products closing their doors recently now my only option seems to be Ultracote. I don't care much for the "parklite" stuff as it's the same as the translucent Solite. Monokote and Econokote are a joke and I won't even use the stuff on anything I fly.

Joe

 

[Hai-Lee]

I wish I could identify the exact covering but I do not know what film EFlite used in the past.

The plane I am having greatest issue with is an old BNF T-34 Mentor, (plywood and Balsa).

Have fun!

 

[Namactual]

I know nothing about balsa or the coverings, but I had a thought about the sanding the color off bit.

Could you just sand the frame until smooth and brush on a tan-brown tinted primer to match the balsa color? I am not sure if that would work, or what that would do to the new cover adhesion. Heck, that might be more work than sanding the color out, but it was just a thought.

 

[Bricks]

I have used this method and it works very well.

https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?1582025-Build-and-Repair Post number 197 is a short video showing how he removes covering.

 

[roversgonemad]

Eflite is most likely hangar 9 ultrakote. Check the horizon hobby site for colors.