Fun with colour packing tape FT3D

rfmarr

Junior Member
ft3d0001.JPG
Thanks for the great plans and inspiration.
 

Craftydan

Hostage Taker of Quads
Staff member
Moderator
Mentor
rfmarr,

Remember to wear shades -- that'll dazzle you from the sky!

have you had a chance to toss it into the air yet?

BTW, welcome to the forum!
 

Flynn

Member
are you kidding me?! That's awesome!! Great job. How did you do the lines on the top of the wing?
 

colorex

Rotor Riot!
Mentor
Probably put the tape on some wax paper or similar non-stick surface and cut it with a hobby knife... Excellent work, rfmarr.
 

rfmarr

Junior Member
Thanks guys

I applied the packing tape to wax paper then cut. The tape peels off the wax paper like a sticker. The checker board is the same. I placed each square individually but it doesn't take long at all. As well you can use wax paper for masking directly on the foam board then gently cut away with a straight edge. ie were checker board meets stripe angle.
 

xuzme720

Dedicated foam bender
Mentor
Another tip is how we do it on vinyl. If you are doing checkers, you can lay packing tape down on the wax paper and simply cut your lines to form the squares. remove the parts of the design you are not using and then cover with masking tape. peel away the masking tape and the packing tape design comes with it intact. Apply carefully making sure you don't have any bubbles or wrinkles and then remove the masking tape from the design. The colored packing tape will stay on your plane and you have the whole design just as you cut it. Also works great for lettering!
 

NewZee

Member
It looks fantastic!! do you think you added much weight? What FT model was this? I want to try something similar. Great Job!!
 

Craftydan

Hostage Taker of Quads
Staff member
Moderator
Mentor
Good eye Craftydan. I put the wing on upside down so it only flies inverted. :cool:

D'oh!

Just so easy to do on those symetrical airfols! At least she flies nice inverted -- you'll just have to practice more before you fly her right side up ;)

Oooh! up to knife edge -- almost over to right side up!
 

rfmarr

Junior Member
NewZee, the tape adds very little wt, maybe 20 grams but it water proofs and strengthens the foam board. Its not as messy as paint so it makes a good living room project. The plane is the FT-3D. Very easy build and flies great.
 

rfmarr

Junior Member
funbat0001.JPG

The FT Bloody Wonders get the same tape treatment. However, given their short life expectancy I keep it a bit simpler.
 

xuzme720

Dedicated foam bender
Mentor
The BW I just finished I actually stripped the paper off completely and replaced it with tape. I didn't measure the weight difference, but I can say just the paper that was peeled off was pretty close to the finished airframe with no electronics except servos. I know the tape I added back was nowhere near that weight, so it's really light. I'm not doing any combat with it so I felt pretty safe doing it this way. For a combat bird I'd definitely leave the paper on!
 

coldbloodedtx

Junior Member
Single best tip I've ever read on tape covering. My tape was on the way from tapebrothers.com when I found this thread, now I have technique! Although I cheated and ordered the checkered tape so I don't need this for the checkers :)

Another tip is how we do it on vinyl. If you are doing checkers, you can lay packing tape down on the wax paper and simply cut your lines to form the squares. remove the parts of the design you are not using and then cover with masking tape. peel away the masking tape and the packing tape design comes with it intact. Apply carefully making sure you don't have any bubbles or wrinkles and then remove the masking tape from the design. The colored packing tape will stay on your plane and you have the whole design just as you cut it. Also works great for lettering!