Winter build project: Wolfgang Matt’s ATLAS

Mike, do you apply anything to the balsa before the covering?

There seems to be several products that claim to help the covering stick

That's going to look really nice Mike. Thanks for detailing your progress on RC universe, I'll be needed it as a guide for when I eventually come to cover mine, but why did you have to go for red and white strips? I'll have to totally rethink my yet to be conceived design.

Chris73 wrote: Mike, do you apply anything to the balsa before the covering?

There seems to be several products that claim to help the covering stick

Just film and an iron. The 'products' tend to make a mess of the iron and just slow me down.

Chris73 wrote: Mike, do you apply anything to the balsa before the covering?

There seems to be several products that claim to help the covering stick

Chris, not wanting to hijack Mike's excellent thread, but I normally use a small amount of 'Balsaloc' which is a water based liquid, probably pva based, but I only use it in specific areas where film lifting is a possibility. For instance I would probably use it along the fillet between the wing and fairing on Mike's wing, also along leading edges of the wing and tail, around the front of the fuz at the bulkhead position etc.

If you apply to the whole airframe, it does stick much better but the downside is that the finish won't be as good as the wood grain then shows through the covering.

JonTappin wrote: Chris, not wanting to hijack Mike's excellent thread, but I normally use a small amount of 'Balsaloc' which is a water based liquid, probably pva based, but I only use it in specific areas where film lifting is a possibility.

I have a pot of Balsaloc too. It does get used very occasionally, but with electric models the film (a) does not lift as much and (b) can be ironed back down easily. Both of these problems are associated with oil and cleaning solutions getting under the edges.
One other observation about Balsaloc is that it is more difficult to remove wrinkles and bubbles if the film is stuck down hard all around the offending area, so like Jon says, use it sparingly.

Wing is now covered, both top and bottom

Covering is now finished.

Looks like a very professional job

Great colour scheme, I really like that

MikeSeale wrote: Covering is now finished.

I agree - colour scheme is great-

- did you pursue the Mdelmarkings route ?