Covering for foamies

Okay, so my lack of real world flying experience up to date doesn't make me the authority on everything foamies.   Most of my experience has been in my past attempts and  hours spent on RealFlight. RC flight simulation. But when it comes to this subject, I do have real world experience with tape and film.  As I mentioned before in other posts I've spent five years working for a mill that made packaging tape.

Tape is okay, depending on what you use.




The entire foamie Delta Wing  movement started by Trick RC with the Zagis is based on using packaging tape as cover.   The favorite has been colored packaging tapes. It's works so it makes it fine for many people.  You don't need any special tools to use packaging tape.  You don't need to paint your plane, you can simply apply fairly quickly and you're done.  I've seen some fairly creative usages of tape.  So, trust me, I'm not knocking it. There are many grades of tape with different adhesives and film thicknesses.

What a lot of folks do who make planes with tape is buy the multi colored acrylic tape set from Tape Bros.

https://www.amazon.com/Tape-Brothers-Carton-Sealing-several/dp/B003ZWO0H4

Why I don't think color tape is the bee knees.

The colored tapes which are used most frequently have acrylic adhesives.  When I got my Zagi yars ago it came with a roll of colored tape.  The tape was a water based adhesive.  Of all the adhesives, this one is the weakest.  The solvent based acrylic tape has a more aggressive adhesive.
Colored packaging tape is getting harder to find these days.  It may be due to demand, these tapes are more expensive to manufacture.  If you want to cover a plane quickly without the fuss of painting, this may be your best choice.  But, I'd suggest other tapes.

You can use colored duct tape. It has a great adhesive but they are very heavy and the matte finish would slow down your plane. Thus, it's generally not used in plane building with the exception for things like racing stripes and sometimes on the leading edge.

What I was going to use was clear packaging tape with a much thicker film base. I would use a hotmelt (synthetic rubber)  adhesive tape as opposed to the acrylics.   There may be some natural rubber adhesive based tapes floating around.  If you do locate a source it will be expensive and
you won't have a lot of options for thickness of film or width of tape.    If you can find a 3" hold melt tape with a thick film coating (3 mill) you'd be better off. It would take less strips of tape to cover a plane.

Painting a plane
People tend to go nuts over this subject.  I've seen very impressive results with painted foam.  What seems to be the most popular is spray paint. It's fast and lightweight. Plus it comes in a wide array of colors and can be fairly cheap.  I am going with house paint on my first build because it's going of EPP and I feel one coat will cover better plus fill in the vallys of the foam better. I am not as concerned about the look as I am about increasing the surface area.  This is important to me because I feel it will do a better job of having adhesive stick to the surface of the plane.

Better than tape?



If tape sticks to everything why does it come off the roll?  Clearly it doesn't stick to itself.  Yes, there  is a release coating on the back of the tape. So, not only do the areas that you overlap add weight to your plane but it's not a very good bond.

This is what I opted to cover the plane with.

http://www.canuckengineering.com/new/catalog/film-covering





It's called "The New Stuff."  It's a film that you can order by the foot in various thicknesses. Instead of  a pressure sensitive adhesive it's a low temperature hotmelt adhesive. It goes on with those old MonoKote irons.  I found one on eBay for under $20 including shipping.   New they are under $30 from Amazon Prime.

I am really excited about this product for a few reasons. The first is that I can go for some insane film thicknesses.  Yes, a thicker film does bring up the weight.  There is a trade off of weight versus protection.  The thicker the film the more protection it will offer.  They have film in these thickenesses.

1.7 Mil-  The smaller the number, the thinner the film.  This is the thinnest film they sell. It's also the least expensive.  This is the most versitle film.  Good for things like tails and fuselages.  The only bad thing is that this film will die off first with age.  Buy as much as you will use in a 3 year period.

3.0 Mil  This is a  solid film thickness with a lot of strength.  There is a lot of protection with this film thickness. It's a bit more difficult to work with than the 1.7 mil.

5.0  Mil  very sturdy film, it's a heavy-weight film.  Yes it weighs more, but it gives  a lot of  protection.


7.0 Mil -This is the ultimate Delta wing cover. Super strong, very tough.

10 Mil- Overkill by every sense of the word.

I went with 5 mil in 18" rolls.  It has strength and durability but is still somewhat usable on things that aren't Delta Wings.

People asked about painting on the film in some articles. Some tried but found it flaked off. Put your paint under the film. But that means the paint requires proper curing time before applying the film.

Smooth surfaces cut through the air better.
A smooth surface provides less drag.  You'll get better performance with one piece of film versus layers of tape.  Paint only needs a few hours for a second coat when on the walls ( I wouldn't suggest it for RC planes, it would add too much weight.).  They say that household paints have a two-week curing time before you can wash it.  With all this in mind I would let the paint sit on a plane for a few days before you apply a film.

The gameplan for now

1. A good cleaning of the surface of the plane
2. Minwax Polyurethane oil based primer
3. Housepaint diluted by 10 to 15% with windshield wiper fluid
4 At least a few good days to dry
5. 5 mil film coating.


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