Airplane Covering-With Plastic Wrap!

So, you spent six months finding five-minute breaks to glue in struts and bend longerons. Finally, the kit instructions say something along the lines of, "use our magic tissue and overpriced dope to cover up that beautiful balsa sculpture on your bench." What? No way are you going to cover it up with boring tissue! A white plane? This ain't no Cessna!

This Instructable will detail the simple steps involved in covering a balsa structure with plastic wrap (or cellophane, or food wrap, or Saran wrap--whichever name you prefer). No, it's not as strong as Monokote or Ultracote, and probably not as strong as tissue. It certainly isn't as easy to patch as tissue. However, it's much lighter, cheaper, easier to find, and better at showing off the underlying structure.

My original attempt was to replicate the look of the SIG Rascal, which I find to be one of the nicest-looking covering jobs on a sport flyer. I wasn't sure how well I could combine tissue and plastic, so I went for a more basic approach. Pictured is my SIG Tiger, which has a similar design, but a longer nose (since there's no engine to balance it).

Some of you may remember the forum topic I posted quite awhile ago on this subject.

Step 1 Materials

There isn't much here.

You need:
-Frame The balsa aircraft, sans covering. Or with any tissue trim, if you want.
-Plastic wrap Plastic, Saran, food, or cellophane wrap. Call it what you want, find something in pretty colors. I raided this from the kitchen drawer a year ago, and I don't think Mom knows that it's gone yet.
-Glue stick Nothing fancy here. I raided this from the office. Aren't raids fun?
-Heat gun That is a manly-looking piece of equipment. The one in the basement didn't look nearly manly enough for me to photograph it, so I raided this from a garage. Raid!
-Scissors and razor blade (not pictured) Some scissors work better than others. I don't know why.

Comments

[Flash Gordon]

Yay im gonna make a boat and use window film my parents wont use

[singil71]

i've been working on a budget Lazy Bee and wow. Just what I was looking for. thanks for the great instruct and pics. peace

[Ohm]

Just noticed your instructable, looks good. Definitely use a hair dryer though. Also there is a similar mylar covering that is as light as shrink wrap and has glue pre-applied like monokote but it is painfully expensive at $22 a roll, it is called Nelson LiteFilm. I well have to give this a try on one of my models in future.

[KentsOkay]

Pretty damn slick, oh yah, hate to break this on you now but, thinned-down Elmer's makes the best dope you could ever want. Paint the frame with it, than glue it down with it, than mist lightly with water. Presto. I'll post pics of my Spitfire when I get around to it...

[KentsOkay]

Also Elmer's and tissue make a strongish skin, and it's REALLY easy to repair

[CameronSS]

Ugly, though...^_;-)

[KentsOkay]

Really? I think it looks incredibly authentic, and it can be painted.

[rc jedi]

here is 1 i did a while back. very lite, but kinda "rubbery". it works well but don't expect it to add strength, so rely on structure rather than tensile strength.

[xtank5]

Awesome!! And you don't even have to use this just for planes, You could use it on boats, or blimps, etc, etc.. Just one question. What would happen if you glued the film on one piece of wood, then glued another piece right on top of that one, and then shrunk it? Would it make it stronger? So anyway, I really have to try this. Faved.

[CameronSS]

You mean layers of film? I'm not sure...I was considering that today. Hold on. >quickly glues on another piece< It's stronger, but pretty ugly. Given how easy it is to replace this stuff, I'd recommend just using a single piece, and replacing it when it tears. Also, I'm guessing that someone makes "heavy-duty" plastic wrap, which would probably be stronger. There's a film you can get to go on window screens, too...it's pretty tough, but more expensive.

[xtank5]

Sweet. I was thinking that using multiple layers would allow for extra strength in certain applications such as below the waterline on a model boat. I'm gonna go try this out now.

[i make shooting things]

nice Diy Monocoat would be great to patch up holes from thorns and small crashes (added to my group)

[tweekin]

sweet i was going to make a plane from scratch but couldn't think of what to cover it with now i do thanx

[rimar2000]

Excellent idea, thanks

[qultiq]

Maybe a heavy duty garbage bag would work.

[microman171]

Nice! I might use this for other things that need tight wrapping like this.

[thewoodcarver]

I have seen this or something like it used for light weight indoor flyers but never thought to put it on the kits I have waiting in the garage for me to start on ...very cool if I had known it was that easy I would have covered some of the ones I made from scratch with it

[Mr. Rig It]

That is a great idea!

[LinuxH4x0r]

Nice! I might try to use it as shrink wrap