At 09:51 PM 9/28/1999 -0700, you wrote:
>Hello,
>
>I am planing on recovering my 3 meter floater sail plane (Paragon). I bought
>the plane used and did not cover it my self. The current covering (red and
white
>
>monokote) is loosing its stick. I need to replace it. I have not done any
>covering for many years. What is the best/cheapest film to choose? I would
>like to use some bright colors maybe 2-3 different ones in a simple
pattern. I
>need something that will cover up the mess the removal will leave behind.
>
>Any suggestions or recommendations?
>
>Thanks.
>
>Pat.
>
The stock Paragon has an open bay construction and depends on the covering
for torsional stiffness. Therefore, unless the leading edge has been
converted to full D-tube construction, use Monokote. Other materials are
less stiff and can lead to flutter in a dive. I know others have used the
lighter weight coverings but my experience has proven otherwise. I
stripped over $100 of covering material off models before I wised up and
quit trying to save a little money. The wings can still flutter if the
speed is allowed to get high enough but I now have a larger margin of error.
The best color depends on your eyes. Everybody's vision is different. I
have found that using red or black on the bottom and white on the top
surfaces is the best for me. I also stay away from complex patterns and
stick to large areas of solid color. The models that look so nice on the
ground with complex color schemes seem to vanish quicker in the air
In recent years, I have had some vision problems and now find that solid
red or black tend to vanish when flying in a dark blue sky. I first
noticed this at Visalia a couple of years ago right after undergoing laser
surgery on my best eye. The sky was a dark blue and the model became
invisible all too quickly. This model was solid read on the bottom. I
tried taping a sheet of paper on the bottom of the wings at the tip and
found that the model was much easier to see and the flight times improved
accordingly. Incidently, the paper I used was flyers about my plotting
programs. Guess that goes to show that my software can improve flight
times. :-)
Chuck Anderson
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