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Sunday 16 March 2014

Using Oratex UL600

Using Oratex is clean and, as my office is big and my workshop is small and cold, I decided to work in my office for the smaller parts (actually everything except the fuselage).
Applying Oratex is very simple and the result is easily very good. While Oratex is attaching very well to the structure the best is when Oratex is glued to Oratex with the hot-melt. One way to increase the surface of Oratex against Oratex is to use edge tape.  
Where I run into difficulties was when I wanted to apply the edge tape to a surface with rounded corners (like the elevator). While Oratex expand a little under heat and tension, and retracts under more heat, there is a obviously a limit in the relation between corner radius and edge tape width. To get around this (after an initial failure...), without reducing the width of the edge tape, I cut a "waist" in the edge tape around the corners and before cluing it I applied a curved piece of fabric, with the same width as the edge tape, to the corner that would then be partially covered by the edge tape.    Agree, not my most exciting scenario...

Thursday 13 March 2014

My first Oratex experience

The smallest part to cover, other than the landing gear, is the rudder so I started with that. Both the frame and the fabric (where it touches the frame) need to be prepared by applying the hot-melt glue. I'm normally very sensitive to smells but when painting the frame and fabric I couldn't smell anything. I had to put my nose in the bucket to feel a slight sweet smell of "children glue". 
The hot-melt attaches easily to the fabric but I had to lightly sand the frame as the epoxy powder paint is very glossy. I let it dry over night (small surfaces can be dried rapidly with a hot air gun set to cold). The synthetic brush is easily cleaned in water.
I clamped the fabric to the frame, making sure it was positioned so that the hot-melt on the fabric was correctly aligned to the frame. While attaching it with the iron at strategic points, I did apply some moderate tension. Using the hot air gun when covering any rounded surfaces helps to soften the fabric and make it fit easily before using the iron to activate the hot-melt. 
While the rudder is the smallest part, it has a a long rounded edge and I had decided to put a pinked edge tape on it... Not a beginners task but you have to start somewhere. There is video on YouTube where this is done and I used a similar method. The edge tape already has hot-melt on it from the factory so it is very easy to work with. The result was not perfect but absolutely satisfying.
Final tension is applied with the iron... and then it is finished as no paint or other surface treatment is required!
I will try to do a time laps video when covering the elevator.