i have spent about 20 years professionally building and covered hundred of planes with monokote and ultracote.
what i can say on both is that they do have shelf life, and they age differently, but mostly they start to be stiff and easyer to crack (moro pronnounced on monokote) and they tend to taut less and to sag much more after final tautening.
monokote used to be the best product but on the last 15 years they started to sag more at the field and to taut less when heated again.for this reason i only use ultracote. monokote have better colors, shine more, itīs lighter and thinner than ultracote, showing a better final result, but then start to sag at the sun and never came back properly
the red on the wing of this plane is ultracote, have been left in the sun and nothing changed.
about shelf life, unles you have a vintage 60īs roll, go with yours as i have used 10 years old stuff and had no problem