SLC Covering

[Mike Griffin]

Have any of you use SLC covering that you get from Phil at Core House to cover your ships with?  If so, how did you like it and was it easy to work with?

Thanks

Mike

[Brad Smith]

I have used it on some foam.   wings and found it very easy to use you can scuff it with one of those green scuff pads and it takes paint easly .wrinkels
   Come out easy too
 

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[Mike Griffin]

Thanks Brad.  Is it used to cover built up wings in the way plastic coverings are..?

[Joe Yau]

Have any of you use SLC covering that you get from Phil at Core House to cover your ships with?  If so, how did you like it and was it easy to work with?

Thanks

Mike

Hi Mike,  I used it to recover my 30+yr old Nemesis II combat ship and it worked out great.    I find the heat activated adhesive is quite similar to the Ultracoat that I've used, not like some clear covering I got a while back which don't stick all that well, and needs very high heat for to do the wingtips.. and still not all wrinkles came out.   The SLC shrinks nicely as welll.. quite user friendly overall. 

[bill bischoff]

People are using it to cover built-up wings, then doping silkspan over the top of it. It's strong, takes less paint because the covering seals the wood, and allows the use of familiar finishing products and techniques.

[john e. holliday]

SLC is like any other covering in away.  It takes practice.  I have done planes witn only SLC.  Done one with SLC and then silkspan.   Have even painted SLC.   Very easy to work with.

[Keith Renecle]

Hi Guys,

I've read about SLC covering many times.....so what exactly is the stuff?? Is it similar to Polyspan?

Thanks,
Keith R

[john e. holliday]

No where close to Polyspan.   It is a laminating film. 

[Mike Griffin]

David Roland was down for a few days and he had a P40 which was an old TOP FLITE kit he had built and it was beautiful.  He covered it with SLC and used a green primer on it and then painted over the primer.. It looked great and he said it was fuel proof.   I saw a stunt ship at Baton Rouge that was covered with SLC and left natural with some vinyl or painted trim on the wing and it really looked good.  The stuff is transparent and you can see the structure of the wing....like the combat ships you see.

Mike

[FLOYD CARTER]

I made the mistake of covering a wing with SLC film, then applied silk over that.  Somehow, air bubbles got trapped between the layers and made an unsightly mess.  I guess the silk shrank, while the plastic did not.  The fix was to start over with just silkspan.

Floyd

[Mike Griffin]

I can see how that could happen Floyd.  If I cover a wing with the SLC, I see not point is putting silkspan over it unless it adds a lot of strength ..... I would think the SLC covering by itself would be enough but I have not used it so I may not know what I am talking about here.  If I do use it, I was going to leave it natural (transparent) or prime and paint it....if that will work.

Mike

[Bill Little]

I can see how that could happen Floyd.  If I cover a wing with the SLC, I see not point is putting silkspan over it unless it adds a lot of strength ..... I would think the SLC covering by itself would be enough but I have not used it so I may not know what I am talking about here.  If I do use it, I was going to leave it natural (transparent) or prime and paint it....if that will work.

Mike

Hi Mike,

I use it on "big" models to cover the open bays then apply the silkspan over it just like covering the fuselage or other similar "solid" surface.  It really eliminates many of the accidental boo-boos that puncture the silkspan.  You CAN paint straight over the SLC, but I do not believe you can get as good a paint job as you do when you cover it with silkspan.  Of course for a profile or sport plane I will leave the wing "clear" and just add some trim to the wing.  It is pretty good just by itself, and I can apply it pretty well which is saying a LOT since I had not used any plastic film on a model in almost 30 years.  It does go on easy!

Bill

[Mike Griffin]

That answered my question Bill.  Thank you.

Mike

[Keith Renecle]

No where close to Polyspan.   It is a laminating film. 

Thanks John.....that clears that one up. Local modeller here, Lionel Smith has used that successfully as well, and it is readily available, quite cheap and has the adhesive on it. I seem to remember him saying that it takes paint if you rub it a lot with a Scotchbrite pad as well. I'm going to get some to play with.

Keith R

[Steve Thomas]

I do what Bill does, and have become a big fan of the stuff. In fact, I don't think I'll ever cover open bays with just silkspan again.  I use light silkspan over laminating film, and don't believe there is any significant weight penalty.  The minor additional weight of the SLC is likely offset by not needing as much dope to fill the silkspan, and there is a huge increase in resistance to the sort of stupid irritating little punctures that I seem to specialise in. 

I've also just painted the film after wiping it over with acetone, with good results, although I agree with Bill that ultimately you mightn't get as good a paint job.

[john e. holliday]

Here are my Lowrey Stuka Stunts.  The two front one are just SLC over magic marker.   The rear one is Monokote.  I borrowed the magic marker from one of the guys here on the forum