21st Century Coverite Fabric

[Shawn Kuntz]

I built a new Dare Sporthawk this past winter and covered the wing with Coverite fabric.  I used Balsarite on the airframe to help with adhesion of the iron on fabric.  It looked really good when it was all finished but now for the third time it has blistered with tiny air bubbles under the covering against the balsa sheeting.  I have ironed out the bubbles twice now and I would like to finally see them go away for good.  Does anyone have any experience with this?

[Bill Adair]

Shawn,

My R/C Kadet Senior flew for over ten years, and never showed signs of bubbling.

I ironed on the Coverite fabric, and painted it with Pactra Formula U (from spray cans). Used clear to seal, and then white for the final finish. Strongest fabric I've ever used, but also very heavy!

Still have the wing in the garage, and it looks good almost twenty years after it was built!

Perhaps the Balsarite caused your problems?

Bill Adair

[Oregon_Flyer]

Hi Shawn,

You might want to google up "coverite" and "balsarite"  get the 800 numbers and talk to their tech support teams.
My experience has been that they are there to help and want happy customers.  Failing that, check with the hobby shop that sold you the products, or use the web and go to one of the hobby stores such as Hangar 9, Hobbico.
Hope this helps.

Marv

[Leo Mehl]

I think solar-tex is better and you can also paint on It. I put solar-tex on my Pathfinder and it has never loosened or bubbled.

[Dennis Adamisin]

Shawn:
I have used the 21st Century fabric on three birds and afraid my experience with it matches yours.  I could not get it to hold tight nor stay down - whether I used BalsaRIte or not.  Plus it is very heavy but also very stretchy - does not add any torsional strength to the airframe.  Too bad cause when its all tight it really looks nice - for about 2-3 days anyway...

One of the previous posters mentioned Coverite - that is a different material than the 21st Century Fabric.  I have successfully used Solar tex with clear polyurethane too - but that is a pretty heavy finish.

I'm afraid I would recommend stripping it off and re-covering with film.  Over the long haul (heck even in the short term) you will spend a lot less time in keeping the bird flightworthy.