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Building Tips and technical articles. => Paint and finishing => Topic started by: rich gorrill on April 24, 2019, 02:23:20 PM
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Going through my stash I found a few rolls of Monokote I picked up at Flea Markets. Some are marked Super Monokote and some are just marked Monokote. Does anyone out there know if there is a difference between the two kinds.
TIA
Rich
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Going through my stash I found a few rolls of Monokote I picked up at Flea Markets. Some are marked Super Monokote and some are just marked Monokote. Does anyone out there know if there is a difference between the two kinds.
TIA
Rich
Yes, the difference is one is super, and one is not.
Seriously, I've never really noticed any noticeable difference to be noted.
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From the Top Flite Website-
Has MonoKote changed over the years? I have a few rolls of covering that say "Super MonoKote" on the wrapper and newer rolls that say "MonoKote". What is the difference?
No major changes have been made to the formulation in the past 15 years. That is not to say that slight changes are not made from time to time to conform to constantly changing EPA regulations. This is primarily concerning solvents, the adhesive/pigment package has remained virtually unchanged since the upgrade to "Super MonoKote" . With this in mind please be aware that not all colors are made exactly the same-some colors adhere better than others, some offer more opacity and so on. But they all have essentially the same characteristics.
Concerning the change from MonoKote to Super MonoKote and back to MonoKote. The original material sold was "MonoKote" this was only on the market for about 5-6 years before it was upgraded to "Super MonoKote". It has remained Super MonoKote ever since. We stopped using the "Super" designation (but changed nothing in the formulation) because most of the modelers involved in the hobby today do not remember the original MonoKote. This created some confusion with some modelers wondering about "regular" MonoKote.
As a final thought, you will note that we did not change the "Super" designation on the roll itself. The imprint of "Super MonoKote" is still stamped on the edge of every roll.
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Thanks for the info Bill, clears everything up.
Rich
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The original Monokote did not work very well, and it was removed from the market. It's replacement was Super Monokote once it was reformulated. That was darn near 50 years ago!!If you had the proper catalogs to look it up, you might see that they had different part numbering. When Great Planes bought Top Flight, I would imagine it went under some changes, as most who used it a lot would attest to. When the purchase of the company went through, it is my understanding that anything having to do with the original Top Flite name was trashed and destroyed, including tooling and dies for all kits. The R/C kits that were kept were completely re-engineered and repackaged. With all that "change", it would be hard to believe that they didn't change anything in Monokote.
Type at you later,
Dan McEntee
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At my age I remember the original MonoKote. Byron Meriwether had a small hobby shop and got it in and was looking for people besides his self to try it. You had to be careful as it was sticky. In other words you had to make sure the adhesive surfaces did come into contact with it self. You still had iron it down to get it to adhere to the model. The new Super Monokote eliminated the sticky surface and was activated by heat. I don't think you will find any of the original Monokote as I think Byron sent what he had back to Top Flite. D>K
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The original Monokote became trim Monokote and when first introduced was advised to be put on after you used silkspan to cover the wings.
As Doc wrote super Monokote was dry adhesive and was capable of absorbing high heat and staying taunt when applied. It was so good I used it for 40 years. Enter Tower Hobbies and suddenly you had crap. It didn't stay shrunk and it did not stick well at all. Blaming it on the EPA was nonsense as Ultrakote has never been sanctioned by the EPA to the best of my knowledge. A little fast forward in my Monokote history. I picked up a few rolls of yellow and white Monokote. I used the White to cover a Magician and sure enough it sagged the next day and was coming loose. I removed it and covered the wing with Silkspan and then used the remaining stock of white to recover the wing and it has been perfect for about 5 years with no touch up needed. It also had the benefit of making a really rigid wing.
i used the Yellow on a 60 sized Flite Streak using the same process with the same results.
That said I really don't want to have to do a job twice so it is Ultrakote for me and I'm more that pleased with its results.
Oh, and a final on the 2 Monokote covered models. They are over 5 years old and the both of them are still wrinkle free and the new owner is pleased with them. Moral of the story use Silkspan first then Monokote and wonder why you had to cover the model 2X. The one advantage is that it makes it easy to put multiple colors on your model with no problems of lifting or separating of the 2 pieces when solidly adhered to the silkspan.
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It's all been a hoax, there's nothing "super" about Monokote. n1
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Super Monokote is iron on, I always suspected that regular Monokote just became the trim sheets.
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It's all been a hoax, there's nothing "super" about Monokote. n1
You should have tried the original. D>K
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You should have tried the original. D>K
John,
Trim Monokote is what was originally Monokote. I hope you remember how the adhesive ruined the bottom of the covering iron and how almost impossible it was to get rid of it. I tolerated it for awhile and then super Monokote was introduced and it was 100% better than the original.
I firmly believe that Tower in their usual business mode cheapened it as much as they could while holding the price at its retail selling point. They got away with it for awhile but most including myself abandoned it pronto for a better product.
Dennis
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I just used two rolls of Super Monokote by Hobbico. It's changed again. It's thinner, the glue reacts differently and the smell is a lot stronger.