Covering before assembly?

If you cover the wing with OZcote or other plastic film before assembling it into the fuselage, do you just not cover the area that will be inside the fuselage? or remove the film somehow? or leave it overlapped on the sheeting that will be inside the fuselage? If you leave it in place, how do you glue the wing into the fuselage? Does epoxy stick to OZcote? and what do you use for fillets that will stick to OZcote?

I personally install the wing first and then cover it. If you plan on covering before installation, do not, I repeat, do not cover the area that will mate to the fuselage. In a critical area ( and the wing fuselage joint is a critical area ) a good bond for strength is a must. I've lost at least 2 planes in the past by trying to get glue to bond to plastic film coverings at the wing / fuse joint. Should've got the message after I lost the first one but I learn slow.

DAVE

I'm no expert but I wouldn't cover the wing center section with any plastic covering and expect it to stay together for long. Might be able to put a million pin holes through the plastic and get some sort of bond to the wood but if you just glue to the plastic all you have holding it together is the adhesive that is holding the covering to the wing. I would install the wing before covering, plastic isn't like silkspan and dope, isn't rigid enough to cause a stress riser.

When I put my ARF Flite Streak together, I cut the "slot" in the Monokote for the wing using a flexible metal ruler and a 40 watt soldering iron with a sharp tip. Made a neat cut with a small melted bead that the epoxy grabbed nicely. And less risk of creating a stress riser with a knife cut.

One can, and often should, cover the wing before assembly to the fuselage. Just cut some diamonds out of the film (to bare the wood) in the center wher the fuselage will attach. This wll allow enough adhesive to attach the wood of the fuselage to the wood of the wing's center section. I've done this several times and have never had a problem at the joint. It allows me to cover the wing in one piece and gives some extra strength to the wing due to the full span covering.

Cover the wing, tail, whatever completely. Get it in the hole, mounting area, whatever and centered, lined up, just like you'd glue it. Mark it with a fine felt tip, go up and down the wing on each side of the fuse for example. Remove the part, cut inside the felt line about 1/16 of an inch with a razor blade and just enough preasure to go through the plastic, amazing how easy that really is. Remove the plastic, slip it in and apply your glue. It isn't really hard to apply the correct preasure to cut the covering while leaving the underlying material free of damage. In fact, if you are cutting your balsa parts out, you know how to use the minimal force and let the blade do the cutting to ensure straight cuts, right? It takes at least 3 or 4 cuts to get an 1/8 piece cut out, right? Are you doing this correctly?