Film covering wings

On profile planes I have always covered the wing after it was mounted. I would cover one panel at at time (Bottem Left, Top Left, BR, TR). Several things have me thinking about different processes for film covering wings and wanted to throw this out and see if there was a generaly accepted best practice.

In the estemed Mr. Fancher's Twister artical he recommended covering the wings before mounting them but still covered them one panel at a time and leaving enough of a bare wood gap in the middle to accomodate the necessary mounting requirements.

The Top Flite ARF models come with the wing completely covered and direct the removal of the necessary covering to accomodate the mounting. Process of covering I would assume is covering an entire side of a wing in one process.

My observations.

1. Covering one panel at a time after mounting the wing. It is very cumbersum to work around the entire airframe, you risk damaging the model and it is generally difficult to get a clean looking finish.

2. Covering one panel at a time prior to mounting the wing. Easier to work with just the wing and you don't risk the fusalage during the process. Required extra care in mounting the wing in the fusalage after it is covered. Seperate panels take longer to cut and work with but may be easier to apply due to size.

3. Covering one side of the wing at a time prior to mounting. Easier to work with just the wing, no risk to fusalage. Required extra care in wing mounting. Single sheet of covering easier to cut with minimal waste of covering. Possibly harder to work with one large sheet of covering. Possible difficulties in clearing covering for mounting.

OK.... What have I missed and what is your preferred method?
Finch

Don't know about film, but with silk, silkspan, or tissue it's easiest to cover the wing before inserting. Just don't put more than one thin coat of nitrate where the epoxy to wood joint will be. Epoxy will go right through these coverings. (Well, maybe not tissue, I don't recall for sure.)

With film, it depends on the way the wing is to be joined to the fuselage.
If it is a slip in(like the ARF Flite Streak appears to be),it is easier for me to cover, one panel at a time after the wing is installed in the fuselage.
If the wing is to be installed in the fuselage by cutting away the bottom fuselage sides as is true in built up fuselage models and some profiles, it is easier to cover the wing, again one panel at a time before installing in the fuselage. Measure and leave the proper gap in the center for the fuse. Also cover the flaps if any, slot for hinges after covering, and I go ahead and permanantly install the flaps at this time as well.
Another possible factor(depending on your degree of thriftines) in deciding one panel at a time vs entire wing might be the size of the wing and the size of your covering material. You might use less material going full span and it might be necessary to cut the material lengthwise for models with 58" plus wingspans, especially if you don't want to cover the tips separately.
Generally, however, maximum utilization of your material will come from cutting each panel across the 24" to 26" wide roll. Be sure to cut for tapered wings as this will save quite a bit of material over 4 panels and will perhaps make the difference in getting wing, flaps, stab and elevator done with one roll on larger models.