Recovering a Nobler ARF

Well, I just couldn't stand it any longer. Today I stripped my ARF Nobler of the wrinkled, scratched and just terrible plastic stuff. Got to say that under it all, that is one very nice model. super light balsa every where, some very thin and light plywood. The turtle deck, under wing and bottom fuselage are all formed balsa!! Not solid carved out and not several pieces glued to the frame, but one piece formed parts. Neat. I have never seen cap strips that perfect and God knows I have tried. The stab and elevators look like they were sanded to shape from basic shapes, some of the fuzz was still there and you can see where the glue was sanded smooth.
I will be attempting to make a different cowl. The fiberglass cowl is ok, but the method of attachment leaves something to be desired.
So far I have seen and heard of only one other being recovered, Louis Rankin did his in pre WW2 US Army colors. Neat.
While I have it this far down, I will check the incidence of the wing, engine and stab. Something I took for granted and am now paying for. Others out there??

Now's the time to put that adjustable leadout guide and tip weight box in. If it was difficult before, it should be easy now.

Ty,
How much trouble was it to get the covering off the flaps? How did you do it?

My flaps had many wrinkles as a result of sitting in the garage in Tucson. I tried removing them with an iron as suggested in the manual with no luck. I then tried a heat gun which was better but still not good. I now have the wrinkled Monocote firmly stuck to the wood. Ugly!
Steve

Steve, I just took my xacto with a new blade and very carefully cut the monocote along the trailing edge and peeled it like a banana. The only place I had any difficulty was where it stuck to the balsa due to the epoxy for the hinges, and that was very minor. Actually it came off easier than I anticipated and much easier than silkspan or an expert monocote application. I did not use anything other than my xacto and fingers. Some times you just get lucky.

Ty,
Thanks. Luck hasn't been my strong suit lately, but I'll give it a try. I considered cutting new flaps, but that defeats the "ARF" appeal of the kit.

The wing still looks pretty good, and the fuselage and tail are OK, so I'll fly it as-is then work on the flap situation. I'll be using an L&J Fox for power and plan to try the kit tank with muffler pressure. What did you use for power and where did the balance come out? I've got an ASP36 which seems to be the same as a Magnum 36 that will fit Fox mounts but is a bit heavier. If I need to add nose weight with the Fox, I just might go with the heavier engine.

Are you going to recover with Monocote or do you plan a real finish? I bought a roll of the Saphire Blue Monocote and plan to stay with the original color for now.

Steve, I am using a Brodak .40 for power, Brodak BH-489 tank (too big) and the balance came out 2" behind the LE at the root. A tad nose heavy, which I prefer on first flights.

>Ty,
>How much trouble was it to get the covering off the flaps?
>How did you do it?
>
>My flaps had many wrinkles as a result of sitting in the
>garage in Tucson. I tried removing them with an iron as
>suggested in the manual with no luck. I then tried a heat
>gun which was better but still not good. I now have the
>wrinkled Monocote firmly stuck to the wood. Ugly!
>Steve

At first I thought this thread was about one that had flown off (say into a swamp) gotten lost- kinda an Indiana Jones type adventure, ya know?
Now if Grate Pains was just smart enough to offer the built-up model UNCOVERED and let the (most of them are) knowledgeable C/L jockey add his (or her) own finish- they might sell even more.

There is a sort of weight box on the upper part of the outboard tip, but the weight is enclosed in a sealed little box. Neat, but not accessible. So, a new one needs to be installed on the bottom.
As to the leadout guides, "that's a gonna be a job."

If the model is that well built, it's hard to understand why the covering should not also be as good?

Tim

Ty is correct. When I stripped the covering off my Nobler, I also discovered a very well built model. A lead out guide could be incorporated; however, the work would be rather extensive. I left my lead out guide stock. I did install thicker leadout cable, but used the stock bell crank. Threw out the lead out to bellcrank clips.

Louis,

Nice pix, thanks. I still haven't got mine out of the box and built yet (but the good news is that 40 of each will arrive here in Swiss Model Shops next month). But as part of all that I'm now preparing an article for the Swiss Model mag ("Modellflugsport"). Would you have any objection to me using your group pic (the 2nd one) as part of that article (with attribute of course)?

"They" did not use balsa right or what ever under the monocote. The instructions say to iron the covering before flying it, but I guess I just didn't iron it properly. Besides, solid blue is not a color for flying with trees in the background, at least not at my age.