Monokote hinges???

On this Skyray 35, it gives me hinges, but if I am going to kote the whole plane, do I make monokote hinges or use the ones in the kit and then cover over them?

Thanks
Paul

LAST EDITED ON Jul-25-04 AT 08:41 PM (CDT)
 
>On this Skyray 35, it gives me hinges, but if I am going to
>kote the whole plane, do I make monokote hinges or use the
>ones in the kit and then cover over them?
>
>Thanks
>Paul
>
>I am a retread, - I did C/L in my youth and did not know
>what I was doing then other then having fun. And not much
>has changed.

Ron B.
F4Fguy

Paul

Either one will work,but check out the method on the Spitfire plan I sent you.They are easy and I've never had one fail.

LAST EDITED ON Jul-25-04 AT 09:33 PM (CDT)
 
Check out the tapes I sent you and try making the cote hinges. If you can't get the knack of it,it is easy to remove. Hinging with monocote has the added advantage of sealing the hinge line.

Thanks Ron and Tom.

Roger-Will-Kote

Thanks
Paul

I understand that a picture (VHS tape?) is worth a thousand words (and $14.99 + $3.50 shipping), but could you describe the MonoKote hindge making for those of us who are still in the dark? I'm very interested in this technique.

Thanks,
--Mike

Mike,
I am not sure I can explain it so I will try and post some pics as I do this in the days to come.
Keep in mind this will be my first try. The guys here will surly jump in and help out also.

Thanks
Paul

I just tried the monokote hinges and it was easy to do, but the hinges were so stiff that I took them all off - I did it a second time and same thing.
What am I doing wrong?

I do the over and under method with the monokote overlapped for about a 1/4 inch in the middle - I also do it across the whole hinge line. When I'm done the hinge line is so stiff any deflection springs back to neutral immediately. I'm covering a 1/8 inch thick tail for a flite streak.

It could be a possible misallignment in the hinge line but I would think that the allignment would be minor and not cause this type of binding.

Any Suggestions?

I am not the expert on this but just thinking about the process..... did you taper the edges?

Thanks
Paul

Paul,
As one who has built two SkyRays, I woundn't really recommend the Sig Easy Hinges primarily due to the very thin stab and elevator (1/8" as I recall). It is hard to cut the slot without exiting the upper or lower surface. Also they are pretty stiff. I also found that in the event of a rapid decelerated landing (aka a crash). the elevator had the habit of tearing off. What worked best here was fabric hinges--or your monocote hinge would work ok too.

What I would actually recommend is a sewn hinge. It makes for a nice flexible hinge. It works with either monocote or paint.

>Paul,
>As one who has built two SkyRays, I woundn't really
>recommend the Sig Easy Hinges primarily due to the very thin
>stab and elevator (1/8" as I recall). It is hard to cut the
>slot without exiting the upper or lower surface. Also they
>are pretty stiff. I also found that in the event of a rapid
>decelerated landing (aka a crash). the elevator had the
>habit of tearing off.

I don't care for the easy hinges, either- too stiff for my tastes. My Skyray has a monokote hinge. It's much freer, and really easy to do. It does have some downsides
After a while, Monokote gets brittle from UV exposure, and it cracks. My elevator was close to falling off entirely when I noticed it. I just use hinge sealing tape to fix the ends, and it's more-or-less staying together. Never got the energy to replace it entirely, and the obvious repair is intentional in order to make it look less than pristine. Of course, I could have made the airplane look like a NATs contender - but then people would be much more hesitant to fly it. I made it a point to do a quick-and-dirty finish, and repair it but not too neatly.

Paul,
If I understand you, then yes the edges were rounded. I think there is a slight misalignment between the two surfaces - will sand one out flat to the other later tonight.

Another thing I'm having difficulty with is monokoting the wing tips of the Flite Streak. At first I thought it was the shape of the tip and so I covered them separately from the rest of the wing. After my third attempt now I still have a wrinkled mess.
I think the problem isn't the monokote but is the underlying structure. It appears to flex under the stress of the covering - I've added more Bracing but still it flexes - I'm thinking I'll cover both sides in one swoop and the stress on one side will even out the stress on the other side

Get yourself a Great Planes hinge slotter plus the small blades and use small pinned hinges. The first hinges I put in with my GP slotter were in an original Top Flight Flight Streak and I didn't have any trouble with the thin wood. Pinned hinges are easy, reliable, look nice, won't be stiff and you will be set for your next bigger and better project.

If it is still there search the review section for hinge slotter or hinges and you should find a review of the GP slotter with a couple tips on using it.

Mccoy,
I am gathering as much info as I can because I am getting ready to cover the Skyray as soon as I get a heat gun.
I was just out bid again on a heat gun. Man those ebay folks just will not check the price of something before they bid. Just clicker happy.
Any way check this link....

http://www.monokote.com/monoinst1.html

Thanks
Paul

Hi Rootbeard, I have MonoCoated hinges on severqal planes. One has over 500 patterns and is still going strong. Iron two colors, your top and botom wing covering colors, by placing them sticky side to sticky side by about 1/4 inch or slightly less.These should be strips of about 1 inch width and not much longer than 6". Cut the hinges off as you would have cut cloth hinges about 3/4" in width. But first add a strip of your main color to the two edges to be hinged. Then go over and under across the entire wing or stab surface alternating colors as you go so that all top colors will be up and all bottom colors will be down. Attach to only one side as you go, ie do the entire TE of the wing and not the flap. Once all are applied shove the joining member against the te of wing/stab and hold together with alternating edges up or down once held tight iron the opposite/ oposing member together alternating top to bottom as you go and "pulling" the hinge tight against the new surface, the one you are mounting. Once all is hinged, add the covering over the hinges to help ward off any fuel seepage. Hope this helps, Phil Spillman

I may have to try that out Phil,

Last night I tried my first attempt at a simple monokote hinge. Failed.
What I did was sand a 45 degree edge on the elevator.
Next I took a 1 inch strip and ironed it on the top of both the stab, and elev, while holding them together in the neutral positon.
Next I folded the elev over on top of the stab and ironed another 1 inch strip on the bottom of the elev, and over on the bottom of the stab. All done.
Now when I let it go the elev stayed in the up position and when I tried to see what I had for down, I had no down.
Where did I go wrong?

Thanks
Paul

Somehow you got the Monokote in tension in one direction, so it won't allow the surface to move. You want to install the hinges just like you would cloth hinges, only they are ironed down instead of glued. One thing that caused me some problems with MK hinges was overlapping the strips too far when I ironed them together. The double thickness part of the hinge was stiff and wouldn't lay flat and flex properly.

Covering the edges of the surfaces first is a very good idea, too. It really helps fuelproof the surface. While you're at it, iron strips of MK into all the inside corners on the plane, and bring your big pieces of covering up to lap over the strips. More good fuelproofing.