I had gotten something to cover the "fins" of my upscale Groove Tube many years ago but I can't remember what it was called to get more. It's thin and flexible with a peel off backing to apply it. I'd appreciate anyone's help in telling me what it's called and how I can find more.

If it was rom a hobby store it was probably Top Flite MonoKote adhesive film. The stuff is becoming hard to get in some colors, so the last time I needed a special color I went to Micheal’s and bought a sheet of Oracle adhesive film. With the Oracle brand you get a 12” x 12” sheet for a buck and a half and it’s good stuff.

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Both Ultrakote and Oracover are easier to work with than Super Monokote.

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Thanks so much! I thought adhesive film would look nicer than masking and painting small areas.

I don't think they call it 'Super Monokote" anymore - the iron on stuff is just called Monokote. I think the stick-on stuff is called 'Trim Monokote'.

I have a horrible time finding Monokote or Trim Monokote anymore - it also seems to be available from proper dedicated hobby shops, and the one really good one around here closed about the time of the pandemic (Galaxy Hobbies - great place, I sometimes went in and bought stuff I didn't really need just to help them out).

Does Ultracote have an adhesive backing to attach to fins? The information I found some information that said it's used for R/C airplanes and needs to be ironed on somehow.

If you want self-stick, what you're looking for with either Ultracote or Monokote is trim material. Monokote trim comes in sheets 5x36 inches. On Amazon as well as at hobby shops (if you have one anywhere near you).

Ultracote trim comes in rolls that are 3 3/8 inches wide and 78 inches long. This is also a hobby shop item. Some do mail order, such as Chief: https://www.chiefaircraft.com/radio.../ultratrim.html

Regular Monokote or Ultracode do indeed need to be ironed down. There are small irons sold for this purpose and most of us who build (or used to build) RC airplanes have a couple in our tool stash.

That said, I have not tried any model airplane converings on rockets myself....yet, anyway, save for using small bits of Monokote trim sheets for accents to a painted color scheme.

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There's basically two types of covering films like that... "iron on" adhesive-backed stuff which comes in wide long rolls, which has a "dry" adhesive already applied to it which is heat activated, and thus you need a "covering iron" which is a little tool that looks like a mini-clothes iron or an old-type tin soldering iron for sheet metal soldering, with a long handle and a clothes-iron shaped tip. The idea is you cut the film to fit over the wing spars and ribs, and then use the iron to activate the glue as you rub the hot iron over the film pressing it down against the wooden ribs/spars, which turns the glue to liquid and causes the film to bond to the wood. The heat also shrinks the film TIGHT over the wood, drawing the surface of the film tight like a drum head over the plane's structure.

The other option is the "peel and stick" film, which is generally a bit thicker and has a "sticky" glue applied on the back of it, preserved by the peel-off waxy paper layer. It's usually "trim monokote" and comes (usually) in long STRIPS stapled together, at least the last time I bought some it was. You generally don't want it rolled up because then it's going to try to curl up on you. You don't cover an entire plane with that stuff-- the "peel and stick" glue isn't that good for that sort of job, it's more for 'trim work" like around wing roots or front edges of cowlings, wings, stabilizers/vertical tails, etc where it would be too unwieldy to try to work with the iron, or even a "trim iron" which has a tiny spatula type end for close-quarters work with iron-on film in tight corners or curves. Like most stuff "peel and stick" the glue usually eventually gives out, particularly if the covering is tightly curved or stretched to conform to the surface, and particularly if the wind or handling tends to work on the corners and edges and gets them to start lifting, which inevitably contaminates the glue and renders it useless.

It's handy stuff to be sure, but there's other ways of doing it. Look up papering fins-- I did a tutorial on how to do it on the "Dr. Zooch Vanguard Eagle" build thread here on YORF... you use regular printer paper and wood glue to do that, and it works great and is easy to do and lasts as long as the rocket does.

Later! OL J R

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Yep, iron on shrink cover is "monokote" or various other brands/makes, the "peel and stick" type is "trim monokote". Haven't seen as much off-brand offerings as with the iron-on stuff.

Like you I picked up some different colors and sheets over the years from the "local" (35+ miles away LOL brick-n-mortar hobby shops over the years just to support them. Due to their prices I wouldn't usually buy kits there but supplies, a few tools, and such I WOULD just to support them, because it's nice to have the option to get something local and NOT have to wait a couple weeks or so for shipping to arrive buying it online, even if the price is a little better.

Sadly most of the brick-n-mortar shops are going the way of the dodo, and the recent virus stupidity is just exacerbating that trend. Sad. OL J R

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