I first started using monokote to finish the fins on my model rockets back around 1987 or 88. At that time I was also building balsa planes and the owner of my local hobby store suggested I give the monokote a try. Well due to a move parts of the plane kit I was working on were lost and I never got around to finihsing it. But I was left with a roll of bright fire engine red monokote. (The plane was a model of the Red Barons Fokker Triplane)
Anways, The last two models I built before abandoning rockets for a number of years both featured coated fins. One was a "high performance" near minimal diameter 18mm sport rocket, I used the monokote to give the tiny thin fins extra strength. It worked so well that on my last rocket (A really nice looking airbrushed Red White and Blue design) I decided to use the monokote for aesthetic reasons. I still have the fins from both rockets even though the rest of them are long gone.
So when I got back into the hobby I working on building my second kit since my "rebirth", my AeroBee, when I remembered the roll of monokote in the basement. And when I saw that MSH used a red color scheme for their prototype I figured, why not!
This is where Monokote really excels in my oppinion. It looks great, it stregenthens, and it's a lot easier than painting. In fact trying to make fin finishing easier is why I first tried monokoteing.
Before you cote your fins make sure they're well sanded. You don't have to be as carefull as you do with paint, but monokote will hide many small imperfections. To start cut out a piece of cote slightly larger than the fin you want to finish. Get out your iron and iron it on there. Then slowly work out from the center trying to iron out any bubbles that form. When you get to the edges just work the film right around heating it the entire time. Once it wraps around cut it off with a sharp xacto knife. This is where I got burned my first few times, you must make a nice clean cut as close to the edge as possible. If you don't make a nice cut it will show!
The second side is pretty much the same but with a mirror image of the film you used on the first side. Watch out for this, several times I've cut out a piece only to realise that it's got the stickem on the wrong side! Finally I like to remove any film that would have structural glue touching it. So if the fin has through the wall tabs I dont' coat them and if the fins are surface mounted I leave about a 1/4" bare at the root edge.
I though this would be a great idea. And I tried it on two rockets. My first attempt was the AeroBee and it failed miserably. My second try as on the Initiator and the results were acceptable but not outstanding.
The main problem is getting such a large piece of film to go on straight and to get it to stretch evenly. I ended up with large wrinkles and bubbles all over on the AeroBee. The Initiator used a smaller piece of film and the problems were minimal, and surprisingly enough the coating seams to have protected the body tube durring it's two months in a field.
There is one method I picked up from the net which sounds like it would work a lot better. The idea is to draw a straight line down the body tube and then slowly work down that line before "wraping" the tube. It sounds like it would help since one of the biggest problems I had was with keeping the edges straight.
If you do get bubbles and wrinkles I do have a few methods for fixing them. If it's just a small wrinkle near the edge of the film it can normally be ironed out. But if you get a bubble closer to the middle of the film I normally put a slit down the middle of the bubble. Then iron the bubble from the outside in to the slit. This effectivaly creates two new edges to work from, and the overlap is small enough to be unnoticable. After all at 1000 feet who's going to notice?
Back to rocketry page.Working on Fins
Working on Body Tubes
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hobbies page.
Jason Hitesman
All text, images, ideas, and whatknot © 1996 Jason Hitesman