9. Covering

There are many different covering materials available, we suggest something which is both light and strong. Our preferred material is 1500 micron laminating film (also sold as Doculam in the United States). Usually you can obtain laminating film in 100~200m rolls in widths between 300~400mm, a near lifetime supply. Best of all laminating film is very low cost. You can obtain rolls on places like eBay for less than $10 if you hunt around. That means your average plane is going to cost you no more than $1 to cover, absolute bargain.

Covering the wing of the QFII is a somewhat simple affair, it requires some patience to do a nice job but other than that it's not a complicated job.

• Cover the wing using four (4) pieces of film
• Cut each piece of the film to provide an approximately 25mm outside the dimensions of the wing.
• Cover the bottom of the wings first and then the tops
• Do not try to fold up the film over the rear of the trailing edge, this will only make the trailing edge thicker which is something we wish to avoid. Instead, just seal the film flat and trim off. A thick TE causes a lot of drag.
• Initially rest the film over the wing surface. Don't attempt to pull the film taut, it should just rest flat
• Tack down the TE side, try not to drag the iron along the edge else this will cause the film to stretch and gather unevenly
• Tack down the LE side, use a motion of rolling the iron off the leading edge rather than drawing the iron along the length, again, this prevents stretch and gathering.
• Tack down the film to the center sheeting in the dihedral brace
• Tack down the edges of the wing tips
• Working from the dihedral brace center, gently run the iron over the open bay area of the wing
• Working from the dihedral brace center, gently run the iron over the sheeted D box area of the wing
• You could also use a heat-gun rather than an iron to shrink film
• Always check afterwards that your wing is still flat. A warped wing is absolutely no fun to trim or fly