MB-1.5 Instructions
Covering the Wings


The finished round frame before the covering is shrunk

Finished frame with the aluminum tube and wooden ball handle glued on.

Now that you've built the wing frames, you're ready to cover them.

NOTE: Only cover one wing at a time in case you need to re-do anything. There's no waiting around for anything to dry so there's nothing to gain from doing both at once.

In addition to the completed frames, you'll need:

Lay down the newspaper on your bench. To make it lie flat it may be useful to cut it in half along the spine. Stretch a piece or RW over the newspaper. You may want to set up a few weights to hold things in place, but you don't have to.

Rub the glue with your finger along the entire perimeter of the wing, and over the middle rod. Coat the rods all around, but not too heavily. The white glue will be easily visible so you can see what you're doing.

Gently lay the wing down on the surface of the RW, making sure it sticks all around. If necessary, press it down with your finger, but make sure you don't move it around. Then go wash all the glue off your hands. Wipe your hands so they're completely dry.

By now the glue will have set just a little and it's OK to trim the RW. Because the glue is still not dry though, trim the RW with straight cuts. Start from one edge of the covering and cut completely straight through to the other, passing about 1/4" - 3/8" away from the edge of the wing. Keep slicing away until you have a close approximation of the shape of the wing. Cut a V shape at the root, as shown in the picture.

When you're finished, start to fold the covering over the rod. Start by doing the flat sides near the root, and then the outer portion by the T fitting. Continue by folding over the middle of the remaining unstuck portion, and then go all around the rest of the wing.

When the covering is folded all around, press it down with your fingers and squeeze out any air bubbles. Take the heat gun and turn it on about 12" away from the wing. The covering WILL shrink, but it may take a few minutes. If nothing happens and you get bored, bring the gun closer, but no closer than 6".

After the covering is shrunk lay the wing down flat and firmly press down along the folded over edge with your fingers. Re-shrink again if necessary.

YOU'RE FINISHED !!! (almost)

You don't need to wait around for the glue to set. Because the RW is designed not to "breathe" you'll find that the glue takes a few days to fully dry and turn clear, but this is not a worry as the covering will not come off.

If you happen to puncture the cover or otherwise mess up and need to re-do it, you'll find out that it's actually much harder to take it off than it was to put it on to begin with. Keep in mind that if you do tear or puncture the RW, it doesn't always have to be replaced. You can easily fix it with a little piece of scotch tape.

YOU'RE DONE!!

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