Covering Irons

[Spice Cat]

Covering irons.

I know I have little practice with said item, but it seems quite awkward to use particularly for fine work. The long handle makes for big errors at the other end. I have seen a few photos of modellers using a domestic iron and a smaller version of this suit me.

Does anyone have this problem, are there any other designs on the market and apart from practice; any hints or tip.

Regards.

[Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator]

I find the "traditional" covering iron fine to be honest - although I also know of lots of folks that just use an ordinary clothes iron perfectly sucessfully. Some pointers:

 

Use a medium heat setting to attach the covering, then crank it up to do the shrinking phase. I find its much easier to to it like this in two stages rather than straight off in one go.

 

I also favour the use of a sock - it seems to spread the heat more evenly and protects the underlying wood.

 

BEB

[Kevin Fairgrieve]

Posted by Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator on 20/07/2011 22:47:45:

 

I also favour the use of a sock - it seems to spread the heat more evenly and protects the underlying wood.

 

BEB

I find that with a sock I tend to get better adhesion. The only dowside is the glue sometimes attaches itself to the sock. Multicoloured sock anyone?

[Peter Miller]

I use both, mainly the normal iron but sometimes I use a domestic iron for shrinking as it covers a bigger area.

 

There are small irons available for detail work but I find that they don't hold enough heat.

[Ben B]

I use a big domestic one for large areas I use a cheap "travel iron" off Ebay (which is actually tiny- base plate about 10*15cm) for the smaller stuff.

[Spice Cat]

Like the idea of the travel iron. I believe that the wife may have such.

Practice, practice, practice.

[Russ P]

For fine detailed work I use an iron with interchangable heads, 1 approx 10 mm wide, + 1 domed head great for getting into those ackward places. I think its made by prolux, but looking at SMS website they do not list one.

 

I did buy it a few years ago.

[Wiltshire Flyer]

For years i used a trusty little travel iron but did find sometimes that it would not get into some corners but worked ok for me, then it broke..... so when i covered the hawk.. (twice) i had to use Mrs DF's full sized iron, worked ok but heavy and not as easy to do the fine work.

 

I do find that modeling irons are in my opinion too expensive for what they are, i know it's probably because you don't buy one every year so they have to make their money... but still i can't justify the expense, i'll just struggle on lol

[i12fly]

Slightly off from the original question. but do make sure you don't overheat the film otherwise it will sag after a few weeks, then you tighten it up with more heat which only lasts a few weeks again, although polyester types are much better (and more expensive). If you can, check the temperature with a thermometer, ideally an infra red type but allow for the fact that these give a more accurate temp than the crappy contact type so generally aim about 5deg C lower than the temp recommended by the film manufacturer (found after lots of experiments!). If you don't get a thermometer then do some trials on scrap. It is better to under heat than over, you can always increase the temp if necessary, I never use a heat gun now as you invariable overheat the film and I've got some saggy covered models to prove it

[Peter Miller]

I use Solarfilm Supershrink Polyester. Never sags and I tend to over heat it. Doesn't even sag in roasting hot sun. So it is safe even on that one day in the year.

[Spice Cat]

Thanks for taking the time to reply. It just so happens I have an infra red thermometer and never considered using it.

I'll let you know how I get on and post a few hopefully wrinkle free photos.

 

Regards