Painting Your Model - GREAT PLANES ElectriCub Instruction Manual

Suggested Covering Sequence
Fuselage and Tail:
1. 1/4" strips at fin and stab as described
2. Fin TE, followed by stab TE
3. Fuselage bottom
4. Fuselage right side
5. Fuselage left side
6. Fuselage top
7. Stab bottom, followed by top
8. Fin left side, followed by right side
9. Elevator LE
10. Elevator bottoms, followed by the top
11. Rudder LE, right side followed by the left side
12. Battery hatch cover (trim the covering from over
the openings)
13. Landing gear fairing
Wing:
1. Trailing edges of wing
2. Bottom right, followed by the left wing panel
3. Top right, followed by the left wing panel
4. Aileron LE, followed by the bottom and top
5. Wing struts
Add Washout (Wing Twist)
An important characteristic of most airplanes is their ability
to stall gently. One way to achieve this is with washout built
into the wing. Washout is when the wing is twisted at the tips
so that the TE of the wing is higher than the LE. This will
cause the wing to first stall next to the fuselage, not at the
tip. Because the ElectriCub is designed to be very light,
washout would be difficult to build into the wing. The
following procedure will explain how to put washout into the
wing by shrinking the plastic covering. You will find that
some coverings will stay tighter than others. Fabrics seem
to relax slightly over time and may require re-shrinking more
than once.
To put washout in the ElectriCub wing, have someone hold
the center of the wing firmly down to the flat building
surface. Now grasp the tip of the wing and twist it so that the
trailing edge raises off the surface. While holding in this
twist, use a heat gun to "re-shrink" the covering. Heat both
the top and the bottom. When you let go of the tip, you will
see that the wing will retain some of the twist.
You must continue twisting and re-shrinking until the TE is
1/4" off the surface at both tips. As an aid in getting this
height correct, you may make a small wood block 1/4" high
by gluing together pieces of leftover wood. Keep this block
handy while twisting and heating, to check your progress.
Depending on what type of covering you have used, you
may find that, in time, some of the washout may disappear.
Check it after an hour and repeat the above process if
necessary. Also, recheck it periodically before you go flying.

Painting Your Model

Top Flite LustreKote ®
matches Top Flite MonoKote. The paint is well suited to
putting a high quality finish on ABS (cowl and dummy
engine), but does have a tendency to curl materials such as
styrene and butyrate (windshield and side windows).
Do not paint the clear windshield with LustreKote directly
from the can. It can cause the plastic to curl. We
recommend Formula-U for painting the clear windshield
directly from the can or the following procedure can be
used for successful results with LustreKote.
The following procedure allows you to airbrush LustreKote
with good results. The recommended procedure requires
that the paint be sprayed into a jar or plastic mixing cup.
This is best done by spraying the paint through a small
brass tube or straw into the jar. For best results spray no
more than ½ oz. of paint into the jar at a time. As the
propellant "boils off" it will cause the paint to foam slightly.
Leave the paint in the open container, stirring every 15
minutes until no more foam appears on the surface of the
paint and the paint has warmed to room temperature. This
allows the propellant and some of the thinner to evaporate
out of the paint. Depending on the amount of paint in the jar,
this process may take about 1 hour.
After allowing the propellant to boil off, use an airbrush to
spray paint the windshield. If the paint is too thick to spray
properly, it can be thinned with a small amount of lacquer
thinner. Do not thin with more than 40% thinner. In general,
about 10% thinner will adequately thin the paint for
airbrushing. The paint can also be brushed on, but brushing
will not produce the high quality finish of spraying.
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is a high quality paint that perfectly