First, Build a Shed

[efwd]

Well Carl, That stinks. Nice thing is, its on the bottom. I had my silver stuff out in the sun and I didn't notice transparency. Not sure if the silver fabric is less transparent or not. The most undesirable thing I have noted is that the yellow 6000 fabric is slightly lighter in color than the thinner 600 fabric that make up the pinked tapes that are applied over it. Eh, not so bad. There is nothing that says I can't use my left over Poly Tone to just paint over the rudder and elevator.

[Cherrybark]

It was completely my mistake. But think how good I would be a Oratex after covering three or four planes.

[colospace]

Carl, I had to ponder a while over my Chipotle burrito tonight before I recalled how I trimmed my overlaps. Back in that long ago time, there were no videos really and little in the way of instruction. (And as I was doing the work from early in the morning, I soon learned that Lars was essentially living on German time, so I tried not to call him except if I truly got stuck.)
Anyway, I'll try to relate how I worked out to do the trimming that went well for me 99% of the time.
I would of course apply adhesive in the desired width to the underlying layer of fabric. I would apply adhesive excessively wide to the underside of the outer layer. When dry, I would insure I was happy with the positioning of the fabric and then tack bond around the periphery well away from where I expected the final trim line to be. When happy with that, I would run the iron down that same "line" around the periphery (again, this is 1, 2 or 3 inches away from the final cut depending on how much overlap is required). I would then typically fold the top layer fabric back so I could see were the edge of the adhesive was on the underlying layer and pinch a small fold into the outer layer fabric periodically along the edge. Using these pinched locations, I could lay a straight edge in place to draw a light pencil line on the inside of the outer layer fabric. I would then just run my scissors along the line to shear-cut the fabric. Then it was a simple matter to finish ironing down the complete overlap. I would apply a couple of lines of adhesive along the cut edge as recommended and, once dry, proceed to the finish tape.
Hope that was clear. Seemed simple and worked well for me.

[Cherrybark]

Gary,

That's pretty much the same process I used, except using a thumbnail to press a crease in the fold as a cut line. It was just in this instance, the glue on the overlapping made a very "good" bond where there wasn't a glued surface on the second fabric. I think this was caused by a hotter iron than the 100C required to bond the glue but I'm just guessing.

I will continue to use the technique while finishing covering the fuselage - only using a 100C iron on the overlaps.

[Shadowrider]

What did you do on the wingtips and top of the rudder? Isn’t there a foam peice that you had to shape? Wondering if the heat will melt the foam parts you had to mold? I am guessing you fiberglass’s them?

[David47]

Not sure what Carl did but I used Hysol over the foam on all empennage tips and had no issues with melting Hysol or foam at iron temperatures up to 350F. As long as you don’t hold the iron for too long in the one spot you should be ok.

[Cherrybark]

Much the same as David, except I used West Marine epoxy with a fairing additive to make it easy to shape and sand the tips. No particular reason to use this product other than I had it on hand and have used it for years in other applications. No problems with the heat but didn't rest the iron in one spot.

Also have the thin, fiberglass Laker Leading Edge. No problems with heat but was aware of the potential and kept the iron moving.