Deluxe Cover Grip AD22 - Advice

[Antonia]

Hello All,

I am looking for some advice or working experience of Deluxe Cover Grip AD22 to combat bubbling under film covering. I've been undertaking the wing repairs to Mel's SHK and my 5 Mtr ASH 25 and I'm ready to start the Ocacover film re-covering. When we first built the SHK we used the Oracover 0960 Hotmelt Adhesive on the topside of the wing panels and were quite disappointed that the adhesive didn't flow smoothly and we were left with a brushed stroke substrate under the film which while acceptable was not nice to close up inspection. We used blue vinyl for the underside of the wings which didn't have the substrate issue, but what a right pig of a job it was to get it off the Obechi veneer, so this time it's going to be Oracover film.

Since both wing sets live in the top boxes on my car during the summer months, my ASH 25 suffered a lot with film bubbling with excessive temperatures in the closed top boxes, the SHK was much much better at resisting bubbling with the 0960 - just looked horrible close up, so to get to the chase.

I looked at Deluxe's website and their video mentions that AD22 can be thinned down with water to aide flow, but nowhere does it state how much water can be used to achieve the thinned down state.

Have any of you used thinned AD22 and can offer some advice please.

Thanks, Antonia

[john greenfield]

Antonia

The trick with any of the heat activatable covering adhesives is to apply it with a piece of plastic sponge rather than a brush. With the foam it smooths on well and does not leave the ridges that brushing will.
On the subject of watering it down, only use a very small amount if at all. Too much water will make the surface too wet and raise the grain of the wood. you will not be able to sand this back through the adhesive and the whole thing will look a mess.
Using the foam method you should be able so spread the adhesive out evenly without the need to thin it.

AEB

[Barry_Cole]

Maybe better not to leave the wings on top of your car... Seems like asking for trouble.



BC

[Adam C]

Covergrip is very thick and I stopped using it on large sections for the reasons you experienced.

Thinned PVA might be easier as that goes on like milk and dries a lot slower. It is however totally permanent once bonded with heat.

[john greenfield]

My experience with thinned PVA is that it has a very poor bond compared to Balsaloc and being quite "wet" it does liift the grain of the wood making the job unsightly.

For those that don't know, Balsaloc is still available from Solarfilm sales. Buy it whilst it is still available as it does not go off.

AEB

[Antonia]

Thanks for the replies, Barry, without having a large house our storage options are very limited, so top boxes it is, just will have to stop having roasting hot summers
Did try to reply earlier in the week but I keep having the reply post button logging me out losing my reply every time I submitted....
In the end I diluted with 5% water and used foam bushes for application. At the moment I've covered the upper sufaces of one of the wings flaps and ailerons, before the blue underside film goes on which will be forming part of the hinge system, the finish seems to be very acceptable at the moment,
I'll be covering the underside Saturday, so watch out for the mushroom cloud over Oxfordshire
Antonia

[Adam C]

My experience with thinned PVA is that it has a very poor bond compared to Balsaloc and being quite "wet" it does liift the grain of the wood making the job unsightly.

For those that don't know, Balsaloc is still available from Solarfilm sales. Buy it whilst it is still available as it does not go off.

AEB

John, Thanks. That prevents me making a daft error on my current build.