Wood Blade covering

[bearwood]

My front yard has more dirt than grass and occasionally when the blades contact the dirt the white covering cuts and comes loose. I cut the covering back and rebalance the blades but I just wondering what "others" do to protect the now raw wood/balsa.
I tightened up my blades on the "advise" of the this website http://www.raptortechnique.com/bladetension.htm as it seemed to make sense but now the blades don't fold back but get damaged more. I guess it is better to shread the covering than hit the boom
My level of flying still necessitates the use of wood blades as I believe the Carbon blades would not like the regular ground contacts.
I am thinking I may go back to Training gear for a bit longer.

[Jungle Bob]

Hey Bearwood,
If I could make a small suggestion to help you through this period of your flying. Invest in a set of Raptor 30 skids. They have a much wider stance which will negate the need for you to put your training gear back on and are virtually 'untipable'. They are also more durable and bolt straight on. You will need to drill one hole for the canopy mount but thats it! They also give your heli more ground clearance and, in my opinion, look great too.

[bugdozer]

Way back when, Monokote was used to cover blades but there was an art to keeping it on. You could try CA on the parts that start to peel if it's not too bad.

[Sgt Heli]

This may sound crazy ....but, I use that real thin, real sticky shipping tape. I carefully wrap both blade ends with it just like you would balancing tape. Only at the end where light contact strikes can occur. I have done several this way with no problem. It actually toughens the blades up some too! The stuff these blades are covered with at the factory is poor in my opinion. Slightest hit and its done.

[bearwood]

Hey people, thanks for the replies.

Jungle Bob, I have a set of Raptor Skids here that I have now fitted. I was intending to fit them when the Gaui ones broke:roll:. Hopefully I will get a chance to have a fly before I go to work this afternoon.

Bugdozer, I think as you say getting monokote etc to stick may be a problem.

I thought of Trying Sgt Helis idea with packing tape but I was going strip the White shrink wrap off completely.
I also thought a thin coating of spray Lacquer may work depending on how porous the wood is.

[mjdee14]

Monocote may take too much heat to activate and will cause the original wrap to shrink. I have used monocote to cover blades on other helis and had good success but the iron must be at the exact right temp and just barely touch it where it overlaps the original. Once you have it sealed on all corners you can "heat away" as it's only sticking to the wood anyway. it works really well and i have repaired many "dinged" blades by splicing in balsa on the leading or trailing edges or a little filler.

There are also other coverings that use much less heat to activate, usually the ligher ones.

Once you do it, you be able to repair almost any structurely sound blade.