Pink-it is a new product, or should I say a new service from Gary Sibert at pink-it.net. This is pinking tape cut from fabric. He can cut from the Nelson or Balsa USA Solortex Fabric. The big advantage with this is that the tape can be cut from the same fabric you have applied on your plane. Gary sent me a sample of his product to play with. It looked very impressive, but at the time I did not have any projects I could use it on. A few months later I was covering a cub for a fellow and we ordered the tape for his Cub. I did not get to totally finish the cub out with the tape but what I started on looked great. So when it came time to cover my L-4 I went to Gary for my pinking tape.
In the past I have used medical tape for this on my older cub. I will say that the medical tape has held up well and still looks great on the old cub. Worked with Pink-it on my L-4, I will say this product has some pros and cons but the pros way outweighs the cons.
First of all I will get the cons out of the way I only have one con on it. The medical tape was self-sticking so all you had to do was put it down run a roller over it and you were done. With the fabric you have to iron it down just like the covering on the plane. It will take a little time to iron it down around scale stitches. That is the only con I have with the product. But then again, we are talking about a scale plane and everyone knows they are not built over night.
Now let’s talk about all the pros of this product First of all it is made from the same fabric you apply to your plane. This holds true on the full scale as they used the same fabric as they did on the plane. If you have used a basic color on your plane, then just order the stitches in that color and no painting!! Medical tape has a different texture on the tape surface and is about 4 times as thick as the fabric tape. This would have to strip a few ounces from the weight of the plane. Using medical tape the plane has to be painted. Using pink-it you buy the tape the color of you plane and painting is not required. I would recommend a clear coat of some type to help seal all the seams. I don’t know how he cuts it but the pinks come out perfect. I know on the medical tape sometimes I would look at 10 rolls before I would find a good roll. The pinks on the medical tape would be distorted as it is pressed against the roll. Another advantage is it can be cut to different sizes so it will work on any scale plane. Medical tape is only 1/2 and 1 inch wide. I will defiantly use Pink-it on future projects and would recommend it to anyone for a great scale finish.
So pop over to pink-it, check it out, and tell Gary the cubman sent you.
