How to Cover Foam Wings on Model Airplanes

Use standard white flour to make a papier-mâché covering.

Constructing a model airplane is a creative way to display your passion for flying. The problem with foam wings is that they may prevent a toy plane from soaring if the foam is exceptionally porous. It's important to make sure that, once the wings are attached to the body of the plane, porous openings are nonexistent. Covering the foam wings -- and the body of the plane to which they're attached -- with lightweight papier-mâché both closes porous openings and provides an ideal surface for acrylic paint.

Things You'll Need

• Measuring cups
• 5 cups Water
• 1 cup Flour
• Pot
• Spoon
• Medium-sized bowl
• 1-by-3-inch Newspaper strips
• 1-by-3-inch Paper-towel strips
• Acrylic paint
• Paint brush

Instructions

1. Measure and pour 5 cups of water into a small pot. Measure and pour 1 cup of flour into the same pot. Stir the mix together for 15 to 30 seconds to create a thin, soup-like papier-mâché.

2. Boil the mix for four to five minutes. Stir continuously as the mix is boiling. Turn off the heat and allow the mix to cool for three to four minutes. Carefully pour the mix into a small bowl.

3. Full submerge a 1-by-3-inch newspaper strip into the mix. Press the wet strip onto the body of the left wing. Flatten and mold the strip to the shape of the wing. Continue until all the wings -- and plane's body -- are covered in one layer of newspaper. Repeat this step with paper-towel strips. Allow four hours for the papier-mâché to dry. Adjust the strip sizes depending upon the dimensions of the wings.

4. Coat the wings and plane with one layer of acrylic paint. Allow two hours for the craft to dry before handling or exhibiting.

Tips & Warnings

• This same process can be used on space-shuttle models.

References

• MerchantCircle: How to Make a Shuttle Model
• DLTK's Sites: How to Paper Mache