(1) ALWAYS lay wax paper on your plans before you even open the glue bottle.

(2) ALWAYS have a bottle of acetone on standby.(dissolves CA glue)

(3) ALWAYS work in a well ventilated area.

(4) NEVER rush and build one part at a time.

(5) ALWAYS quit when you get tired.(If not then you tend to leave out parts).

(6) Don't sweat the covering part. it is not as hard as you might think.


P.S. Mr. Moderator could you please make this thread sticky so new guys know what to do and what not to do?

cool thanks for the tips.im gonna be building my first kit here in alittle while.
(sig smith miniplane)i actually found some of this helpful.

thanks, matt

thanx, i try

(7) you also need to make sure you have an x-acto knife and some kicker for your ca when you dont want to wait.

(8) Always use sharp blades.

(9) Always us a flat level building surface.

10) Always measure twice, cut once!

what is the best material for a building board? I have been using pine ready made panels from home depot. they are not bad, I use clamps to hold them true to the work bench. any idea's.

not wax paper... Saran wrap or other clear plastic wrap. Wax paper was used in the 1930's/40's... But its not as easy to see through as plastic wrap. Also... I have had glue stick to the waxed paper...but never to plastic wrap.

Hobby Lobby craft stores carry low cost CA debonder. Appx 30% less than I have found it anywhere else.

***********

Yellow carpenters glue is great...
Cheap
Easy to use
gives a little time for positioning parts
strong
light (if you use it right) I often have my planes come out UNDER list minimum flying weight.

$5 worth of yellow glue will build a FLEET of planes... $5 worth of CA builds ONE plane.

thanx for the tips i left out.

Originally Posted by fhhuber506771

Hobby Lobby craft stores carry low cost CA debonder. Appx 30% less than I have found it anywhere else.
ONE plane.

Check at home depot or similar and look for acetone. you should be able to find it very cheap and try it out chance are you wont even be able to tell the difference , Its to the point where the lhs admits its probably just repackaged.

Steven

yeah, acetone is much cheaper.

Originally Posted by bugerdup

what is the best material for a building board? I have been using pine ready made panels from home depot. they are not bad, I use clamps to hold them true to the work bench. any idea's.

I use the large blue 2'X8' insulation panels that are about 2" thick. They are very flat and pins push into it easily. Its cheap and you can replace it easily if it gets damaged (CA will eat it).

Speaking of CA........Thin CA will go ANYWHERE! It will spray if you open it near your face. It will drip everywhere. It will glue your fingers to whatever you are holding. And to make it really fun.....you will get some on your fingers without realizing it....then you will spay some kicker on it.......It will BURN! I've gotten some pretty good blisters from it. Just be careful and dont say we didnt warn ya!

Chris Elliott
OMAS

that too

Applying covering... is mostly just acting like you know what you are doing...

Cut pieces somewhat oversize... tack down a corner... pull tight to opposed corner and tack then stqrt pulling qnd tacking around the edges.

Generally you can shrink out all the wrinkles with a heat gun so don't sweat it too much.

For compound curves, apply heat and pull hard. The coverings stretch very well. I have seen a wheel pant covered in ONE PIECE. (thats kind of like covering an egg)

A good straight edge and a sharp knife and you can cut your own trim stripes. Generally stripes under 1/2 inch wide are annoying to apply and they peel if not stuck down VERY WELL.

Fuel power planes need the seams sealed better than electric models. The fuel will lift a marginally sealed seam that would never cause a problem for an electric model.

All overlaps should be such that airflow won't be trying to blow under the edge. Work from the bottom rear of the model to the top front.

I have yet to actually plan a color scheme out before applying it... I take scraps.. lay them in place.. if it looks good I iron it down.
My latest covering project (rebuild of a smashed model... ) ended up red white and blue with 11 alternating red-white horizontal stripes on the rudder and a big white star on the blue fin. It looks better now than when the ARF was new. (pics when I figure out why my camera's mem card won't transfer images to the computer... or when I find the cable to connect the camera instead of using the card reader)