Well understand the lay off thing, got it in November; worked in aerospace for 40+ years. I am 65 and will just retire. More building/flying time! Nice project, but have a thought to share on gluing, I still use “wood” glue where it fits well with the build, but a couple of years ago I had a method shared with me by a very good builder.

Use thin CA to make the joint and fillet it with medium CA. the medium glue will have the tendency to follow the thin into the joint and still create a good fillet. This makes the assembly easier as you can hold things and get a good fit; and added strength with the follow-up medium glue.

Well, the FK is going to have to wait for a couple of days. Went out flying my GP Big Stik 40 today and pranged it. We had fitful gusts of wind with changing directions.. and the field has tall trees on all sides. The plane was about 2 seconds from the flair on landing when a cross wind rotor from the trees behind me caught the right wing, fliped the plane up and caused a cartwheel. Wing bolts sheared and there was almost no damage at all to the wing.. but the tail is crunched fairly will, some damage to the rest of the fusalage and will need a new prop. All repairable.. but will probably occupy my time for the next few days.

Larry

Too bad about the layoff.

I got mine a month ago. At age 61, and living in the land of the auto industry, make jobs hard to come by. I'll probably retire at 62, since it'll be hard to find a job before then.

At least we have our models to build. Best therapy that I can think of !!!

You'll have your Stik fixed soon, and be in the air in no time !

Well Tom, I think that you and I have a lot of company these days. I am not quite ready to retire.. and with all the bucks coming out of Washington, am optimistic that there will be room for a program/project manager somewhere in all of it. I say a prayer every night for all of us...

I did get a few things done on the FK build today. Starting the Right Outer Wing Panel, and have the main beams, ribs, shear webs and rear spars glued in place. Without all of the stuff in the center of the wing to deal with, the outer wings should go a bit quicker.

Broken Wings, I am using the pins that you suggested and what a difference! They are really much, much better than the standard pins. They are very small in diameter, so they go into the wood much better, and much less risk of splitting the balsa if the piece is small. They are also stiffer than the "regular" pins, and don't bend over as easily. When you add a head to the pin that doesn't make your fingers sore, you really have a good thing!

Larry

The outer wing panel is really a surprise.. it is going together much quicker than the inner panel. Some of it is learning curve, but it is also a significantly less complex build.

The new pins are wonderful.. and the parts are still all fitting together. I am going to forget how to trim parts to fit and sand if I keep building these BTK kits.!

Also working to patch the Stik.. but that goes slow. Glue one place and wait for it to dry before the next...

Larry

Nice building so far, Larry. You're build progress is sure a lot quicker than mine was...it took me 2 years of off and on building!!!! One thing I've learned about building a kit, once you start, you better finish it, or it will take forever to finish!!!

I just finished my Flying King about 2 months ago. Still haven't flown it yet!
I put an O.S. FS-91 Surpass II in mine.

What powerplant are you putting in yours?

I try to get something done each day... and succeed about 75% of the time. Like you, I am putting on OS FS 91 in mine as well... Got the engine from Ebay last week.

Yours looks great... Gives me something to keep motivated.

Larry

Thanks, it was a fun build. As you know, the quality of Bruce's kits are superb. The Machine cut parts that he makes rivals laser cut kits.

The problems I had in building mine was the horizontal stab kept wanting to warp on me ( I don't know how many times I put that thing in the tub with hot water then put tons of books on top of them when drying!) and I messed up the angle of one of the ribs that you have to slant to get the dihedral correct for where the center panel and outer panel meets. So, I had to make 2 new dihedral braces (1 for the mistake, and the other one so the other side of the wing so it would match) and mine has a few more degrees of slant then called for in the manual.

Other than those 2 goof ups, it was great fun. Building wings are my least favorite part of kit building. I am glad I built the flaps. I loved building the FK fuse! Larry, if you haven't already got one, I would highly suggest you buy the miter saw and miter cut that he recommends. They are on sale right now on his website:

http://www.btemodels.com/fourmost.html

These two tools were indispensable and a huge help in getting the exact angles of cuts called for on the plans when building the fuse. I am so glad I purchased those as they made the fuse assembly a breeze and super clean and tight fit.

I have the miter saw... Got home late so hitting the sack. In the process of regluing the wing segment that I built. Stand it one way, put the glue on, wait for it to dry, flip it over and do the other side etc.

I am a wood glue guy, and would rather have the flexible joint of a wood glue than having it quick and brittle with CA.

Larry

Originally Posted by ljasmann

>
>
I am a wood glue guy, and would rather have the flexible joint of a wood glue than having it quick and brittle with CA.

Larry

Good man Larry

Well, finally got all the sheeting on the bottom of the outer wing. Now time to start the other side.

Included is a pic of Obie, the OTHER boss of the house.

Larry

Now for the Left Outer Wing. Top side done.. in the morning when the glue has dried, I will start the wood glue shuffle. Flip it one way, glue, let it dry, flip it another. glue, dry etc.

Sure glad it is the weekend.

Larry

Making progress on the gluing in preparation for sheeting the bottom of the wing... Here are a few pics of the process.

Key thing is to rotate the wing to get all surfaces flat and level so the glue does not run when applied. Takes time since you need to wait several hours between each glue application.

Larry

Got a bit more done today...

Glued the wingtip support, and also the wingtip to one of the outer wing panels. Also discovered by another look at the plans that I need cap strips on the end-most rib as well, so in the process of installing those as well.

The Rottweiler's name is Tank, and it fits him well. We will babysitting him for a few days for my wife's niece. When at our house, he is #4 in pecking order, below the most timid cat (she bosses him around outrageously even though he has at least 90 pounds on her.) He is quite possibly the least intelligent, and sweetest dog I have ever known. Not an evil or aggressive bone in him.. He does tend to run into the walls though...

Larry

Did the sheeting on the bottom of the other outer wing this morning. Last one, and I finally figured out the solution to a problem...

It is important to have the wing fastened down securely to the building board when applying the leading edge sheeting to avoid inducing warps into the wing. Bruce's instructions suggested putting some balsa under the trailing edge to support it so it would fasten securely .. but it kept popping up off the building board when I applied pressure to fasten the heading edge sheeting down. Since there is a bit of bend, it takes a bit of pressure to get the sheeting down to the main spar. The solution is to pin down a piece of balsa under the leading edge sheeting ahead of the main beam. This worked great this time. The wing was solid as a rock.

Larry