|
 Alternative Materials  I can be reached at rcmodeling@gmail.com. Please feel free to contact me so we can talk about one of our favorite hobbies! Alternate Plane Covering My son (8 at the time) and I, took some contact paper (the kind you would use to cover a wooden desk or shelve) that one of his teachers gave him, and tried to cover a Stick .40 wing with it. It is a little tricky to get laid out, because of the adhesive on the back. Just cover the area as neatly as possible. Once you have your plane covered - use a heat gun, starting a distance away from the covering, and slowly move closer to your covering. This stuff melts as though it is going to go through the wing. As it cools - it shrinks up drum tight. You may have to retouch some areas a little. It is a little heavier than Monokote and such, but it is a LOT stronger, and cheaper. Thought you might like to know Speading filler Another cheap tool for spreading model filler is a used credit card. I have several, and have even cut strips off one to get a narrow spreader for Engine Cleaner The next time you are at the hobby shop open a can of Z-BEST engine cleaner take a small sniff (i said small sniff) this stuff is rank a can costs approx.-5 to 6 bucks. Then go to your local auto paint store find a can of aircraft paint remover take a sniff (remember A small sniff) same o same o.A quart costs about 10 bucks approx.8 times as much. If your really cheap sell some to your friends, then the rest will be FREE. Submitted by gwag@mindspring.com Wires Get hold of a junk VCR and take it apart. Quite often there is a lot of wire harnesses in it. ( Lite-Ply ) My favorite material is " doorskins " to use in place of Lite Ply. You can purchase these at your local Home Depot building supply for about 5 bucks. The sheets are 36 in. wide by 80 in. high and about 1/8 in. thick. I have used this in place of Lite Ply in fuselage sides, hatches, landing gear mounts, servo mounts, etc. and have never had a failure. ( Plywood ) Also along those lines, cabinet makers have birch and oak faced ply pieces in different sizes 1/4 in. thick, that they will sell you reasonable. I use these for firewalls, Gear mounts in bigger planes, and you can double them up to make firewalls for gas engines. ( Hardwood ) For spars, I use 1X4 by 8 ft. Poplar or maple. One board can be carefully cut in a table saw with a fine blade ( be safe when you use power tools ). You can cut these in 1/4 X 3/8, 1/4 X 1/2, etc. and make enough sticks to last for years! ( Music Wire ) Next thing is music wire for landing gear, tail wheels, control surfaces, etc. You can get this from the inside of an old interspring mattress. ( Nuts & Bolts ) Buy "T" nuts, small screws and such at hardware stores by the gross, If they don't stock them they can order them for you. ( Glue ) Now to save a lot, use an alternative to CA. You still need CA but you won't use so much of it, Elmers Carpenter's Glue AKA Tightbond which is used on furniture. I use it on wing ribs, sheeting, fuselage skin, etc. Many places where you normally use CA. A bottle of Tightbond cost a buck something at Wal-mart and will last for several models, and with the CA going up in price, it's something to consider! It's not instant but you can lay up all your ribs at once and let them set, like before you quit for the day. An item that helps dispense the glue is a all plastic syringe that you can get at your local hobby shop. ( Epoxy ) -- I still use the 6 MIN and 30 MIN type, but for coating firewalls and fuel tank area's I get it at the local craft store. It comes in 8 oz. bottles of resin and hardener, and lasts for many planes. ( Filler ) Don't buy filler from the catalogs, go to Wal-mart and get " lightweight spackling paste " it's cheap and comes in a large container. When it starts to dry up, add a little water and stir with a popcycle stick. It looks like the same thing to me! ( popcycle Sticks ) Next time you are in the craft shop, pick up some popcycle sticks. They come in boxes of 100, 500, 1000, and there cheap. You will use these for all kind of things like, servo rails, reinforcing splices, skids, fuel tank stops, mixing epoxy, any place where you are going to put in screws. You will find all kind of uses for them. ( Wind shields ) and Canopies can be made from 2 and 3 liter Pop containers, you can get a nice piece of flat by cutting away the top and bottom. You can also use some of the top for a formed canopy. Save the caps from your fuel bottles then when working on a model turn two of them upside down on the table and sit the wheels in them to keep the plane from rolling around. Use bamboo skewers for repairs and reinforcements. You can buy a pack of a 100 or more for a buck or so at the grocery store. Also great for mixing epoxy as they are stiff enough to stir with . {Note: Bamboo is very tough flexible stuff and hard too. It may be difficult to get some glues to stick to it.} If you need a hose clamp for your fuel tubing try this , Cut a small piece of tubing about a quarter inch long and put it over the tips of a pair of needle nose plies then spread the plies and slip the end of the hose through the smaller piece. Put on the hose and slide down the clamp piece over the fitting. (From one of the guys at the field) Next time you go to the dollar store look for a package of cheep paint brushes, you can sometimes get a pack of 20 for, gee, well a dollar. They work super for mixing and spreading epoxy and even can be used for painting! If you want to anchor the end of an externally mounted receiver aerial by tying it to the fin (or other bit of the back end) with an elastic band tensioner, this little idea should come in handy. When you cut off unwanted arms from your servos, keep all the bits that still have three holes. Clean up the cut end, and cut an angled slot into one end hole to form a hook.
Thread the aerial through the remaining two holes as shown, and pull tight. It will not slip out even when soaked in fuel! Bending Balsa A spray bottle of water on your bench comes in very handy for bending balsa sheets. If you spray a little water on the wood before you use filler it will stick much better and go on smoother. If you need something to spread filler don't use a normal putty knife it is too hard and scratches balsa easily. Instead buy some spreaders from the auto store, the spreaders are sold for spreading body putty and are very inexpensive. They are soft plastic and can be cut to size. If they get a bad edge after a while just use some sand paper to clean them up. The soft plastic that the spreaders are made of can also be used to mix epoxy on, when the unused epoxy sets just flex the plastic and it will pop right off. While at the auto store look at the pin striping tape it comes in a lot more colors then the stuff at the hobby store and is about half the price. It is fuel proof if left to cure for awhile after putting it on. When using a covering iron you should cover the iron with a cloth to keep it from scratching the covering . The little socks the hobby stores sell are way too expensive to use. What I do and probably everyone else does too, is just use a piece of soft white cotton cloth (an old T shirt is best.) Wrap it around the iron and put a rubber band around it. Works great and best of all it's free… When you try to take off the rubber band it can be hard to get off, just cut it off with your knife (don't be so damn cheep.) When covering a model you will find that the best knife is no knife at all ! Use single edge razor blades. They are cheep (you can buy them by the hundred in most paint or hardware stores), cut for a long time, and are much easier to use then a hobby knife. VERY IMPORTANT take a small one inch strip of masking tape and tape over half of the blade or you will spend most of your time putting band-aids on your remaining fingers! When the blade gets dull take the tape off and cover the dull side. If you make the tape longer it sticks out and gives you something to hold on to. You can also tape the two ends and leave the middle of the blade uncovered this will allow you to use it like a razor plane to round off edges. Tape or glue on a piece of balsa wood and use this as a spacer to cut ¼ inch borders for overlaps. Parts From Plastic Soda Bottles Several things for RC airplanes can be made from 1, 2, or 3-liter soda bottles.
Fill plastic zip-lock bags of various sizes about 3/4 full of fine sand, and seal each well. Use these to hold down large parts while building, such as wings. The sand will conform to the shape of parts well. They also work good when gluing sheeting to foam.
Developed by Geistware of Indiana© ., 1999. |
