Newbie questions. After you finish laughing, please help!

From: Don Weigt <dweigt47_at_gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2014 15:04:29 -0400

Hi, Group.

I'm a new member. I've built planes for half a century, and an AMA member
most of my adult life, but never built anything as light and delicate as
indoor FF models. I hope some of you will take pity on a newbie and answer
some basic questions. I was going to send them to Model Aviation's Indoor
columnist, Jon Kagan, but I see the January column was his last....

I recently tried to assemble a Parlor Mite from a kit I'd been storing for
20 years or more. This was my first experience with sliced ribs. They
worked better than I expected. The stripwood cutter described in the
instructions worked pretty well, too. It was made from part of a single
edge razor blade and some wood for a base and spacers.

Then I got into trouble. My first assemblies broke when I tried to lift
them from wax paper. I'd used small amounts of wood glue. I finally got
that solved by using parchment paper instead of wax paper. My next wing
and tail parts came off the paper fine. But, the wing has quite a twist in
it. The twist may be from tension in the glue joints, or perhaps clamping
the LE and TE to the building board twisted them, then they sprang back
when released.

So, what are the better choices for glues?

How are you building these models without a lot of warps?

The instructions mention adding warps to help hold up the left wing against
motor torque, but not how to add them. My assumption is that if I knew how
to add them, I'd also be able to remove them. So, how is that done?
Wetting the wood seems likely to make things worse. Steaming the structure
may work before it's covered, but not after the tissue is added. Dry heat
could soften the lignen in the wood and let it take a new form, but how
would that work after covering with condenser paper?

How do you secure the covering to the frame? Wouldn't even thinned dope
add a lot of weight? How could it be applied to the top surface of a 1/32
square wood leading or trailing edge spar or 1/64 thick sliced rib and not
have it end up on at least three sides? It seems to me I read something
about using thinned glue stick adhesive in a past issue, but don't know
where to find the info again, am not sure it was glue stick adhesive, and
don't recall what thinner was used. :--O

Other simple problems seem hard to answer. How to pick up, position, and
steady ribs while the glue is applied and until it's dried is puzzling me.
I tried using little blocks to hold the ribs in place, but they moved
around. I kept breaking the ribs when I picked them up, whether with my
fingers, electronics pliers, or dental tweezers.

So, you can tell I have some problems with the basic processes. Any
guidance will be greatly appreciated! As an aside, I think basic
construction methods would be very useful now and then in an indoor column
or other publication. The info is probably out there already, but I don't
know where to look. Can you please at least point me toward the "library"?

Thanks,

Don Weigt, Madison, WI
Received on Mon Mar 10 2014 - 12:04:30 CET