How
to StuntIf you have any tips, plans, modeling
technique for the beginning modelers, please feel free to submit them to me.
Please Email
any comment or suggestion.
How
to Stunt
How
to start a Cox .049 engine
I
recommend using a nontoxic carpenter quality wood glue such as Elmer's Probond
or Franklin's Titebond wood glue. These glue setups very fast and is water soluble
for easy clean up.
Kids!, don't use this with out adult supervion. CA glue come in 4 type of viscosity, thin to super thick. First time users should buy Medium. If you happen to get CA on your hands or fingers, use Nail Polish Remover will take it off.
There has been some discussion regarding thinner for dope. From Duane Roaches suggestion, I was able to purchase a 1 gallon can of "Dupont 3608S or 3602S" Acrylic Lacquer Thinner" from San Leandro Color. 3602 will work better is colder weather. Another compatible thinner with Brodak Dope is Randolph or Aero Classic Butyrate Thinner from any Aircraft Supply store.
This thinner has been used by a lot of top stunt people including Windy Urtonowski, as a more economical replacement for Sig or Brodak Dope Thinner. I tried it with Brodak dope with no problems.
|
San Leandro Color |
Sacramento Sky Ranch Inc. |
Micromark
decal paper works the best. You can purchase either in clear or white background.
Print using best quality in your computer Inkjet or Laserjet type printer. After
decal sheet is printed, use Krylon Workable Fixatif to keep it from smearing.
It is a matte finish coating, especially formulated for use with pastel, charcoal
and pencil. Perfect for drawings, sketches and layouts. You can buy an 11 oz.
can from any Art or Frame store for about $7. It's the same stuff as the Micromark
fixative, but a lot cheaper.
For decal paper, go to: www.micromark.com
Quick
and Easy with Rustoleum Paint I found that is a good alternative to dope. It if 1/3 the cost of dope, fuel proof, and provides an excellent finish with minimal work. First prime the surface, either balsa or silkspan with 4 coats of clear nitrate dope. Sand between coat with 320 sand paper. Spray with Rustoleum color. For the most kid with 1/2a airplanes, one good color of color should do it. Too many coat can add too much weight to the 1/2a's.
To
get a better finish on larger models, you can use a Lacquer based sandable auto
primer such as Plasti-kote
after the nitrate dope base. Sand off most imperfection with 320 wet/dry
sand paper and apply and second coat and repeat until you achieved your desire
finish. After sanding the primer coat to 400 or 600 grit, you can use either
color dope, auto lacquer, Rustoleum or
Epoxy paint.
Heman Lee
Rustoleum - use it almost exclusively. Use a simpler approach: buy Sears "Lite Spackle"; take a couple of tablespoons full and carefully thin with water until a relatively thick but brushable viscosity is achieved. Using a fine mist spray bottle, lightly wet all balsa surfaces to be finished. This keeps the slurry moisture from rapidly penetrating into the balsa and resultant caking of Spackle on the wood surface. Immediately apply the thinned speckle slurry with a brush; let dry. Sand with 220/240 grit dry sandpaper until most of the excess speckle is removed. Apply two coats of spray can auto "sandable" primer then wet sand down with 400 grit wet/dry lightly so as not to break through the primer barrier. Allow to dry for at least an hour. Apply a "tack" coat of Rustoleum; let dry for 15-30 minutes. Apply a second coat making sure the film thickness just approaches, but doesn't result in paint sags or runs. This can be the finish coat; however, I've achieved almost glass-like finishes with a third coat. Allow to dry a week before completing final assembly of the airplane or applying any other finish colors.
Fillets - used to use light speckle; however, I encountered significant blistering problems when applying either dope (nitrate or butyrate) and auto primer/Rustoleum over them. I now use Hobbico "Hobbylite Filler". It is water soluble and impervious to blistering and works much easier for fillets than speckle, too.
Chip Largent
Norfolk Aeromodelers CL Model Airplane
Club
Virginia Beach, VA
If your not building a competition class full fuselage stunt ship, I don't think there is a need to mess around with using an epoxy based fillet. For smaller fillet on 1/2a or sport profile model, just buy some feather weight spackle from Home Depot or local hardware store. It works!
Tap
'500' Filler is a good alternate to more costly epoxy based filler such as EpoxyLite
or Aeropoxy. It is light weight and will not bubble with dope finishes. A whole
quart of this stuff can be purchased at any Tap Plastics location for only $8.50.
The hardener come in a separate 2.7oz. tube for $2.25. The only thing to watch
for is work time. You have to work fast. Do only one fillet at a time. Use about
a round tsp size of fillet and sqeeze out 1 pea size amount of hardener. Mix for
only about 15 second and apply quickly to the wing joint. Smooth out by dipping
your finger in to alcohol and go over your fillet. This will create a smooth finish.
Let is dry completely before sanding.
Heman Lee
You can purchase SuperFil at your local aircraft suppliers. It weight less
than 4 pounds per gallon -- Bondo is about 10! It is xpoxy tough and will Not
Shrink or Crack! It SUPER-EASY Sanding and work great of Composites, Aluminum,
Wood, and much more.
Mix Ambroid Glue and Talcum Power can be use to fill small imperfections and defects. It can also be used as a light weight fillet
Larry Fernadez
You can also use, automotive "Spot Putty" to repair small dents or imperfections in your finish.
Heman Lee
Just use one of the plastic open tool caddies. I've seen them for
as little as 2.99 at Home Depot.
Heman Lee
Uni-flow Stunt Tank SetupUniflow is a type of venting used by most stunter flyers as opposed to standard venting. The uniflow vent is submerge in the fuel rather than venting in the open air inside the tank. This allows pressure to be equalized from a full to empty, thus giving a more constant engine run. The problem with standard venting it that when the fuel is near the end, the pressure in the tank lowers, resulting in leaner run towards the end. The uniflow setup correct this problem. |
Note: If you add the uniflow vent to an existing standard vented tank, you must plug or cap the fill tube. The new uniflow vent will replace the fill. Plans for George Aldrich Uniflow tank |
One of Bill's tips is to use a small squeeze bottle as a primer bottle for fuel. This save on fuel waste.
Bill Osborne
Tap Plastic Hand Pumps can fit a variaty of can from quart to gallon. Each pump can dispense 1oz of fuel. The tip can be modified to fit a fuel tubing.
The first thing I do when I purchase a new fuel syringe, it to tape over the indicators tick mark with Clear Packing Tape. This will prevent the indicator from wearing off when exposed to fuel.
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