DUCO

Wise spoken words, when we get to where we think we know it all, we know nothing as we ought. Thanks for your kind words friend.

DUCO

Hello all, well another great weekend and much done, all my honey do's, oil changed in the family vehicle, yard made pretty and plenty of time to build.
I want to @ this time express thanks too all who have made me feel @ home here and have offered their help in the completion/true flying of this now project. I have learned much and remembered a bit from these fellers and the fine threads as posted here.

I have enjoyed the thrill of again working with one of God's many woods, balsa. I also have enjoyed the clean lay-out/design to this Carl Goldberg kit. Again I feel I made the right choice in picking this one, even though, I do agree, there be many good ones out there to learn from.

Now, I am one of those ole school boys, I learned to build w/balsa with printed and or transfered parts from paper to wood, then cut. I know, soooo muuuch timmme.
But old habits are hard to break. I still from time to time purchase a Cleveland Models kit off of eBay, if you do not like to work/cut, then these kits are not for you!

Now why all that. well, this is not my 1st laser cut balsa kit, it is however my 1st RC laser cut kit. As I built the tail feathers, I noticed that the parts did not lay flat to each other. Now this does happen when cutting using a straight edge and a x-acto knife, and you do not keep the blade perpendicular as you cut along the straight edge. The blade of an x-acto because of the bevel cut of the blade will also travel off perpendicular unless you keep the knife nice and straight up. So I am thinking, hey, this is one of those new dang fanged laser cut kits, and I just know the part has a nice flat cut edge????? Guess what, not. Do not know why, but the laser cut areas of the kit have a slight angle to the inside of the cut edge? Well, being old school, I just edge sanded along my ply door I am build on to true up the part w/a flat edge to mate to another flat edge. I know many like the laser cut stuff and I agree, die cut was a mess, but have others had this in their laser cut kits, or did I just get one the operator of the cutting process had a bad day with. I know, cutting out all those parts by hand from printed sheets was tough, but if done right, you got a true straight air worthy frame every time! Just the ramblings of a ole man.

And as promised, a few pic's of where I be on this gal. Oh yea, the wify required this one be built out in the garage.

huck1199

Duco

Do not cut your epoxy with alcohol; use acetone.  Alcohol you buy usually has water (30%) in it which will weaken the epoxy.  Buy a qt of acetone at the hardware store; you will use it for cleaning up CA on covering as well.

DUCO

My Bad, took a few min's to get the dang photo thing down pat:

huck1199

Duco

You may want to pick up a ceiling tile;  2x4.  Put it on your board and place the plans on top - makes pinning much easier.

DUCO

Will do friend, makes sense after all and will use for cleaning CA from the covering as well. Thanks

DUCO

Whew, pushing them suckers in wif my thumb has got old fast.

Will pick up a ceiling tile tomorrow. More sound good advice. Thanks huck1199

huck1199

Duco

I haven't seen Duco cement in years; good stuff.  Most builders are using Titebond II now.  It sets up in about 15 minutes; gives you time to position parts, where as with CA you have to be right the first time!!  If your wood is low moisture content the CA will not kick and joints will be weak.  It takes a little longer to build with Titebond II but rushing adds to mistakes as well.  Have fun and keep us posted, help is just a keystroke away.

dredhea

My Feedback: (13)

You want commercial grade tiles, not the fiberglass home type. Your local building supply store will usually have damaged tiles that they'll give you for free. Many have only minor damage, such as a broken corner. They can't sell them, but they're fine for your purpose, and you're doing the store a favor as they don't have to dispose of them. Be prepared, however. Sometimes they'll require you to take all of them and you'll get stuck disposing of the ones you can't use.

DUCO

DUCO

I used DUCO for card modeling, and also for Free Flight Rubber. Sets up strong and handles sanding well, however I have never used for the stress and loads @ work in a RC aircraft. I am using CA and SIG-Bond in the construction of the Eagle 2. I admit I like the Sig glue, but the CA does make for quicker work and results. I guess I tend to use as I see fit in different locations and by what forces are working against the part being assembled.

As for availability, my LHS keeps the stuff in stock for me. I also like Sig-ment too for assembly, but have not seen any of it for awhile.

DUCO

Had some time after getting home from work to continue building the Eagle. I also received an order from Tower Hobbies of all the stuff needed to build, from pins to sanders. Used the sanding bars today, boy having the right tools helps to go along way! Sanded down the elevator, finished gluing the rudder supports, and started fuselage formers A & B. Went to our local Home Depot, they have a bag of spring clamps, 32 of them, assorted sizes. Picked up a bag and used some of them on the fuselage bulkheads, they be the black ones, from small like these too large ones. A good deal in my book. I also picked up a bottle of Tite-Bond II, liked how it grabbed when parts brought together. I will epoxy the fuselage bulkheads. Help me out here, should I use epoxy for all the ply construction?

DUCO

Waited to start fuselage, trying to figure best glue to use to construct with, most of it is plywood.

Followed the good advice and am now constructing on ceiling tile. Boy pins sure do go in so much easier.

Did lay-out, square up and followed instruction booklet to start the left wing panel.

DUCO

I loaded these sep. notice how the panel does not match the plans, they have drawn up in the length and the width. I went with the measurements as given in the written instructions. Learned this from the errors made on the stab, of which I am going to re-build, do not like how turned out. Rudder is fine. Look close @ the drawings and compare to the wood parts, you will see how much they have changed from the original plans. Look @ the photo that shows the end of the panel @ where it will join to the right side, the panel is 30 inches long, the drawing stops @ 29 1/2???????
Have got to order more of the House of Balsa Wing Jigs, I love these things, will order more .

Hogrider

My Feedback: (392)

Hi Duco,
There is a couple of things we want to keep in mind.
Wood and paper (use to be wood) will shrink and expand with humidity.
I would lay out both Wing panels and let them climatize.
After that, measure from the outer most Rib (#6 , it is doubled) at the Wing Tip towards the Wing Root on the drawing.
Now measure the other Wing Plan drawing at the same places. They should be identical.
Don't be overly concern about the wood pieces being over-size, they are meant to be that way for triming purposes (the L.E., Spar and T.E.) Lay the Ribs over the plans rib locations. When you are finished with the Wing halves and ready to join them, they will need to be sanded flush to mate properly. I usually work from the tip to the root (except for the beginning of the wing construction). The Wing Tip is fixed in it's location and cannot move, the Root can be adjusted slightly.

DUCO

Thanks for the info Hogrider. I understand and will do just as you suggested. I went back and added a few marks to the photo to better show how much the plans have drawn up.
#1 Center main spar 30" as instructed.
#2 Rib as installed into the slot as cut in TE..
#3 Rib mark in relation to cut out in TE.
#4 Plan as marked and location of LE of wing.

DUCO

? Hogrider, what is the best glue for assembling the cut ply as comes in kit, epoxy and or wood glue.

Hogrider

My Feedback: (392)

The first Eagle 2 I built, I used Epoxy where ever the instruction said to use it.
The second one, i used Tite-Bond II every place, except the Firewall area My feeling is,
it penetrates the wood better to gave a stronger bond and it can give a much cleaner appearance.
Others may disagree. It does take a little longer to cure, but it will be lighter.

dredhea

My Feedback: (13)

I would only use epoxy where it is specifically called for. The Titebond will work fine in all other areas.

ARUP

Looks like you are moving right along. As far as adhesives go I like using Duco and Ambroid cement, too. They sand very nicely and are great for laminating parts without worries of warpage. I just read an article in Flying Models Magazines that gives the nod to origional Titebond over the II or III iteration. They all work well. I use Sig Bond, too, because I like to support Sig. I don't use CA much except to fabricate jigs or spot glue parts while the less expensive glues set up. Not knocking CA- just letting you know how I use it. Heck- I can buy a gallon of Titebond for the price of two bottles of CA! I'm frugal!

JNorton

My Feedback: (2)

I personally like the original Titebond over Titebond II. I've never used Titebond III.
John

vertical grimmace

My Feedback: (1)

Titebond 2 is for exterior use. You can tell it has some sort of plastic or something in it. It also dries faster. The Open time is like 15 inutes. For modeling applications, the original tiebond would be a better choice. I built my original Eagle with it back in 1984. That is a very good choice for the plywood. It will perform better than CA here I think, and it still dries pretty fast.

DUCO

Thanks everyone for the help, will go today and get the reg Tite-Bond. I am sold that this is a good way to save that dreadful thing called weight. I agree, I am not a big fan of CA's, but does have it uses. I am however a bigger fan of Duco of which I use for all my FF/Scale models. I have never used on a RC before, but I have a large stash, so I might use in a few locations as suggested. My biggest was glue penetration on the ply parts for a good strong bond. Again, all who replied, I thank you for your time.

Hogrider, did as you instructed and the wing worked out perfect. But not by going w/the plans. I see now the plans are merely suggestive, alot like custom models, you have to have a firm understanding of parts placement and use what comes in the box, not what is drawn on paper. Do not get me wrong, I understand the need ofr the drawings and have used to build many AC, but this set is by far, the worst I have ever worked off of. Please tell me this is not the norm.

Overall, happy w/the layout of the wing, will let it set abit, weather is warm here in the South today, will allow the parts climatize as Hogrider suggested before gluing. I work construction, I am fully aware of this process.

DUCO

A few photos of todays progress.
One photo is what I won on eBay, happy to get this one, only have heard great things about the design.
The other photo shows how much the plans were off, but all is well and the wing turned out just as was supposed too.

huck1199

The Titebond II seems to be a little more flexible when dry.  Anyone notice this or is it my imagination?  I was thinking that less brittle is better.