Daddyo57

My Feedback: (15)

Great Post!!! I really enjoy this because it makes me feel better about the dumb mistakes I have made, none really stand out but most could have been avoided if I would have engaged my brain and didnt get ahead of myself. I guarantee this thread has motivated many people!

sebo

As soon as I can get my fingers unglued from my plane I'll tell you what dumb mistakes I've made............

jmohar

Mistakes? I don't remember making any mistakes, only modifications to poorly designed models.

Alex7403

Mistakes?
Where should I start, almost every airplane I have built has a cardinal mistake.

Once I forgot working sealing iron at max temperature for two days – couldn’t understand why its so hot in here – wasn’t paying attention while turning it off…

Did epoxy wing saddle and the wing was covered with monokote but it still got stuck to the fuse – had to release it with a big screwdriver – it was very unpleasant.

Almost build two identical wing halves unless I stop myself and check and recheck.

Crossing each other push rod tubes.

Not straight fin.

The worst that I remember was gluing sig mid star fuse with med CA and it fell from the table than of course the CA kicked in and I had a crooked fuselage with fire wall looking to the wrong side – had to add popsicle stick to the fire wall and stress the fuse with water and clamps to straighten it, two years and its still flying very well stubborn airplane.

The list is so darn long that I’m afraid somebody might learn from it – the wrong lessons.

AviationNut

Oh man that one made me laugh! That has to be the main mistake I make when building kits. I have to keep an extra supply of balsa on hand to deal with those situations.

cloudancer03

My Feedback: (22)

I can barely do any carpentry work and when I do its not very pretty.but I can definitely bld balsa airplanes and the nicepart is when a mistake occurs because its balsa I can rectify it quickly as balsa is so easyt work with.I did build 2 left wing panels on my very first kit 30 years ago.hey no one told me to reserve the side.and I built one fuse panel longer tan another so the lengt got longer .didnt hurt the flying.heck I have made a ton of mistakes but monokote covers them brillantly .

richardgerardi

I gotta tell you people when I posted the intitial post I was feeling kind of frustrated with the many dumb mistakes I made one this one kit. I just found another one but the resposne has made me feel like getting back to the building board and finishing it. I will post pics this weekend.

deckerv

My Feedback: (21)

Bah... I never make kit building mistakes.. I prefer to think of them as "Unplanned structural improvements"

Lnewqban

Once, I used 5 minutes epoxy thinking that I was using 30 minutes epoxy to join the stab to the fuse.

I remember that one every time I take a look at the crooked stab.[sm=bananahead.gif]

Mtthwacrss

My Feedback: (1)

I am currently building a CG T 60. I think I might have to re-sheet one half as I have put my finger through it several times not to mention setting it on something sharp on the build table. Last night I was sanding the wing and realized that I was missing the servo extension end and had to work for about 15 minutes to get it back out of the wing and then tied it off to a rib. <o></o>

I think it is important to make mistakes as you get practice fixing the air plane so when you prematurely end a flight the hard way you are more prepared to fix your plane.

jeffloane

Glued my hand inside the fuse of a big Lazy Ace Bipe i was building one time.....the workshop I had then was so small I could't turn around with the plane welded to my hand to reach the debonder in the cabinet. An hour and a half later I yelled to my wife as she was pulling into the drive!
Dropped a screwdriver on a wing not long ago.......had to fill it and sand it out.
Drilled my leg with a hand drill once....how did I manage that? You can manage a lot of things at 3:00 in the morning when you've been on a 5 or 6 hr building jag!
Almost set my plane on fire trying to solder cabanes with a torch.........the list rolls on

richardgerardi

[quote]ORIGINAL: Matt Cross

<I am currently building a CG T 60. I think I might have to re-sheet one half as I have put my finger through it several times not to mention setting it on something sharp on the build table.

Matt
I think the CG kits may have weak sheetings since I did the same thing. I pick up the wing and broke sheeting right off on several locations. Boy was I pissed.

jessiej

I have built from kits, from plans, and built original designs since I was too young to read the instructions on the plans for the old Comet kits. I have built static scale, control line, free flight, and radio control. Not to mention cars boats etc. I doubt that I have completed any of them without a mistake. The possibility of mistakes is one of the factors that make building challenging and therefore enjoyable.

jess

BsSmith

How many mistakes do I make building a kit?

How many steps are in the instruction manual?

Lnewqban

The funniest story so far!

richardgerardi

Well its been awhile since I started this thread and thought I should share pics of the finish product. I am ordering the elctronics and hopefully she will maiden next weekend or the next. Thanks for all the wise advice and stories.

tailskid

My Feedback: (34)

richardgerardi, your first mistake is putting those wheels on this bird.....Cubs like ROUND, PUFFY, CUSHIONNY wheels

richardgerardi

tailskid ya right maybe I'll order some

tailskid

My Feedback: (34)

Ha ha.....the 'best' ARF J-3 that has realistic wheels was a Thunder Tiger J3 - 80" WS I believe.....those wheels were just soooooooooooooooo cooooooooooooooooooooooooooool!!!

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

Cool, a GP 40 Cub, I built one of those. I just started a new build today, just starting to spit the glue off my fingers!! I think I made a mistake already but it will be towards the end of the build before I know for sure. It's one of those probably doesn't mater errors if I did do wrong?

foodstick

there are no mistakes...only learning opportunities... at least thats what I tell myself every time I have redo something...

raydar

My biggest mistake was when I had more epoxy than hardener left in the bottles, I thought I would mix it up with less hardener (not that much less btw) to even up the bottles so I would not be left with excess epoxy in the bottle.
Pleased with my saving I made I then glued the fusalagefire wall and all formers togetheron my somethin extra and left to set square. It did not set properly (no **** forest).
After three days of putting fuse on radiator and in fridge (tried everything I read) that I finally realised I was beat, was a nightmare I will never repeat.

Daddyo57

My Feedback: (15)

richardgerardi Looking good there! GB Cubs fly great and are pretty tough birds, I am building my second one as we speak. I had an old but very low hour Saito .80 twin laying around for years and am putting it in this one done in L-4 colors but it is a stand off scale as there will be no rear glass house windows. I am using the Monokote in Olive Drab flat and Dove Gray flat, never tried them but I hope to start covering today. Consider getting the Fiberglass cowling from Fiberglass Specialties as the stock plastic one will eventually break out where the screws are, still works fine and looks good until then though. I went nuts on this one and made a semi scale landing gear for it that looks like it will work pretty good. I have made every mistake mentioned on here in my years of bulding and all can be fixed as Balsa is easily worked and persuaded back to where you want it eventually. Look forward to your maiden flight report!!!

dragonov3

My Feedback: (3)

"Whew" I'm not alone.

Two rules I live by.

Rule number one: I never make mistakes.

Rule number two: If I make a mistake, rule number one applies.

balsa brain

The only time I don't make mistakes is when I'm not doing anything building wise. Although I don't mess up as much as i used to, sheit happens. I usually just go get a cold one and think about it. Makes that humble pie go down a lot easier.