Disarray

Well, I have never built a plane from plans before. Here goes:

A few notes. I spent 2 days coming up with a building surface. It is a metal door with a sheet of glass over it. I am using magnets to hold everything in place. I used gorilla glue and layed my sticks right on the glass. I will find out tonight if that was a mistake. I hope the wood just peels up and the glue comes with it.

Day 1:

Running totals:

Time- 4 hours
Beer-2

Disarray

The Gorilla glue didn't hold. The dowels are pulling apart. They had 24 hours to dry. I wonder if it was too cold on the back porch. Anyway, I laid out the other side and glued it up with epoxy. I will have to redo the 1st side.

Day 2:

Total time: 6 hours
Total beer: 2

JDP1

Just stumbled on this thread and forum, this is my first post. I'm building a Nelitz Cub too, but I've changed from the plans a lot. I finished the wings and should finish up on the tail surfaces today. I have used mostly Gorrilla glue also and its worked great, it must be the temp.

JollyPopper

My Feedback: (6)

Are these kits you guys are building? I don't understand how you can form round dowels into a truss and glue the point of that truss to another round dowel. There is no flat surfaces for the glue to penetrate. Glue doesn't penetrate hardwood or plywood very well in any circumstance. And hardwood dowels are going to make these airplanes HEAVY. You guys are over my head here and I've been doing this for almost sixty years.

Disarray

Mine is being built from plans, no kit. The round dowels have to be coped to match the piece it is being attached to. So the surfaces are not flat, but are rounded where they are connected. The epoxy seems to be holding fine, but the Gorilla glue did not work for me.

JollyPopper

My Feedback: (6)

Do the plans specify round hardwood dowels? From what I can see in the pictures, it could be square balsa sticks. That would be much easier to work with and the glue would penetrate the wood. Titebond or CA would work fine. A hint when working with Gorilla Glue: mousture kicks it. A very fine mist of water sprayed on the joints before applying the glue will speed up curing times.

Disarray

Yeah, the plans specify dowels. To simulate the tube frame of the full scale. And I did lightly wet the joints before applying the glue.

JDP1

Heres a picture of one of my wings. Sorry can't seem to get it uploaded

Disarray

Well day 3 I rebuilt the side of the plane I glued with Gorilla glue so no pic. I have installed gussets and pinned them with toothpicks.

Day 4:

Total time: 11 hours
Total beer: 5