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Old 11-28-2011 | 08:28 AM
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Warbirdguy
 
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From: Wartrace, TN
Default RE: Need some ideas on putting balsa on foam wings.


ORIGINAL: goirish

What is the best foam to use. White, pink or blue for the wings. I have been using the pink and it seems to cut really smooth. The white that I tried seemed to have very small ridges in it. Maybe I had the wire to hot. I have several club members that want me to cut some foam wings and turtle decks. I am new at the foam cutting but getting better I think.

For most of my wing cutting, I use a program called Profili. It is specifically designed for the modeler. I design my wing and ribs on it. When I print out my templetes, I cut them out of 1/8 ply. Now, here is another trick Ive learned over the years

After you sand the temps smooth around the edges. I take use small piano wire, around .010 works good, and glue it to the edge the cutting wire rides on. This will stop the rough "lines" you see and feel in the foam. Anything that will cause the cutting wire to catch for a brief moment, will generate a flaw in the surface of the foam. The smoother your temp is, the better

I also leave a flat area where the leading and trailing edge go on as my run off and on area for the wire. Leading edges are not that bad, but a thin trailing edge can be tricky. Your cutting wire will stretch and drag leaving a ..bowwed...effect on trailing edge. Not many will come out perfect all the way across. so I just figure a 1/4 thick trailing edge and add balsa to finish it out. Same with elading edge.

Once again, all the above ways is legitimate. This is just the way I do mine and it works for me. I dont like spray adhesives cause I had bad luck on a build that I did years ago. after the model was finished, it set in the sun and the skin started seperating from foam. Was a mess. Ive never tried the double sided tape. I will some time just to see how it does I just find, dont get in a hury, use epoxy so you have time to make sure everything is lined up, and let it set overnight. It never goes wrong and last longer than the airplane will in my experience LMAO.

here is a picture of some panels I did on one of my DC3's. Foam core with balsa covering. I used wood glue to glue the sheets together before putting them on the core. See how well the seams sanded out.

Good luck with your sheeting Im sure you will do just fine. Its really not that hard. We all went through a learning curve and we all do it the way it works best for each.

WBG
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