RE: Gluing question
I built the PT-40 recently as my first plane. Just want to encourage you to make a few key decisions:
1. Chose the "sport" dihedral for the wing. The "beginner" dihedral is too much for anything but your very first few flights. If you want the plane to suit you for more than 10 mins of flying time, do the advanced one.
2. As a consequence, you need to have functioning Ailerons. Don't considder the rudder/elevator only option.
Finally, the wing-bolt or rubber-band option. I chose to do the bands. Although I am confident that I made the other decisions right, I am now beginning to think that the nylon bolts are a better option.
The bands are meant to make the wing/fuse joint more forgiving in a crash. Well, there is only a narrow band of crashes where this will help. A "small" crash will cause no damage, and a big crash will trash everything, regardless of whether it is bolt or band. I was flying my PT-40 inverted, and tried to do an inverted/outside loop. Because of dumb thumbs, I pulled the elevator the wrong way, and looped the plane right into a largish bush (at full throttle). The fuse went right between two 1-inch thick branches, but the wings collected them pretty hard. Put a golf-ball size dent in the leading edge of the wing. The wing shifted backwards on the wing saddle, and compressed the upper fuse behind the saddle. Broke three wing ribs, and punctured the covering in a few places. As crashes go, it was a light one. If I had bolts on, the same thing would have possibly happened, or not, but the reality is that the decision is really borderline.
Basically, the odds of having a crash where having bands "saves" your plane from major damage is minimal. The chances are that either the crash is "just a mishap", where nothing breaks, or it is such a disaster that the damage is going to be bad whether it is bands or bolts.
I am on to my 3rd box of bands, they look lousy, get oily, and are generally not as convenient as bolts. The wing is never in *exactly* the same place each time it is mounted.
So, if I were to do it again, I would probably go with the bolt option. Then again, I am still a novice (flown 2.5 galons of fuel), so my opinion is lacking in weight. Just wish I had more info on the plane before I started building.
gus