I'll second what Gray Beard has said here. I've built many Balsa USA kits over the years and I can tell you that they are probably one of THE best companies out there at designing planes, and there instructions are usually spot on with how to biuld the plane. Now that doesn't mean that there aren't mistakes from time to time with an instruction, but when there is BUSA will step up and make any corrections that are needed. I've found on the many BUSA planes that I've built that following the instructions in the manual is usually the best recipe for successfully building the airplane.

I am currently building the D-VII myself, although I haven't gotten to the step you are on yet. However, I have gone through the manual and made notes on things I will do when I build. On this step I plan to use epoxy. Now in light of my last statement you might ask me why I'm not following the very instructions that I said were so good, but I assure you this isn't a "gotcha moment" here. I am changing from using CA and plan to use epoxy for this step, and the simple reason why is because I don't use CA when I build a plane. Well, I almost don't use CA. There are a few steps that require CA when building and those can't be changed out, things like CA hinges and hardening threads cut in wood for wing bolts and such. But other than those types of steps I have eliminated all CA's from building an airplane. So my choice for not using CA is personal. I would say that you could follow the instructions and use CA here and you will be just fine with the strength of the wing. Remember that this isn't a new kit and there have been quite a few biult, and if there had been a problem with this method of buidling we would have more than likely heard about it by now. So you'll be fine using the CA and following the instructions.

As a side note on not using CA when building. I quit using it years ago and I feel that the quality of my builds has gone up dramatically. I quit because I didn't want to develop the severe reactions to CA that many people have over the years. I've talked to doctors and chemists about CA and what happens when you use it, and it can be a bit scarey. CA kicks and reacts when it comes in contact with moisture. So any vapors that enter the body (a pretty moist environment indeed) will react with the tissues in your body. At first most people's bodies can handle these reactions without many problems. But repeated exposure can cause the body to not deal with these reactions and over time they can become severe. I've seen people that have trouble breathing for days after a very small exposure CA fumes. With the amount of reviews I was doing years ago I choose to eliminate as much CA usage as I could. When doing a review we follow the instructions that come with the plane, so if they call for using CA we use CA. Since I was getting exposure to CA with my reviews I choose to not use it on my builds. Now that I'm not doing reviews any longer I still don't use CA because I feel my builds are better by NOT using it. The adhesives I use the most when building are simple Elmer's Carpenter's Wood Glue and epoxy. I have found that when using wood glue I have more time to get the joints right before the glue sets, and those joints are sandable now as wood glue doesn't set hard like CA.

Anyway, I'll get off my soapbox now!!!!

Follow the instructions and you'll do fine

Ken
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