Re: another building board question
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Hi waterloged,

What type of hollow door do you use? Are the exterior panels made of thin veneer or of a heavier type veneer? Is the door foam-filled?

AND

Hi DavidAgar,

What type of door do you use..., hollow or solid?

TO BOTH

Waterloged & DavidAgar

I'm happy to hear that you guys are not having any problems with the doors that you are using as building boards. Regarding the doors that you guys are using, are they good quality stuff and expensive or are they somewhat on the cheaper side? I'm asking these questions because here in Florida, unless you buy a truly expensive, interior, hollow door, foam filled or not, your door will be warped to at least some degree at the time of purchase. And if they are not warped at purchase, they will be warped to some extent at sometime in the future.

Gees guys..., I guess that we down here get the "trashed out" doors that the rest of the nation doesn't want...! If you want a new, good quality interior door, you pay big bucks. If you want a good quality used door, you pay big bucks, and you may pay even bigger bucks than a new door, if you buy a used, good quality door that falls into the antique category. Now, if you're building a small model of about a 36" wingspan or less, one of our cheaper doors, new or used, may work out for you. However, if you are building a larger bird, such as a 3 meter Paragon glider, you will probably not be able to get by with a cheaper door. And that's the way it is.., down here in Florida.

Let me give you a few of my thoughts from my perspective down here in Florida regarding a building board constructed from a door. Now, don't take my words too seriously; some of this may be in jest, but part of it is to be taken in a serious manner.

And so, here we go:

Those office or house interior hollow doors may be too large for those modelers that have small working areas, but you can always cut them to a smaller size if your build is that of a smaller model. We have high humidity here in Florida, so more often than not, even if you buy a new hollow door at Lowes or at Home Deport, you will probably find some warping or some depressions or some bumps to some extent. Maybe they get warped before they get to Florida...! I really don't know.

At the present time, I don't have a hollow door in my house that fits perfectly flush with the door frame. They are mainly off by about 1/8" from top to bottom on the edge opposite the hinges. Aaa..., I have lived in the same house for 45 years, maybe that's part of the problem.

In this forum, and others like it, they have umteens of threads on the use of hollow doors being used as building boards. Most builders of these boards say that they solve the warping problem by gluing (or attaching by other means) a sheet of 1/2" or 3/4" of flat, or nearly so (no warps), plywood or other material to one surface of the hollow door. As yet, I haven't even seen a flat (no warps) sheet of even 5 ply plywood, but somehow these builders get those doors completely flat and free of warps. Most modelers that make these, "hollow door glued to plywood", building boards do a great job...! They have to, if not, you wouldn't find a kit build or original designed bird that is capable of flying straight and level. I've seen some beautiful models that were constructed atop these door building boards.

Perhaps there is a thread in one of these forums, and there probably is, but I haven't seen one, that explains the building techniques that are used in the building of one of these hollow door, building boards. I can see that if you cut the door and plywood to a smaller size, then glue and clamp them together in a certain manner, you would have an easier time of diminishing the amount of warping or eliminating it all together. Perhaps some one can refer to a thread that touches on this topic in detail. If not, then maybe someone can start one.

I have seen a hollow door that was glued to a 1 3/4" thick, completely solid, hardwood, former exterior house door. That sounds like a big overkill situation, but it certainly made a great building board...! I couldn't find a warp or depression on the surface of that hollow door! I can't remember the building techniques that were used in making that beautiful building board, except that the doors had been cut to a smaller size before the gluing process.

There are also those that use magnetic building boards; some builders swear by them. If you have never see one of these, there are a number of pics that are associated with the threads that discuss this kind of board. This is a very interesting method of building and it appears that it is a very accurate way of building a model.

I don't use building boards anymore unless I'm repairing a damaged model. In doing so, I use my balsa board. I'm mainly into ARF gliders; some of these are relatively cheap and some are very expensive, but as you guys already know, there is no need for a building board. I don't really miss kit building; I did enough of it in my youth and during my middle years.

Again, I thank all of you for all of the knowledge that I have gained from this and other forums. I really enjoy this kind of sharing!

Ernie
Sailplane