Hello

I am new to building airplanes, and I just bought a Kyosho Calmato. ( My second plane ) The instructions are not very clear to me, so I have some questions before I start. The instructions say to put tape around the root ot the wing, but they do not say what kind of tape, how wide, do I take the covering off before I put the tape on.? I also need to know how to hold the wing halves together tightly while the epoxy dries.? If anyone out there has put one of these together and has any suggestions, Please share them with me. Oops, It is an arf. Any information will be very much appreciated.
Thanks again
Fred

the tape around the wing will keep the exopy for sticking to it while both 1/2 dry.

i do not know the plane but i would not remove any covering to glue the 2 halves togehter.

the 2 halves should fit together tight enough that all will be required is tape from one wing to the other in a pulling fashion. (1-2 pices on both top and bottom)

I fly a Calmato Sport a bunch. Assembled it in September and it's been flown every week since. I liked it so much, that I talked a flying buddy into building the high-wing Calmato.

They are both excellent flyers. And they're basically the same airplane as a high-wing and a low-wing. And the wings are joined the same way.

Kyosho's idea of the tape is to place masking tape around the root of the wing. Epoxy is squeezed out when the two havles are pushed together. The idea is that the excess epoxy will smear on the wing and make a mess. The tape is to deal with the mess. Unfortunately it doesn't deal with it very well.

What you really need to do is neaten up your glue application. It isn't hard to do.

Use slow epoxy so you'll have time to do the job right. 5 minute won't do it. 15 minute can rush you enough to screw things up. Use 30 minute. Don't use globs here and there. I've used solder brushes, Q-tips, and tongue depressers. All work. The idea is to get a thin coat of epoxy on one root rib that covers almost all of the rib. Then get a thin coat on the other wing half's root rib that covers it. My favorite tool nowadays is either a popsicle stick or tongue depresser. It can glob the glue on and then scrape it out over the area smoothly, uniformly, and quickly. Both sides can be coated in a couple of minutes without any mess, and no globs or thick spots anywhere.

You'll then bring the two halves together and pull/push them firmly. If any epoxy squeezes out, you put too much in that area. If it does, it shouldn't be much, certainly not enough to worry with immediately. Just focus on keeping the two halves aligned and..............

Tape the two together with 3 or 4 strips of masking tape top, and 3-4 bottom. Have the strips of tape ready before mixing the glue. 6 inch or so strips work great. Tear 'em off and line them up on the edge of the workbench.

When you bring the two halves together the joiner spar will do most of your alignment for you. But you need to insure that the LEs and TEs line up and stay lined up. The TE is easiest to control. Bring them into alignment and put a small piece of masking tape over the seam and that'll usually be good enough. Check the LE and put a small piece of tape if needed.

Now, the long strips are put on span wise. Take one and start it on one side. Get a couple inches stuck on one panel, then pull the free end taut. Keep it slightly stretched and pull it down over the other panel. The tension in the tape will help it go down straight. And the tension will pull the wing panels together. Do one side and check the alignment. LE and TE still aligned? Now do the other side.

If you do the bottom first, the dihedral will help you out. You'll see how when you do it. When you start to put the spanwise strips into the dip of the top of the wing, you'll really see the pulled tension in the masking tape working to make a good epoxy joint.

That's the taping job.

Even if you do a decent job of smearing just enough epoxy, you still might get some squeezed out along the seam. Not to worry if you plan ahead.

After I've prepared the 8-10 strips of masking tape and before mixing the epoxy, I also open a bottle of rubbing alcohol and get a couple of paper towels ready. If any epoxy squeezes out, AFTER I've got the two halves taped, I'll wet a paper towel and wipe the squeeze off the airplane. If the towel is wet enough, it'll easily clean the wing perfectly. If the squeeze out is only a bead along the seam, I finish all the spanwise taping and then wipe whatever will wipe.

Check all the spanwise tape strips to see that they're holding and then stack the wing where it'll be safe and LEAVE IT ALONE for at least an hour or so.

The job is dead simple and easy if you do the preparation steps before starting. One of the most important, btw, is to test fit the thing before starting the gluing. Get it to fit beforehand. Gluing the joiner spar into one side and letting it dry is one thing that helps a lot. I will often dry fit and get it right, then glue the joiner into one side, and right away start setting up to glue the two halves. By the time I've got everything ready to go, the joiner is almost set. But it's not rock solid. So if it's badly aligned, it'll show up before it's epoxy is set. And going right into the main part of the job lets me correct the problem before it is a problem.

Epoxy is great stuff, but it's not the only glue that does this job. Don't ever glob it on. Wipe it on is usually the best way. The slower epoxies are way stronger than you'll ever need and you'll never need much of it. If the surfaces show "wet" and then they are brought together to touch, you've got the strongest joint in modeling there is. Having any more than that amount of epoxy in the joint won't do a thing for you other than make the airplane heavy.


And oh yeah, the tape around the wing halves to protect them from getting smeared is a real waste of time and tape. But if it makes you more confident of a good clean job, do it until you get used to how much epoxy to smear on.

The Calmatos and Kyoshos seem to have a reputation for losing their coverings.

I've only assembled a few. Since they've all flown so good and so long, I haven't needed to do more. And I haven't seen any problems with the covering coming loose. Until the last couple of weeks.

My P40, the buddies high-wing, and my low-wing Calmato all got the same treatment. It what I do with every ARF no matter what. First step on all the parts as they come out of the box is to iron 'em. No matter what they look like, wrinkled or smooth, I iron 'em. I got tired of the ARFs that look smooth out of the box wrinkling in the sun during the first outings. It's harder to iron stabs and fins and fuselages when they're all together. And I've yet to iron even the smooth parts and not have bubbles and wrinkles show up. If they don't, kewl. When they do, they're gone.

Recently, my Calmato's trim has started lifting at a few corners. It's seen maybe 45-50 outings since last September with probably more than two flights each outing, so I got no problem giving the little girl some maintenance time. She's worked pretty good for me.

Thank you for your answers, they were just exactly what I was looking for. They are very detailed so that I can understand them.
Is there any changes, or strengthning anywhere on this plane that I should do before I start on this project.? Has anyone made one into a taildragger.? Is it a big project or should I leave it alone and fly it as a tryke.? Fred

I left mine as a tricycle gear. And the highwing was left that way too.

There was nothing that needed strengthening. I did add a "chin piece" between the slab sides at the nose to streamline the thing. Did that after about 100 flights, one night in the shop just because it seemed about the only thing that didn't seem to be top drawer with the airplane. I fly off of grass that needs cutting some days. And some of the grass clippings stick in the engine compartment. Plus those wide open noses with cosmetic slab sides are just plain draggy.



Oh yeah, on my low wing, the gear legs that came with my ARF were a dumb mistake. They were probably the wrong ones for the airplane. Either that or it was a typical "Chinese airplane factory" move. They really don't have a clue about design, just make the things. And the main gear legs were attached directly under where the CG would be. And they pointed straight down. If they knew anything about the airplane part of airplane models, they'd have known instantly how stupid that is. But then, I've yet to see more than one or two ARFs in the 20 or so I've assembled recently that didn't have at least one major flaw. They're usually either design or manufacturing flaws, but they show time and again that the ARF industry is simply a toy industry that has branched out into a profitable sideline.

I have a number of taildraggers, so left my Calmato as a trike. I also use it buddy boxing when the student reaches the point he'd learn from flying a different handling airplane. So the trike gear serves that purpose as well.

If the main struts included in the kit are bent flat, they're going to point down, and the tires are going to be directly under the CG. You do not want that. The main tires should touch the ground on a line about 15degrees aft of the CG. If they're straight under the CG, the airlane is screwed. They won't even sit quietly, much less taxi worth spit.

I mention this for the guys who're dealing with the low-wing Calmato Sport. The high-wing Calmato didn't have any problem with the gear as mfg'd.