What do you use to pad around you fuel tank and receiver etc ? I know about what the hobby store sells, so if you use this please don't reply. I'm looking for a cheaper alternative.

Fuel now days has an anti foaming agent in it and we no longer have a foaming problem so I just hard mount my tanks. For my 72 RX I have used everything from my old chest waders to the noodles you buy to drift around in the swimming pool. That's some really good foam and there are several ways to use it. Just slip the RX into the center hole. Works very well for the battery too. I have big sheets of open cell foam I have bought at the fabric store and use it to stuff things like fuel tanks that are up front in the fuse to keep them from shifting around. With the 2.4 RX I just hard mountg them too. I have built small crash boxes for them though and lined them with styra foam and the foam you buy at the hobby shop. Inside the box when you buy a new engine there is sometimes a hard closed cell foam that I use for things too. When I go into craft or hardware stores I put my mind into airplane mode and just look around, there are tons of things you can use.

I work in the electronics industry and all our boards come with a box load of foam wrapped around them. I have box loads of it and the price is right.....Free... I use it for everything RC related. You can also go to a craft store and buy sheets of foam in assorted thickness's. Good Luck, Dave

I agree with David above. Get with your local computer shop and ask them for foam padding from their shipments. I own a computer shop and I have enough foam saved from shipping boxes to last me a lifetime!!! <div>
</div><div>Ken</div>

Thanks for the replies.

I stopped at a local computer store and all he had was one piece.. It didn't help me out though. It was from a mother board I think he said.. About an inch thick and big 1 inch holes every other inch.. I guess I could have Made it work, but I'll keep looking.. The filters for window unit AC's would work, but they're more than the LHS foam... haha !

GreyBeard's swim noodles are my #1 choice. The are stiff and weigh almost nothing. A couple years back, K mart had some end of season sales and the noodles were someting like $0.75 each.They had some planks of the stuff also for the same price. You can cut it with a sharp pocket knife. No crumbles to contend with. Glow fuel doesn't touch it. In fact it doesn't collect moisture at all, IEit isn't a sponge. I've used them for prop covers. the make a great cushion for standing your plane on it nose, the spinner sets into it nicely and the stuff doesn't skid around much. We use it at the field for covering the wing post pipes on our table's. Great stuff aa cheapprice.

Don

On the swim noodles, do you cut the thickness down? I think I need to pad around my fuel tank, it's in the front of the fuselage right behind the firewall.

My foam is solid with no holes. The swimming noodles can be cut down to what ever size you want. With winter coming, they should be cheap. Good Luck, Dave

I use foam and also use bubble wrap - very inexpensive.

IMO the foam being mentioned is to stiff... and transmits vibration to easily. I have found it best to use carpet padding. Any carpet shop will have all the pieces you need. It's soft, flexible and very vibration absorbent. I double it up around the reciever and tank with some tape

I use old beer cozies (sp)



Bob

I got a bunch from a friend who gets his diabetes
medicine in the mail.
Very soft and very free.

KW_Counter

+1 forcarpet padding....some velcro holds the tank onto thepadding just fine. Tack glue paddinginto the fuse with ca or any glue

+2 and also adds a little weight if tail heavy

I find it odd that people are still using foam of any type. I never mounted my fuel tank or rx in foam while flying r/c nitro powered helicopters. I not saying that the receiver should be rigid mounted using doubled sided carpert tape works fine. Once the receiver is mounted insure you use a tie down to keep it in position.

Old habits are hard to break. I still pad my reciever, batteryand fuel tank

Sig instructions tells me to use foam rubber to keep everything in place

I still pad my batteries and my receiver. Vibration will over time destroy batteries and also damage receiver boards. Gosh the hobby foam is so cheap compared to a crashed plane. I've used carpet foam ,foam pipe insulation, hobby foam, foam from packaging,you name it.

Pipe insulation should work ok.

foam from furniture works also

Old, used mouse pads for the receiver and battery. Buf not the newer, thin ones. I usually hard mounted the fuel tank exept in my Uproar - there i used very soft foam.

I work at a hotel and spend time working on the equipment in the laundry and in housekeeping. When an ironing board cover gets a stain on it, its mine. I stopped taking them cause i have enough to last a long time.

I have planes that the tanks are hard mounted and have had no problems.  If straping receivers and batteries down is to diffucult I will use silicone to hold the foam to the plane  then silicone them to the foam.  It is good for vibration and if you need to move them it will peel off.  </p>

The foam that hobby shops carry is very soft and resilient. I've thought of using bubble wrap or carpet padding but was not sure they would do as good a job as the expensive stuff from the hobby shop. So I've stayed with the expensive stuff.

For vibration absorption properties, it's hard to beat the latex rubber foam sold in the hobby shop. Receivers are of such low mass that velcro seems to do the trick for me. For fuel tanks, i sometimes make a doughnut out of a piece of pipe insulation and glue it to the back side of the firewall where the neck fits through it. That holds the front of the tank in place and then a piece of foam behind to hold the tank snugly against the doughnut. Other foam items i've used are foam weatherstripping, packing material, and drink coozies.