Hi All,
Well I spent about seven hours putting together my first RC plane, a Hangar 9 Alpha .40, they say it can be done in two hrs, and Im sure they're right, but since this is my first plane I really took my time with it. It went together pretty easy except for screwing on the tail section
the way it goes together you need about three hands. The two screws that hold on the tail section have to go through the fuselodge, and the elevator rod runs right down the middle of the fuselodge, that coupled with there being no room at all in the fuselodge made it a bit of a head scratcher. Also when I put the wing halves together there is a hollow metal tube, and a small metal pin that lines up the wing halves
The small metal pin was just a hair off which made putting the wing halves together impossible, so I took out a very small finishing file, and filed around the pin, it did'nt take much, I used my dial calipers and check it before I started fileing and after I was done, I did'nt even take off a thousands on the pin, after that she fit like a glove. I then followed the advice from you guys, and my instructor, and glued the halves together with 30 min epoxy and used masking tape to help hold the halves together. All the servos are connected and everything seems to work as it should, but Im going to take the plane to the hobby shop where the guy who will teach me how to fly works and have him go through the plane before she goes on her maiden flight. I do have on question though, this plane is BIG, I put up a shelf to store the wing.
But is it OK to hang the plane on a wall, I thought I would put a hook in the wall and hang the plane from the tail section with the landing gear facing the wall, but Im not sure if the fuselodge is too heavey to hang the plane from the tail section? Any advice will be greatly appriciated.
Thanks,
Paul

Paul,<div> Congrats on getting your trainer put together. I can tell you it's a great feeling to see an airplane you put together take to the air for the first time. </div><div>
</div><div>As far as storage goes, hanging it from the tail is fine. I store many planes this way. The weight of the plane isn't going to do any damage. In fact, the weight of the plane is nothing compared to holding the plane by the tail section as you run up the engine on the ground. You'll be fine storing it like that.</div><div>
</div><div>Hope this helps</div><div>
</div><div>Ken</div>

Ken,
Thanks alot, I know it was a real newb question but something I was concerned about, that makes storing it ALOT easier as I have limited space for such things.
Paul

Paul,
Good job! Next is to make sure it's balanced properly !
When you make /position the hangers, get them as close to the fuselage as possible as opposed to being outstretched toward the ends of the horizontal stab.

Storing the plane by the tail is fine if the fuel tank is empty, as it should be, but be prepared to put something on the floor to catch the fuel/oil that drips from the carb and/or muffler.

Good points, all. Another thing you might watch for, there's just a very slight possibility that the fuel tank clunk might fall forward, toward the nose of the plane if someone bumps the plane and might kink the short fuel line between the tank inlet and the clunk. When you take the plane down, hold it upright (nose pointing toward the sky) and shake it. You should be able to hear the clunk banging around in there. Make sure the clunk is free and toward the back of the tank before you go flying. That's where the clunk gets its name. It makes a clunking sound when it is free and moving around as it should and you shake it.

When you go to hang the plane, wrap an old rag or tee shirt around the engine so any oil that drips out will be caught by the cloth. I start by wrapping the rag tight just behind the prop so the oil coming from the front bearing (wrap completely around once so all of the bearing area is covered) won't drip past it, and also around the carb. I usually wrap behind the cylinder to make sure the rag doesn't come loose an and tuck the end of it either under the fuel lines or between the muffler and fuselage to hold the lose end of the rag in place. A rolled up piece of paper towel stuffed into the muffler helps protect that area and soaks up any fuel/oil residue too.

Hogflyer

A point to mention also about the dripping fuel and engine. Get yourself some after-run oil. You can get the labled stuff from the hobby shop or do like a lot of us do and use some good machine oil or air tool oil. I use Marvel air tool oil. At the end of the day run the engine out of fuel(pull the line to the carb) then with the carb barrel open pour some oil down the throat of the carb(less than half of a thimble full) and then rotate the engine a few turns and close the carb barrel. The oil will coat the inside of the engine and especially the bearings to keep moisture from fouling them up. At the end of the season put an extra amount of oil in the engine and push a piece of rag in the carb opening(barrel closed) to soak up any oil that drips out and as mentioned wrap the engine and/or put a pan below it. The oil will extend the life of your engine for years. Also make sure you drain it out before starting(hold the plane nose-up with the muffler away from you and rotate the engine and any oil will be forced up and out the exhaust) and once running it will smoke for a bit as the oils is burned away.

Good points all, I never would have thought to wrap a rag around the engine to catch any fuel that would still be in the engine, I do have nitro trucks and cars so I'm familiar with after run oil. Also what I've noticed is that there is no air cleaner on the carb, it just seems strange to me because with the trucks and cars it's imperative that an air cleaner be used with those models, the only thing I can think of is because the plane is in the air, and not on the ground being subjected to dust and debree. It's snowing pretty good here so either tomorrow or the day after My plane and I will make the trip to the hobby shop and let the gentleman who is going to teach me how to fly my new girl, go through her to make sure I did everything right. Also there is a few strips on Monokote tape that came with the plane, it's used to cover the glued seem on the wing, but I've never done that, nor do I have a special iron for that, so Im going to just let the hobby shop do that.
Paul

A lot of pilots need air cleaners as they tend to spend more time in/on the ground and in/through the woods than in the air !

You only need an air cleaner if your runway is really sandy and dusty. But as you noticed, our engines spend most of their running time in the air and it's just not a problem.