The instructions for my Citabria say that you have to carve two pieces of balsa for the leading edge blocks. I have no clue how to do this, except to go at this for days with 80 grit sandpaper

80 grit makes pretty fast work on all but the hardest balsa. If there is a lot of material to remove, try removing the bulk of the waste with a razor saw, band saw, razor plane, etc. Then sand from there.

Yea, use a exacto knife to carve it some waht hehe. And then just sand it.And if you screw up balsa filler

Razor plane can help a lot when shaping a leading edge. Then sand away!

I use a razor saw for the heaviest, then switch to a hobby type razor plane. (They can be had at Hog Heaven for less than $10.) Then switch to the sandpaper.

How you holding up there David? Sure wish you had your eye exam already. Today was such a beautiful day at the field! []
Dennis-

Oh, man! Darn. Because of our healthcare plan, we need to wait for that optometrist.

I am going to try my best to squeeze in a flying session every week if possible when I get my glasses.

You remove anything that dosen't look like a leading edge. Simple, eh?

BTW, 80 grit might be a bit much, invest in a sanding block and some 100 or 120 grit.


Andy

I use a sharp razor plane, not a cheap one. Get it close, then sand with 100 grit on a good block. Makes it nice and straigth. Free hand it with a saw or blade and you will likely screw it up and have low spots in it. Plane keeps it nice and even.

For a leading edge, use a razor plane and then a T-Bar sander. Great Planes sells a long sanding bar that is better than T-Bars. The handle is wider, easier to grip, less fatiguing and the overall sander is more stable than a T-Bar.

- Paul

BTW - Start with 120 grit and work your way to 400 grit. Stop sanding before you think you need to because the scratches will be pretty deep and you'll want enough material left that you can get rid of the scratches without making the leading edge too small in the process. Go slow and be patient.

to get the main stuff off the leading edge of my trainer i used 50 grit paper on a t bar sanding block....once i started to get close to where i wanted it, i esued 150 grit on the t bar to get iot to covering stage...

Paul,

CafeenMan is correct. I recommend Foster's along the way. I shape
and carve better when I have my Foster's.

Kraus

I just go to the hobby store and buy some LE shaped balsa.. no need to do it yourself...

http://www.lonestar-models.com/cgi-local/Order.pl.cgi

Mike

I use a wil-kro razor plane and they ARE the best for model work,i got mine off ebay for $5. very small and comes apart to make 4 different styles of planes. Trust me on this... wilkro is the best bar none. will become one of your most used tools and they show up on ebay quite often.[img][/img]

For leading edge shaping or other things where I have a long piece to shape, I use a sharp potato peeler. Its design controls the cutting depth so it (generally) won't gouge your wood and you can just run it the whole length of the piece in a single pass, so the shape comes out uniform.

I use a Wil-Kro razor plane as well. I've tried a lot of razor planes and the Wil-Kro is by far the best. I suggest you search E-bay and snatch one up if you can. They aren't made any more.

- Paul

Do you guys have any tips for using the Wil-Kro?

I agree that it's better than any other little plane I tried, but I had a lot of trouble with the blade trying to take too deep a bite and jamming. Anybody else have that problem?

Only when the blade was damaged or it was set too deep. You can adjust the depth of the cut slightly by loosening knob and moving the blade.

Also, I sanded and polished the bottom of mine. It's smoother now, but that didn't affect the depth of cut except maybe to make it deeper?