Well Santa (actually my fiance) left a Thunder Tiger EasyTrainer 40 under the Christmas tree. I've been wanting to get an RC plane since I was about 4 ... but I've never either a) had the money or b) could jusitfy the expense when I "grew up".

Now I'm looking through the instruction manual and my first question comes up. It's got 3 "wing connectors" that I need to glue together. Now I know there should be some dihedral in the wing but when I look at these wing joiners I really can't see much of an angle in them! I know this sounds dumb .... but how do I know which side of the spar is up and which side is down???

Also what is a good 30 min epoxy to use??

Take all 3 joiners , line them up so all the edges line up... if you have one upside down they will NOT all line up. Once you have the the orientation right mix up some 5min or even 30min epoxy spread a nice thin layer over both sides of the center piece of the joiner and join all three layers together using clamps to hold them in place until the epoxy dries. now stand it up on a flat surface(table)... ends touching the table do you see a gap in the middle? that would show Aihedral and tell you it's up side down... if it wants to balance in the middle with the ends off the table thats showing Dihedral and the way you want it to glue into your wing. Now take your wing panel... put that epoxy down right NOW! slip in the joiner and then slip on the other wing panel, lay the wing flat bottom down on your table... do you see a gap in the middle with the wing tip's touching the table? again thats Aihedral and you don't want that when you have it right you should be able to hold one wing panel flat on the table and have the other wing tip about 1 to 2 inches above the table depending on how much Dihedral is built in the wing... you MUST have some! now your ready to join the wing.

I've used several brands of 30min epoxy over the years... they ALL did the same thing just pick up what ever your Local hobby shop has... the most important thing is you get 30min and mix it properly... just follow the directions.

John

Thanks for the advice ... I guess I'm just a tad bit ... ermmm ... nervous about putting this plane together! I'm good with tools and all (after all I did remodel the whole house [and re-wire, re-plumb, re-plaster, etc...]) but when it gets down to objects of this size I get a bit scared. When I looked at the instructions I got kind of freaked out with comments like "hobby knife" and "peel away the covering".

Right now all I have is 5 min epoxy ... and I kind of think that for joining the wings together I need something that sets over a longer time!

Nervous is a good thing makes you think more about what your doing BEFORE you screw it up... been there done that

You MUST have 30 min epoxy to join the wing. By the time you mix up the 5 min and start spreading it out it will start setting up... you MAY get lucky and stick everything together just before it really fires up and sets hard... more than likely you will have something not just right and end up with a tweaked wing... not good... even if you did get lucky and everything lined up the joint will not be near as strong as it should be because the epoxy will have little to no time to soak into the wood. Wait, get the right stuff and take your time... you will be rewarded with a good flying plane that will last long time... Hopefully

Good luck

John