MadDriver

Hi all.

I'm about to start my first build. I just recently purchased a Great Planes PT-40 MKII to get me started. I'm up here in Alaska so I'm just waiting for it to get here. I just moved into my new apartment on the college campus here and cleared off a place in an empty room where I'll be putting together this kit. I know apartments are bad places for building planes... but I've set up my work area and I'm confident that it will be a suitable area. I helped my father build a plane a while ago and I have also put an ARF together so I know what sort of room and organization is needed. The ventilation isn't bad either, so no problems there.

As for the actual build, what do most people use to cover their tables? My father used cork board, I think, and I read somewhere on here that someone used an old ceiling tile. I'll need to be able to take it off after I complete the build with as little mess as possible. So my questions are:

1.) What should I use to cover my table so I can easily pin the wood down?
2.) What adhesive should I use? (double sided tape...?)

AKFireMedic

My Feedback: (2)

I would think a thin (3/8) pioece of ply laid down on the table and cut to size woudl work great. As a side note. Let me know when you get her all done and we'll get together and burn some nitro!

MadDriver

Hey, thanks for the quick reply. I have a Lanier Mariner almost ready to go if you want to get a couple flights in before the winter hits. Now that I'm in Anchorage, it's going to be another 2 weeks before I get it done since it's still in Palmer.

Missileman

I use 1" Dowboard (4'x8' styrofoam insulation)
You shouldn't have to attach it to the table, just lay it on top.
The dowboard is great. It can be easily cut to whatever size you need and when done you can stand it in a closet and it will be ready for your next build.

Dr1Driver

It's hard to stick pins into ply. Use double sided carpet tape to lay down some ceiling tile. Use the tape again to attach 3/32" cork sheeting to that. It's a great building surface that I've used for about 20 years.

Dr.1

Kaos1964

My Feedback: (12)

Use a hunk of drywall over an interior door if you can (they're usually nice and flat..)....

MadDriver

Actually... when I moved in, there was a closet door just sitting in the middle of the living room. So I'm using that as my table. I'll look into everything!

bruce88123

My vote is for a NEW ceiling tile on the closet door. No tape needed. You can buy a single tile at Home Depot for a couple of bucks. Put finished side down and work on the back side. Get thin T-pins from LHS or dress-makers shop.

wingnutinc

Kaos has got the right idea. A good straight hollow core door with a piece of 1/2 inch dry wall works just about as good as anything. I have commercial produced building board and I still like the drywall better and use it most often. Another thing that works OK is a slab of blue foam insulation board over the hollow core door.

MadDriver

Thanks for all the replies! I just got back from Home Depot with the ceiling tile. It look like it's going to work fine! And I just received the plane today and glued the first pieces together! The start of a long journey!

MadDriver

I'm looking through the instruction manual, and there are some blank pages in here and the content is missing. Where pages 10 and 11 should be, it's just a blank piece of paper. Same with pages 14 and 15. Good thing they have the manual available online!

qaz393

best luck to you

bruce88123

Odd but not impossible. Take your time and dry fit before glueing. Good luck on the build and post pics if you can.

manks

I have built two PT 40s, what I use as a building board is a piece of drywall, it is cheap, easy to find and can be cut to the right size, plus it takes the pins well.

I do not use any adhesive on the table the drywall is heavy enough.

A couple of tips on the PT 40:

1 - use the "sport wing" with less dihedral angle, I think it is the B wing.
2 - Use bigger gear than suggested if you are not flying off a paved runway.

The PT 40 is a pretty easy build and a good flying plane you will enjoy it.

manks

MadDriver

Thanks for the tips. I was planning on building the sport wing because I was reading around here that the trainer wing was a little... too stable. I was planning on just using rubber bands to hold the wing on since that's what I had when I was flying my dads trainer. A little more forgiving, but are there any other advantages to this? Both seem easy enough get get on and off, so I see no other advantage.

RVM

I haven't been happy with any of the surfaces I've tried, including the blue foam, pink foams, drywall etc. I currently use Celotex - it's not the best surface, but it beats the others by a fair margin. I would LOVE to use 3/4" cork, but I haven't been able to find any anywhere. I need a 90"x30"x3/4" sheet of cork, if anyone knows where to get it.

RVM

Nevermind I think I found some. Go figure - hours of searching yielded nothing 6 months ago. Today, I just kind of take a quick look at Google and find what I'm looking for in under a minute.

Cork here

manks

For your first trainer, use the rubber bands, but remember use a minimum of 8 to fly. If you make the classic mistake of using 2 you will have spent 60 hours building a lawn dart.

I built a second PT 40 because I wanted the sport wing rather than the trainer wing, there is just too much angle in the A wing and it makes flying in any cross wind very difficult.

You also have to be careful of the lenth of screws you use on the nose hatch, I had a problem with the screw hitting my throttle rod. The front gear is also a bit messy, make sure there is enough room between the firewall and the back of the engine, mine is a bit too close and it is a pain to work on if the tail wheel needs adjustment - I have to take the motor off which easily doubles the amount of time I need to spend on a silly little problem.

The plane is pretty tough, I have banged mine around quite a bit, and it is still in good shape.

You may want to get a set of skis for winter flying as well, that would be some fun up there on a frozen lake.

If you run into any problems please feel free to PM me or post a note here, I am just finishing my second PT 40 now so alot of things are still fresh in my mind.

SoonerAce

My Feedback: (1)

also, if you only use "a few" rubberbands, have someone take a pic of you, as you see the airgap between the wing and fuse open and close"like magic"! Its for sure a kodak moment.[X(]

MadDriver

Don't worry, I'll make sure that the wing will not be coming off. With my friends plane, we only used four rubber bands, two for each side, and that worked out great. And when I crashed it, the wing was unharmed. I just started on the fuselage on my plane, so I'm pretty excited. I have my IFR checkride and other classes to study for, sooo... I might be taking a little break from the building process this next week. But.. who knows... I'll spend a little time here and there and hopefully have it done soon. I'm shooting for a month to complete the build. I've read through the directions and it's looking like it's possible, but it all depends on my additional piloting ratings and other classes.

bruce88123

Oooh, I remember doing that. Try to avoid going inverted. Bad, bad, bad Makes the check airman frown. [sm=angry.gif]