I picked up a mostly built 40 size stik kit for cheap. I have a couple of questions, if you don't mind.

The previous owner was going to use rubber band to hold the wing on, but he has the mounting spots for bolts, any tips for tapping wood for the nylon wing bolts?

When he cut out for the hinges he mad the openings very large, the ca type of hings very very easily slide into the openings, should I replace with some other type of hinges like pin hinge?

One more question, I am going to do my first covering job in more then 18 years (long break) do I need more then 1 6' role for a 40 size plane for the main covering

I am going to make it a tail dragger or a float plane, anything else I should do when doing the final setup of this plane?

It also came with a older OS 40 SX engine for the plane that needs a bit of cleaning.

Thanks

As long as the wing has the reinforcement inside for the bolts, you should be fine. As far as tapping goes, make sure you drill the right size hole first. If you aren't sure, get one of these tap & drill sets:

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXE217&P=7

Be sure to run the tap through the wood slowly and harden the threads with thin CA when you are done. I like to run the tap through and add the CA at least twice for nice clean, strong threads.

It sounds like he planned on some other kind of hinge rather than the CA type. Something like one of these may work:

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXD941&P=ML

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXK114&P=ML

You will need two rolls minimum simply because you will want more than one color. You need to do something to differentiate the top of the plane from the bottom. You may even end up buying three rolls depending on how carefully you cut it and how many mistakes you make.

Thanks, I think that I am going to do the standard stik colors, I have tapped metal before but never wood, so that is why I asked, I may try those hinges, I just don't think the ca type will hold enough..

when you tap the wing bolt blocks a hardwood guide works well so you get a nice strait hole to block line,I use my drill press to make a guide out of oak or similar wood using a smaller drill bit to make the first hole in the wing mount block.

tapping the wood once you have drilled the proper size is really the same as metal slow steady progress,then I do just as chuck recomended, drip thin CA into the threads to harden them,once the CA is dry re-tap the threads and apply some more CA.
make sure the first coat of CA is fully dry, because if it isnt it will clog the tap up and you will have to pick glue out of it to get clean threads.

if you wanted to use CA hinges you could always plug the holes with some scrap balsa I like to use Titebond when plugging holes so you can cut new slots when I use CA the plug's dont always get in deep enough for a good fix and the CA hardens the wood too much to make a proper slot for the hinge.

If there is room to get to it, you can drill out the hole to accept a metal blind nut from underneath the block too. I've done this a couple of time and it works well. Just flatten down the metal "spikes" on the flange of the blind nut and epoxy it in![8D]

Thats a great idea, I have a ARF like that. I can use this idea when a wood thread gives out!!!

Why not leave the metal "spikes" on???? If the wood is too thin , I could grind a little metal off the spikes or add a very small square of wood on with the blind nuts . The small square of wood would act like a spacer.

Ok, I have been looking at the stik more lately, should I drill any holes in the sides of the fuselage, it is solid 1/8" balsa and seems stronger then needed, any thougths ?

Thanks

Jon

You don't need to flatten the metal teeth on blind nuts, but they're rarely cooperative and frequently break off on their own unless you're able to remove the part that's getting a blind nut to hammer it in from the back. I prefer gorilla glue for holding them in place. a super thin coating around the edges will foam up a bit to adhere between metal and glue along with filling in any gap between the two in the hole. Just have to be careful not to let any glue get into the threads.

i try to stay away from metal wing bolts they tend to do more damage in light mishaps than the nylon bolts do.the nylon will almost always snap off clean with not much damage.

I forgot to add that I would add the holes in the fuselage to make the plane lighter, or this a silly idea.