Plan building how to ??????
 

I have been given a plan of a sporty forty. Is there any sites/books/help i can get/see that will help a noob to the plan building clan???

any help guys.. ? ? ? ? ?

RE: Plan building how to ??????
 

How many kits have you built? Building kits is about the best way that I know of to learn how to build from plans.
Dennis-

RE: Plan building how to ??????
 

As DB said, building kits is good prep. One thing it doesn't prep you for is cutting the parts. I like to transfer the patterns to tracing paper, then affix the tracing paper to the wood with spray contact adhesive. Spray the back side of the paper and stick it to the wood when it gets tacky.

If you have plywood parts, a band saw or scroll saw is something you almost cannot do without. For the balsa parts, use a good hobby knife (exacto etc.), not razor blades. Buy #11 x-acto blades in bulk. A package of 100 is about 10 bucks, and is one of the best investments you can make. Life is too short to fight a dull blade.

RE: Plan building how to ??????
 

The only thing i have "built" before now is a worldstar 40 "ARF" i have every kind of hobby knife, and surgical knife you could imagine. i have access to a thin bladed bandsaw (not a scroll :( saw ) i recently lost my job too so i dont have the cash to buy a kit.
My worldstar is just starting to hold me back, i need something that can handle the **** i throw at it, so i am building a variation of the "sporty Forty".


Dread nice idea about the spray on technique.

once again are there any hint, trick, sites for building plans out there ?

RE: Plan building how to ??????
 

there are tons of them here on RCU! Try a search on "building tips", hints, mods or modifications, etc. Good Luck!:D

RE: Plan building how to ??????
 

Sit down with the plan and make up a flow chart of how to make an airplane from it. Also, if the plan does not have one, make up a materials list. First, this will allow you to spend many happy hours without much expense. Secondly, you will avoid many mistakes (but not all) and your actual building will go much faster. My usual thing is to build the stab and elevator first because this gives me a completed thing pretty quickly. Remember the old adage, "Measure twice, cut once."

Jim

RE: Plan building how to ??????
 

Check out this site... http://home.comcast.net/~daverc102/spookmain.htm

Also I called up a local plastic shop from the phone book and got some very cheap clear plastic sheets which they called a "film" because it was so thin that worked great just as the See Temp listed on the website above.

RE: Plan building how to ??????
 

I have sent you by PM my article on how to build from plans. But I doubt you will find any cash saving in going this route compared to buying a kit.

RE: Plan building how to ??????
 

Cafeenman has a bunch of info on his site. There are also a bunch of books at the back of the magazines (RCM and MAN) on the subject.

Mark Shuman

PS: The band saw will work for most of what you need.