RE: New to scratch building!
 

Fiberglassing is a long process and although it adds strength it also adds a lot more weight than plastic covering. I would go with monokote as more than likely you don't need the extra strength. For covering I would go with towerkote from tower hobbies though because the price is much better and personaly I believe that it covers better than monokote.

RE: New to scratch building!
 

When I have a fully sheeted plane I glass and paint, it looks better and it is never bothered by the sun. I use 1/2oz glass and Deft sanding lacquer for glassing and when finished there is no weight gain to worry about. The extra weight is usually caused by the paint. I use Klass Kote paint, a two part epoxy type and I try to put it on very light. It mixes 50/50 then you thin another 50%. If you try to put it down too thick it can add more weight. Tough as nails though and you don't get hanger rash.

RE: New to scratch building!
 

I'm guessing you mean stringer but there are many terms for many things...$1.50 for a balsa stick?..that is what x what size?...heck you should be able to get 3-4 for that $....go check your local craft store, thats way too much......now on to the next problem, rubbing alcohol is 2/$1 at any Dollar store and most drug stores and it is either %50-30 water already mixed in.....let it dry then glue it,,practice by wrapping a piece slowly around a 2 litre bottle or drink can with rubber bands, even if it left marks on the wood it would sand out in seconds......now on to the next problem, why at 16 and in the beginner section are you building a custom jet?? I'm hoping its electric, cause your in a world of money hurt if its an actual jet engine..if theres a club near you (AMA) some one would probably either help you or donate some materials...there is often times a crashed plane in the trash at a flying field, stripped of parts and left for scavengers.........can you offer up a few dollars or some needed school supplies to your engineering teacher for the 8 sticks you need?......Rog

RE: New to scratch building!
 

Yeah a 16 year old with a turbine does sound pretty amazing but no its just a edf for everyone who thought it was a turbine:D. Now can someon please explain how to fiberglass, what the cloths are, and how you attach it? Basically i always use monokote and such and this is my first trek into the world of fiberglass! Oh and il have pictures up shortly of the build. I bet some people are gonna be pretty eager to hear of a new SPITFIRE jet [:-]. Yes a spitfire jet! Custom everything including plans and all wood designed by me! I call it the Spitfire Mk XXV!! Photos soon!

RE: New to scratch building!
 

Oh, and im not a beginner at rc, just a beginner at things like fiberglassing and kit building! I'v actually been flying for almost 4 years. I posted in the beginners section because usually there are a lot of helpful people looking!

RE: New to scratch building!
 

Fiberglassing is a chore!..it takes a lot of practice and is too heavy for covering...its generally used by weight of the cloth in Oz's...so you need to do a google about that....you need cloth,resin,tools,hardners,mold release,gel coat, molds...its really a lot of work and money.........Rog

RE: New to scratch building!
 

Sounds like a ton of work for just fiberglasss[&:]. I may have to stick to ultracote!

RE: New to scratch building!
 

I have a new problem..i need a nose cone and tail cone fashioned out of some plastic material. I made two garden foam dummy cones to see what size and shape they need to be. Is there some kind of plastic that is cheap and durable that i can lay over the foam and use a heatgun to bend and shape the plastic into the shape i need?

RE: New to scratch building!
 

Well I don't know if you've ever picked up an old issue of RCM magazine but in the September 2000 issue they had a great article on building your own vacuum forming machine. Here's the link to the website for plans. I've never made one myself but it might be worth something to you.

http://www.build-stuff.com/1001plans_hobby_vac.htm

Also you could go through the pain of making fiberglass parts. That I will figure out later

RE: New to scratch building!
 

thats what I have been doing. Shaping a peice of foam then making a fiberglass casting of it. I would love to do the pulled vacuum form plastic but I cant seem to get any success with the attempts I have tried. I tried making a vacuum box with holes in the top and a hole for the vaccume hose on the side but when I put the heated platic from the oven on it, It just didnt seem to want to shrink around the mold very well. I think the plastic was cooling too fast after I took it out of the oven because it stiffens right up as soon as its out of the heat.

The article you posted looks very interesting to me. I might have to give that a try.

RE: New to scratch building!
 

I am no scratch building person at all, but based on the design of the vacuum mold machine that devinator provided. That project has a heat pad in it.

I think you are missing something on your home made vacuum mold device.

RE: New to scratch building!
 

One other thing you could try is if you have a heat gun (you can get one from Harbor Freight Tools for $10) you can heat the the plastic directly over the machine and once heated put it on immediatley.

RE: New to scratch building!
 

Also, run to the grocery store and look at all the bottles,, a drink or mustard or bottom of a plastic condiment bottle might be the perfect size/shape for your needs....Rog
spinners are pretty cheap and you could just cut the front off it....is this edf or propped but looks like a jet?

RE: New to scratch building!
 

its an edf, oh and i read up on fiberglassing and whoever said it was expensive and hard was wrong! Fiberglassing is just the cloth, resin, and primer! Oh and tons of sanding! Everything but the resin is pretty much cheap!

RE: New to scratch building!
 

Here are some of my construction pics!

RE: New to scratch building!
 

no not really, its quite easy and you can glass a plane using water based polyurathane, so the resin isn't that expensive at all, use .56oz cloth to keep weight down.

that being said your little plane there is pretty small to be glassing, it can be done just make sure to keep it light,if you want to read about glassing with water based products and scale detailing take a look through this http://tompierce.net/rcplanes/index.htm the SBD Dauntless thread covers alot of information, the FW190 has some cool stuff as well.

I encorage all who are interested in glassing there models to read it, using water based materials is a light weight, and easy way to finish a plane, Tom also outlines his widely used methods, some examples of water based glassed models, using Varathane diamond finsh water based poly and light weight fiberglass both models are entirely painted, no stickers .