irocleis

Ok so I was looking to fiberglass my first plane, which is a foamy P51 mustang. For the main reason to paint the aircraft with some nice spray paints. And second to give the plane some extra durability. Now is going with the fiberglass the right path for what I would like to accomplish? Or there a better route. Also how do you keep the flexibtof the rudder ailerons etc. After covering the plane with one of the many rigid materials u can use. Thanks for the help guys.

Darren40

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I assume your mustang is fairly small because it is a foamy. I wouldn't recommend glassing anything smaller than ~55" wingspan. Even then, I'd recommend water-based poly-c on 0.6 oz cloth for 55"-65" spans rather than polyester or epoxy resins. The extra weight you'd add to a small plane will make it a pig to fly.

irocleis

What would be the best thing to do with these foam planes. My main goal is to get a great looking paint job. And does anyone know about how to keep the flexibility of the rudder, ailerons, and elevators after making the foam plane more rigid? Or what if o e tears or breaks how do u fix them?

wyowindworks

You could use some light 1.7 ounce kevlar to form the hinges or cut them and do tape hinges.

Roguedog

There are huge variety of Acrylic Paints available for foamys (water based). Michaels craft store has a huge selection of flat, gloss,and metallic's as well.

They cover my foamys very well.

As far as hinges I'm using CA Hinges on the foamy in the pic below. Keeps the ailerons nice and tight up against the flying surfaces. I don't like the tape onmy foamys as it stretches along the mating surfaces after a while and has to be replaced frequently. If you use CA Hinges you could glass the flying and control surfaces with epoxy and 0.5 oz cloth if you really want to use paint that would other wise melt the foam. Polyester resin will also melt foam.

IMHOI would stickwiththe waterbased acylics for foamys. This place http://www.tcpglobal.com/autoaircolor/has a nice selection of water based paints alled AutoAircolors. If your looking for more exotic colors they offer Createx Airbrush colorswhich arealso water based.

Bryan

irocleis

Sorry what are CA hinges? Haha I don't know all the terminology yet im still pretty new

Roguedog

CAis an acronym for "cyanoacrylate adhesive" or the super glue we use to glue out planes together. There are two types one for balsa and another for foam type airplanes.

You cannot use the balsa type on foam as it will melt the foam.

Here's a link to the exact ones I mentioned. http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXK110&P=ML

CA Hinges use the CA Glue to glue control surfaces to flying surfaces. see pic

They measure 1" by 3/4". Too use them you make a 3 or 4 slots on the flying surfacestrailing edge (TE) - wing, stab, and vert stab and the leading edge (LE) of the control surfaces - aileron, elevator, and rudder. Of course you need to match them up and center the slots. Next you insert the CA Hinges into the slots then mount your control surfaces to their cooresponding flying surface, then and the CA glue to lock everthing in place.

Also check out these two links for an excellant tutorial

http://www.rcuniverse.com/magazine/a...rticle_id=1180

http://www.rcuniverse.com/magazine/a...?article_id=55

irocleis

Thanks for the great info I appreciate it!

Roguedog

The tutors recommend thin CA glue. The thin foam safe CA glue is a little hard to find but it's available. I used the medium foam safe CAon the foamy pictured above with no probs.

irocleis

So if I were to cut the ailerons and elevators off (because it appears that they are connected with a very thin piece of foam) I can paint everything and then reapply using the CA glue and it will hold as it does now with the same flex and durability as it does out of the box? Just trying to get things straight before u start painting and cutting haha.

Roguedog

No. You'll have to use the CA hinges. CA glue is not plyable. It drys to a very hard surface.

Review the bottom two links in the post above for directions on how to use the CA hinges

irocleis

Ah gotcha... I understand now haha. Thanks!

irocleis

All the info u guys gave me was a big help. I decided not to do any fiberglassing, instead I sanded some foam down to make a smooth surface and used the light weight spakeling to fill any dents or broken pieces. I also bought the milwax pokycrylic and it works great too. I put 3it coats on a test piece of a broken foamy airplane then primered it w/ur a while primer and spray painted it. Worked really well, did not eat away at the plane at all.

Just wanted to say thanks for all the info and help, ill post some pics of my finished product when om all finished.