I want to start building a kit but I'm having problems finding a right workboard to place the pins in while putting kit together. I tried chipboard but that's too hard, sheet of white insulation foam works but only partially since it does not reseal holes and tends to cave-in if too much pressure placed on one spot..

Coark boards are only available in most cases in 1/4 thick which is insufficent for our pins.

What are builders using out there?

Grateful Canuck

Try a cheap interior ply covered door.

Ed S

Ceiling tiles for dropped ceilings work well, take a pin to try out when shopping for one.

If you intend to keep building. Great Planes has a board you might be interested in. :sunsmiley

I have been using ceiling tiles as well,and they work great. I also have been taking a paper punch and punching small circles in a plastic ice cream cover. Put the circles on the t-pins and use them as a retainer to hold the balsa to the work surface. Just some ideas Jim

I have a 4x6' sheet of MDF board covered with two 1/4" layers of cork sheeting. I glued the cork on with contact cement. This gives me a very rigid surface to work on and the pins go in real easy and hold well. I also do all my cutting on this board for the covering.

For the ultimate in model aircraft building boards, try the following web site:

http://www.wrightengineering.com/

This is all great stuff. I knew about the Wright but the large one does not seem large enough.

For the ceiling tiles, are you using 6 or so and how are you holding them together?

Grateful Canuck

I'm also in the hunt for a good workboard and needing one asap. The x-large one from wright seems to be of good size but the're sold out, plus at 150 bucks that seems pricey to me but. I heard of warping with the gp model. Has anyone tried the balsa workboard from guillows.com? I'm interested also in the ceiling setup. A door is just too big for my workspace at this time....Dave

Try contacting 'Porta-Board' at (419) 468-6773 - their board are very flat, light, and can be taped together to create a very large surface. Plus, the largest one costs about $20.

Saw them at Toledo Show....looks like a winner to me.

Jerry

I've used celing tiles before too. The ones they are talking about are the type that are used on schools and office buildings. They are probably 1.5'x4' so they are big enough for most 40 and 60 sized projects. I switched to pink home insulation. I find that the big T-pins hold great in it and you can get them BIG. The sheets usually run 4'x8' and you just cut the size you need. Best thing of all is the foam holds together if it's nicked and doesn't create any dust like my celing tile did.

I've used ceiling tiles also. While they work well, I find that T-pin don't always have enough holding power and tend to loosen after a while. Plus the surfaces on they are rather fragile and tend to flake off easily, the dust from which is glass fibre and I don't like to breathe if I have a choice. Plus (or is it a minus), you can't exert too much force on it, or it'll dent.

Still, I've built many a plane straight and true with ceiling tiles - the fibrous cement kind - not the bonded fibreglass kind.

If you have room and can afford to build a stout work table, I find that a piece of sheetrock makes the ideal work surface. It is hard, heavy and flat, so corners don't lift like other lighter material. The paper surface and gypsum below hold T-pins extremely tight. You can even write notes directly on it. Best of all - it cheap!

My current workbench has a piece of sheetrock about 4'x8' and is indispensable for embarking on giant scale projects.

BTW, if you get a slab door for worktable, be sure to get the solid core, not hollow core, which will droop in time if you got any sort of load on it.