Hwoodbamf

I am a newbie attempting to build the Kadet LT-40 from a kit. I am following along with RC Ken's phenomenal LT-40 build tutorial and have reached the step where I unpin the left wing from the build board. In doing so, I found that the wing frame was basically glued (I used CA) to the plan covering material. I cut away all the excess material as best I could (i.e. all the places it wasn't glued to the wood) and am left with a ton of spots where the covering material is glued to the wood (see attached picture). So:

1) Is there a clever way to remove the glued material from the wood without damaging the wing?

2) Does this happen often or did I do something wrong? I'm leaning towards the latter because this situation doesn't seem to be addressed anywhere that I have found so far. Did I use way too much CA and/or am I a sloppy gluer? Other?

I sincerely appreciate any help/advice this forum can offer. Thanks!!

Hydro Junkie

Okay, two things first
1) To have that much glue between the wing and the covering material, you were using much more glue than was needed.
2) I've found that plastic wrap is a good covering since it's fairly cheap and can actually be sanded off.
Okay, with that said, I'm not sure what you used as a plan covering but, with the amount of CA I can see, I'm thinking your best bet would be to sand it with a sanding block. The standard "iron on" type coverings may or may not stick to CA soaked balsa so I'd just sand it lightly to get the excess CA and covering material off. Your only other option, that I can think of anyway, would be to use a "debonder", also available from most hobby outlets. The problem doing so is that you may affect the CA in areas you wouldn't want to affect.

jeffo

My Feedback: (68)

Hydro pretty much nailed it,sanding CA is like sanding glass.That will be a tough fix,it can be done but be patient and carefull.I'm old school,I use titebond with wax paper on plans.I also wipe off all excess.All that excess glue does nothing for the strength of the build,it just creates one hell of a mess.jeffo

Hydro Junkie

I'm not quite that "old school". I use a thin stripe of gap filling CA when I'm looking at speed and some strength, medium to slow epoxy for the heavy duty stuff

SlickZERO

Looks like Great Planes Plan Protector. I bought a roll about 15 years ago and if worked perfect. Epoxy or CA would not stick. I got back into building and bought a new roll. I got the same result as you, CA sticks to it like iron. I threw it away and went back to good old wax paper. The good stuff Cut Wright, not the cheap dollar store stuff.
Part of the trick in building is using enough glue to hold but not so much it makes a mess or increases the weight of the plane. You can't build a plane strong or heavy enough to make it crash proof so might as well make it light and fly well.

TomCrump

Just sand the offending glue. If you are worried about damaging the surrounding area, use masking tape to protect it.

Hwoodbamf

Slick nailed it.... GP Plan Protector indeed. The whole point of this build was for me to practice and learn, so this will be my first (and not the last) hard lesson! I thought about moving on to building the right wing but decided I would learn my lesson better by enduring the punishment of all this sanding! Thanks to everyone who offered advice, I'll post a picture when I get it all sanded off!

DavidAgar

My Feedback: (108)

I use Wax Paper to protect my plans and airplane parts. It is cheap enough and a box of it does a lot of planes. You should be able to sand of the paper. Just take your time and good luck, Dave

acdii

I ran into the exact same issue when I built my LT-40 and in the exact same area. Use one of the great planes sanding blocks with 120 grit paper to remove the plastic. Next time you use the thin CA, use the fine tip or tube that you insert into the bottle and through the cap, Give you much better control as thin move really fast. Don't worry, thats a normal rookie mistake not knowing how fast that glue moves.

For plan protection I went hog wild and bought a $7 roll of 4 MIL ultra clear builders plastic. Comes in an 8' x 25' roll. The only downside so far is that the creases take a long time to even out, but a hair dryer helps. Glue does not stick to it, and you can cover the largest set of plans. I am building a B-25 and the largest sheet is nearly 80" wide by 36" tall and with this plastic I can cover the entire plans and then some. Since it is ultra clear, the plans show through just like that plans protector you used.