Help a beginner out:

1.What glue (i.e. CA, epoxy, carpenter, etc) do you recommend for which purpose (sheeting, gluing sticks together, balsa, hardwood, etc)

2. What technique do you use for gluing control surface, fuselage side, wing panels,etc, together? I.e., put the glue on each end/surface, then put together? or position, pin and then slop glue on joint?

3. How do you keep from gluing the pieces you have postioned on a board - to the board?

Thanks

1.) CA on the inside of the plane. Use white glue anywhere that a sanded finish is needed on the outside of the plane.

2.) depends. geneerally apply glue , then posidtion, pin, clamp or hold as needed

3.) wax paper

1. Everyone has their own preference. Personally, I use Medium CA for just about everything. The only major exceptions are that I use Epoxy for joining the two wing halves, and thin CA for CA hinges. Please read this: [link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/magazine/article_display.cfm?article_id=55]Installing CA Hinges[/link]

2. It depends on the type of glue. With wood glue, epoxy, Medium and thick CA you would put the glue on the wood first, then add the next piece. With thin CA, you put the two pieces together and add glue.

3. Lay Waxed paper under whatever you're glueing

CA for wing ribs to spars - just so easy and fast compared to other glues.

CA for strengthening wood - like in the tapped threads for wingbolts. CA hinges (I like CA hinges on planes up to 10lbs or so).

CA - position parts and wick it in.

Titebond II for most other applications.

Sheething, it depends. If I can get to the back side CA, If I can't Titebond II.

Titebond II - apply glue to both halves with a nylon brush and then mate. Wipe off excess with a damp cloth after a minute. Clean up brush and cloth with water. Nice.

Epoxy (with or without glass tape or other reenforcement) for places where major strength or fuelproofness is called for. Wing saddle, firewall, thinned inside tank compartment(s). And this does not include landing gear blocks and wing bolt anchors. I like the PVA (Titebond II) for that so the joint will fail before worse damage occurs. Better to tear out the gear block than rip the whole plane in half.

Epoxy - applied as Titebond II, but try not to have excess. Cut away after it begins to set if gobs seeping out. Epoxy should not be tightly clamped. It "starves" the joins to do so. Just snug is OK.

I did some laminating with Dave Brown's odorless CA Gel. Costs more, but that is nice stuff to work with. I usually pin around the two pieces so I can get in and smear the glue, then weigh the stack down with lead pieces. If it's a pair of narrow parts I'll do the pin-and-seperate trick.

I use about half thin, half medium. Like Minnflyer says, thin CA is applied with the pieces in place (just a drop or two will completely soak the joint) and medium CA is applied to the pieces before you stick them together. You get maybe five seconds to position the pieces correctly, so pre-fit the parts dry.

The decision to use thin versus medium depends on how tight the joint is. Thin CA needs a very tight joint, like wing ribs to slotted LEs and TEs, and doublers. Less well-fitting joints, like cross-bracing in control surfaces (yes, I am too lazy to get a perfect fit), I go with medium. Sometimes I'll "fillet" thin CA joints with medium CA later on.

I use AR once in a great while. I'd use it more, esp. for sheeting, if I had the patience.

I use epoxy when I need more than 5 seconds to fit the pieces, like attaching tail feathers.

Like the guys said: you can use medium CA for most everything but it won't be easy to sand away excess so watch out if glue might get on an exposed surface. Epoxy is great for high-stress joints.

I'd like to put in a word for old-fashioned carpenter's glue - also known as aliphatic glue. I don't use it a lot but it is good stuff when you need working time. And, it is easy to wipe away excess, and to sand away dried excess. I like using it when making balsa plywood or when building up a layered surface to be carved and sanded down to shape afterwards.

I'd also like to comment on something in the original question:
Doubtless this was not meant literally, but even so it should be noted that "slopping" glue is not the way to build. Extra glue is just that - extra. Glue on the outside of a joint does little or nothing for strength, but it does add weight. Note that even though CA is applied to the outside of a joint, it works because it wicks into the spaces between the two pieces. A small fillet of hardened CA on top of the joint in an angled situation may be beneficial but "slopping" is to be avoided. And, as noted you can "harden" balsa with CA, but again there is "enough" and then there is "too much".

Yes, I know I'm being pedantic but I figure just in case. BHunn3 did say he (or she?) is a beginner...