Darn it Charlie, I forgot the silicone caulk! Use it quite a bit on my float planes and for 101 odd things like holding on unlikely to use hatches. Good eye!

What is the recommended dimension of the building board ? Any other material to use as the building board ? Wood, mdf, etc. ?

The bigger the better! As long as it's flat, able to accept pins and hopefully in a location that allows you to get around it and work from both sides (not a necessity but certainly a plus.

I've got a sturdy workbench ...... LEVEL ...... on top of which is a solid core wood door. I used to use ceiling tiles on top of that but got tired of the hassle and they wear out eventually. I also tried 3/8" cork which I was able to obtain on a 24" roll and it worked well after it flattened out but it's hard to find and also wears out. Finally, I went with a 1" thick laminated balsa board 24x60 and it's superb because you can sand it if it becomes marred and it's like new again. These are available through the magazines. Tower even has a decent one that's 18x48 that works very well and will handle most midsize projects.

Whatever you use, use it for building only. Get it off the bench for soldering, drilling, hammering etc. Always keep it flat.

Build straight and it'll fly true.

In all the discussion on glues nobody seems to have mentioned the important point about Aliphatic. If you use ordinary PVA glue it will tend to 'pull out ' when it is sanded. Aliphatic is not so rubbery & does not do this, so it is sandable.

I have a 4' x 8' table top, a 28" x54" radial arm saw I spread out over and a 40" x 40" table saw that usually gets covered, also. Plus, a "dirty" table of 28" x 60" for my grinder, vise and filing and metal knocking area.

My pinning surface is a 16" x 48" balsa board and I spread out from there.

There are lots of choices. If you are unsure whether you will be doing a lot of building, the hollow core door and ceiling tile setup is a good choice. Many builders choose to continue to use them. There are others who choose to build on glass topped benches, actually gluing their project directly to their workbench during construction. I myself use a 4 x 8 steel topped workbench and use magnets instead of push pins. An island setup works well, giving access from multiple sides. As Augie11 said, the bigger the better, considering your space of course. MDF is a nice choice in that it is a stable material, but it needs to be properly supported so it won't sag. My top is made somewhat like a hollow core door, out of MDF. It is two sheets of 3/4 MDF with a 2 X 2 pine frame/grid between the sheets, and is then banded with 1 X 6 pine. The base is a set of Gorilla shelf racks.

Scott

Size of building board is simple. Big enough to handle the plane you are building. Should be somewhat bigger than the wingspan and/or fuselage length.

I have a nice, sturdy desk that I got from IKEA. The feet are adjstable- making it easy to get the whole surface level. I think its approx. 36" deep by 56" wide. I glue 1 1/2" thick blue foam insulation to it for each project, then remove everything with a razor blade when finished. Works great!

The building board only has to be 1/2 the wingspan. You normally build 1/2 at a time and join them - with one side propped up off the table for dihedral (or not). I'm doing a 70" wingspan biplane on a 48" board right now. And the fuselage section that needs to be pinned down is less the cowl and rudder. And, if you work on the diagonal, you can squeeze 50" on there.

I'm about to order from Micro-Mark via internet. They have ALOT of stuff for builders. I'm considering a band-saw for rough-cutting wing-tips and and odd shaped things. They also have a neat little table saw for cutting balsa sheeting.

If you are looking at the Delta band saw at thier website, check some of the hardware stores. I frequently see the same model for a lot less. I bought a band saw (Craftsman) for christmas and have alread used it far more than I anticipated.

Scott

A bandsaw is a wonderful tool! I don't have one, but used to have access to one, so I know how handy they are, as I surely miss using one. I think a bandsaw is far more desireable then a drill press and having both would bring on bouts of sever happiness.

Scott,

Thanks for saving me $55 for a Delta bandsaw. Micro-Mark price: $139.95 plus $15 additional heavy freight charge. Lowes price: $99.99 local store pick up. I did not know those units were availabe that small until I rode out and looked around. Unfortunately, Lowes does not carry other small modeling tools like Micro-Mark....mostly large construction stuff. Nice, quiet saw by the way.

I've bought from Micro-Mark before, and will again. They do carry a lot of items that are not easily found anywhere else. It's just that in a few cases, they carry readily available items, but at higher prices.

Though I don't have one of their mini table saws, I've read really good reviews.

I do have the $40 mini table saw from Harbor Freight. While I think it's worth the price, it is very limited, and would require a lot of adaption to make it truely usefull. Harbor does have a number of items that can be used for our hobby, and thier prices are low, but they are certainly not top of the line.
http://www.harborfreight.com/

Another source of hard to find tools is McMaster Carr.
http://www.mcmaster.com/

Scott

I learned this a couple of years ago while building BVM jets...The best building board you can make is done by taking a piece of egg crate foam (Walmart sells it in by the pillows and other bedding), lay it on your bench or table...then go and buy a sheet of 2' x 4' glass (you can go bigger if you want). I suggest using 3/8" or 1/2" thick but it can get pretty spendy. The glass is then place on top of the foam and lastly a ceiling tile from a home center is place on top of the glass. This way, it doesn't matter if your table has a bow or warp, the foam and rigid glass will make for a perfectly flat building surface regardless of what it is sitting on.

I have build 5 BVM jets on a table like this that hit speeds of 150 - 230 mph so absolutely flat wings and control surfaces are a must. This definitely is not the cheepest way to go but you can probably find a glass store that has "used" glass and that will save you some money. I think I paid about $60 for the peice I bought but it is very worth the money.

Scott,
True enough what you said....that's why I'm still placing an order for stuff that's just not easily found. What I'm finding amazing is that so many modelers on this thread have a lot of different ideas about building boards. Wow!

My garage workshop and tools have become a hobby unto itself. I've gone through 3 types of buildboards, who knows, I may try a different one in the future...

I got the Dremel Work station about three weeks ago. This thing is great. A friend keeps trying to trade me out of it but no dice.

I picked up the Kadet Sr. kit last Saturday. I can’t weight to get started, but my workspace is also the spare bedroom witch will be in use the last week of February so I won’t be able to start until March.

I have picked up a razor saw miter box and I have a used hollow core door found.

i recently moved out of my parents house wher i had acsess to a large work bench to a dorm room where i was building on the floor on top of a cieling tile. i then built myself a 32"X48"top and 35" tall out of 2x4's and 2 layers of 3/4"ply. i also like using the celing tile because i have limeted space and i can lift the entire project off of the bench and set it on my bed and i have my bench back.

i also love my dermal. and another tool that is not nesasarly manditory be nice to have if you start scrathbuilding is a scroll saw. i love mine.

I have used a 4' by 8' hollow core door for years. I have it painted gloss white. It is perfectly flat. I have never found the need to use anything over the door as the door accepts T-pins and has great holding power. I use wax paper over the plans as mentioned before. The reason I painted it white is it makes the plans easier to read and makes cleanup (balsa dust) easier.

The gentlemen mentioned guillows in his post. I have two balsa building boards made by Guillows and they can be laid on any table as I built several airplanes on them and my straight and true. check out http://www.guillow.com/
MJohnston

Does anybody have a Dremel Scroll station? Is it worth to have this type of tool. In wich situations can someone need it?

I just read this link and was amazed at all the differnt types of glues used in kit building. I have found the best to be the one that bonds my fingers together for a least an hour. However I concur that for a sport/trainer type plane that CA, epoxy,and Titebond for sheeting are all that may be required on these kits. I also found that the ceiling tiles that are 2' x 4' work better then merging the 2 x 2 type. You can sometimes talk the guys at Home Depot into turning loose of a busted bundle fairly cheap and they ussually have at least 50% of the bundle intact. Just my 2% (I'm to poor for a monetary opinion)