Posted this also in Beginners but thought I might get different feedback here.

Just got my tax refund and have clearance from the accountant (wife) to purchase materials for my first kit. Just wanted to double check with some more experienced builders on my list of purchases:

4*40 kit
Futaba flight pack w/ servos
1-1/4" T pins
Foam
Spinner
fuel tubing
8 oz fuel tank
30 min epoxy
Main wheels and tail wheel
22" bar sander
Dubro tail wheel bracket
Crystal for the receiver

Stuff I have already:

Thin and Thick CA glue
A couple clamps (I know I need more, can you recommend some cheap ones?)
rubber bands
Sandpaper (various grits)
Hobby knives
Masking tape

Stuff for the future:
Ultracote
Engine

I was going to get the 48" Great Planes building board but I think I'm going to try the ceiling tiles to save some $$. I'm pretty nervous about starting my first kit so any help or encouragement would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
John

There's only one way to get started and that's to get started. Take it slow and read through the instructions before each step. Sig is known for their excellent and detailed instructions so this should be a very good experience for you.

Make sure that whatever you place your ceiling tiles on is straight without bows or warps. It would be a shame to build a warp into the wing. A good, sturdy work bench goes a long way towards a successful project.

Good luck!

Your judgement so far is excellent good kit choice and good start on the tool set.

Let me start with the last item the building board: I built airplanes under contract for years on ceiling tile (mounted to a FLAT door). Homasote and balsa are both a tiny bit better than ceiling tile but, believe me, the difference is way too small to talk about, and at two bucks for a 48" tile, you really can't go wrong!

On the bar sander, the 11" jobs have been a good bit more useful for me than the longer ones I use a few 11-inchers mounted respectively with fine, medium, and coarse "sandpaper." They are way more useful than I expected before I got to own and use them.

Something I'd recommend is a razor knife. Zona is famous for them; I think SIG has them; I used an Atlas one for years (the Atlas one made for model trains and available for about $2). Great for smooth, precise cutoffs, especially cross-grain.

Clothes pins are good clamps for low force uses, and they only take a couple seconds to customize for higher force, longer reach, special clamping angles, etc. Some dollar stores have those and little (like 2") spring clamps that are good when a little more force is needed. Of course, there's also an endless variety of things you can do with rubber bands, popsicle sticks, and paper clips.

I found that a good covering iron was well worth the cost for me. I'll spare you my misadventures with the less expensive ones, but I will tell you that I like a good bargain and I now use a rounded edge, 2 degree temperature controlled iron at certainly 2 or 3 times the cost of my first ironS and I consider it a very good deal.

Think about wood glue. (My personal favorite is Titebond II, but there are a variety of good choices.) When an assembly is pinned to the table, slow drying time (my choice sets in 20 minutes) doesn't slow you down a bit but in the end, you get a more flexible (harder to shatter) joint, more working time (to fine tune part alignment before it's too late), no fumes or toxins (check out the hazard reports on CA, Urethanes, and epoxies), and lowest price of any of the popular kinds of glue.

So, that's a start I know there are a lot more ideas out there.
Good luck, but mostly building is a great and satisfying enterprise ENJOY!

Thanks! I have a Coverite iron already, forgot to list it.

What do I do about holding ribs, etc straight? I've seen 90 degree holders and sandbags for pressure. Are these recommended?

A good cheap option for good bar sanders is to use 2"x2" alloy box section, I made most of my sanders with that, I have 2 each 6", 12" 24" and 40". I use 120 and 150 grit or 240 and 320 on 2 sides next to each other, so as I can use the bars on my mitre sanding board. I have 2 quality irons, one rounded edge and one sharp angled edge, find both useful to have

When building on a board, over protected plans...[ul][*] I lay down the lower spar(s) and trailing edge usinng a few ribs to get them spaced right and[*]Pin over the spars (criss-cross above them, not through them) and through the traling edge stock.[*]Then, I apply glue to each spar where each rib joins it and[*]Take each rib and put glue in the lower sparspar slot(s) and... [ul][*]Position the rib squarish over its spot on the plans,[*]Align it vertically (for which I have some little square bits of metl, but a triangle from a ctudent drawing kit at the dollar store is really good, or anything small and really square) and[*]either pin it square or wait for the upper spar to hold it[/ul][*]For a small wing (which doesn't have too many ribs so I can adjust them before the glue dries, I glue the upper spar slots, insert the upper spar(s), and come back with the square to get each rib nice and verticle and the spar holds them aligned.[*]For a larger wing, I just pin the ribs down to the board as I go since the glue may be to stiff to do much repositioning before I'd get an upper spar positioned to hold them.[*]Also, neatness counts because unnets stuff has weight after all that, I go over each joint with a rounded stick to leave a neat glue fillet that bridges the whole length of every joint.[/ul]
There are ways to be more sure that things are perfectly square, but it turns out that you can forgive yourself for some small imperfections as long as you tried not have them and they aren't too bad.

Notice, I can adjust and tweak things really percisely because I use wood glue... if you really like CA you can do about the same thing but you have to have each rib alligned well before the it gets its first drop of glue.

Are fillets just glue on the outside of the joined area?

Yep exactly. Just a smooth concave bit flowed across from one part to the other.