My first attempt
 

I've done ARF's up until now, and am feeling ready to go for a full build. Of course, there are a number of airframes that I would love to put together, but I have settled myself (smartly I think), to begin with a good 40 size entry level. Anyway, I've got the kit and have been studying the forums and instructions. I'm a little intimidated, but very excited. Thankfully, I live in the North, so no big hurry at this time!
Just want to thank everyone in advance for the "HELP ME PLEASE" that may come your way haha. It's a great community though, and everything I've followed here indicates a lot of resourceful people. Kit is a Sig Somethin Extra.

Sig kits are top notch,just take your time,go through the instruction book step by step,and you'll do just fine.jeffo

Tdaffy,

I have built a lot of kits.. and jeffo is right ,just read the instructions until your next few steps are clear. I have built quite a few planes and I still often sit down at the pc with the current instruction booklet and just lay out my next step in the construction.

The one main thing to get right is to make sure you never build two left wings, or two left fuselage halves ! hahah

Also almost any mistake can be fixed by sanding..gluing on more wood, or worst case scenario making a new part..

Building board straight and flat? Thats half the battle as well.

have fun,building is an addiction !

Funny thing about kit building is the number of stories about building 2 port side wing panels or same side fuselage halves I've heard of.
I am sure I silently told myself that this could never happen to me, but some how I've managed to do this too.
Slow but steady wins the race, rehearsing the next step in your head before actually taking it helps keep your efforts moving towards the goal line.
Congratulations for deciding to become actively engaged in this adventure...!

Right now, my biggest paranoia is the flat surface. I believe it is probably critical. The bench I'm on is not perfect. I've laid a second sheet of ply to get the level portion done, but the flat part is bugging me. Likely, short of a complete bench rebuild, I will not fix it entirely. Another option in consideration....and please let me know your thoughts....is to lay a sheet of the 3/4 inch pink insulation board. It may not sit exactly perfect over any warp in the bench surface, but it should at the very least be FLAT.

A 4 foot long straight edge can be used to check your table's flatness.
I used to build .40 sized models in a motel room while on the road...right on a 3 foot long piece of 1 x 12 pine...and the planes ended up straight enough to fly OK.
While you are in the progress of building a plane, you can always use strategically aimed light to sight down and across expanses to see how things look, plus you always have the long straight edge / rulers to use as gauges.
One of the most important views is along the trailing edge of your wing as viewed from the rear. This is where a twist is easily seen before you get too far into the build, or to double check how straight it turned out after you applied the covering.

As mentioned above get a long straight edge to check the surface. You use the edge to look for a gap underneath.

If you have bought a new sheet of ply for the top of the bench ,just start shimming any low spots.

Depending on the thickness of your plywood you will probably just need to make sure the corners are not wrong in relation to the middle. If you have a low corner start using something close to the right thickness that shouldn't compress much later. Typically I have used thin cardboard or even folded paper. for small corrections..

Personally when I resurface a building table I like to use countersunk screws around the edge to make sure it stays where I put it. just double check to see if you have tightened anything to much.. And caused a low spot.

I've tried building over high density foam insulation board, but it isn't my thing. It IS nice to have something soft like foam to lay your model on for final assembly. A spare cushion or pillow is the best.
For kit building I tape the plans to the table, tape a run of wax paper over the plan and put a fine mist of 3M77 over the wax paper.
This acts like a 2nd pair of hands to hold parts in place without pins. A nice square, palm sized hunk of scrap wood or a credit card works to square things up before gluing.

sears makes butcher block type table tops , i got one , because i could not find anything
i was satisfied with , their pretty straight , but i think it was arround 100 bucks and their 1.500
thick and HEAVY as h E double LL , I HAD TO CARRY it up stairs , jeeze !!

After leveling the building surface as well as I can I have a 1/4 piece of plate glass I use as the building surface. Use 3M 77 spray adhesive to tack the plans down, then a layer of wax paper, followed by another spray of 3M 77. Let this tack off and start laying your parts on the plans, they stick very well. So well in fact that T pins are rarely used.

What a great conversation here. It's been a long time since I've seen one. The way things are now it's kind of like talking about the old days.

The Somethin' Extra is a nice relaxing build. You'll love it.

Wow, great response! I really appreciate the advice! Very helpful, thank you.

combatpigg and I use almost the same technique. I hope that you have a great building.

I bought the Somethin' Xtra ARF. Should arrive on Monday. R u going glow or electric? I saw a review of the Somethin' Xtra. It was built using:

"...power my Somethin' Xtra with an HiMax HC5018-530 Motor, Castle Creations Phoenix Edge 75 Amp ESC, 5 Cell, 4000 Mah Lipo battery
and 14X8 wood propeller".

I'm gonna do the same thing except I'm gonna try to squeeze a 5 cell 5000 mAH in to it.

I've had the SIG Kadet Senior, 4*60, Rascal 110, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aL5t1w98ET0King Kobra (3). Am building a King Kobra wing right now. SIG has the planes I want - seems like I'm always going back to SIG for planes. I visited their factory in Montezuma, Iowa. Enjoyed it immensely.

Good luck and have fun with your build. When it's cold and snowy outside you'll be warm and happy inside building your SIG plane.

Has anyone ever tried a sheet of drywall? I have used it before and it worked well and you could use pins. I do like the idea of using the spray adhesive, I am definitely going to try that on my next build.

I tried drywall and didn't like it. I don't really like to use T pins and it cracks easily. A friend of mine used drywall all the time with great results. I tried to sell him on the building on glass thing but he was so closed minded he wouldn't even try it. We all have very different ways of doing things. Keeps it fun.

Best building board by far is what they call a solid core skid door. That’s the door on top of a skid of doors that have marks/damage from the banding holding the skid of doors together. I picked mine up for 25 to 35 bucks each. I also use them as bench tops all around the perimeter of my shop. Nice to be able to bolt a large vice to the bench top and beat on it without worrying about things coming loose. Forget the wimpy hollow core doors just the smooth solid core doors are the best.

For covering the door and creating a building surface that is the best bar none i screw 1/2 inch thick sheet of Homasote to the door. Do not glue or the dissimilar materials will warp just use drywall screws every 10 to 12 inches and this will allow enough movement in the Homosote so the door will not warp. Mine have been in use for over 30 years. When you get a blob of glue you just pluck it off and touch up with your sanding bar. It holds pins beyond anything else yet it’s easy to put them in and take them out. For years many of the model railroad enthusiast have used it as a base to hold their track in place with small pin like spikes. When one side gets so abused you just flip it over and use the other.

Dennis

Thank you. All neat ideas so far. I actually rebuilt the bench. It wasn't too hard, and I think it will be worth the effort in the long run. I laid a fresh sheet of 1/4 inch ply, and think I'll go with the homasite idea. So far, I've gone through the instructions a couple of times, once while looking at the plans and have done inventory. It's amazing that somehow, this stack of wood and balsa will eventually be an airplane! Going to either pick up or fashion a good set of sanding bars...long and short, and invest in a good set of blades for the knife. (I always think in terms of you get what you pay for). That also applies to aircraft I've learned lol. Anyway, happy thanksgiving to everyone, and I'll hopefully be adding my progress as the time progresses. So far, the advice has been great. Lucky to have found you all.

The T-bars they sell at the hobby shops are light and very rigid as well as being straight. I use the heavy duty double sided tape with fabric mesh in it to hold the sand paper on the T-bar. Rolls of 4 inch wide sandpaper in different grits can be had fairly inexpensively at any big box store as can the tape. Keep the sandpaper off cuts they can be attached to shapes or small wood/metal/plastic pieces as specialty sanding bars or shapes as needed. Look in the big box store for a box of 1000 single sided razor blades. These work better and out last any exacto style blade. I only use the exacto blades for intricate cuts the razorblades cannot do. When it comes to cutting the iron on covering the single edge razorblades make the exacto blades seem like butter knives.

Dennis

your going to love that plane.. the something extra was my first kit build... so much fun to fly...

Thanks for the response. I've had a great time and experience building my first full kit. I've learned a few things, and have a sense of accomplishment too. I've completed the kit now, and am moving onto covering it soon. Looks like a fun plane to fly.