ICE_MAN

I guess just by luck i stumbled onto www.spadtothebone.com. I had seen one spad plane at the field and after looking through the site spads i found the SPADSTICK. I was thinking of building this as a second plane just to mess around with since it should be easily repairible. What all tools will i need and could I build a spad with moderate modeling experience? Also could i get and estimate on the price. Oh BTW if any one from spadtothebone.com is reading , Very nice site guys

Madd_Maxx

SuperStar Pilot 69:

Go ahead and build yourself a spad !! I used to think the same way you are right now.....do I really want to kill some time and build a plane out of coroplast and hope it flies ok.

My planes:
The first spad I built was a spa3dt (excellent 3d choice) and then a qhor/pqhor frankenstein project I then built (haven't got to fly yet...weather has been bad here) and now I'm just about to finish up my 3rd spad.....a dominator. This spad building is like an addiction....once you get started you just can't quit.

The cost you will have involved in building a spad will be minimal if you have the basic tools needed to build one. You will need a good razor blade knife to cut the coropolast.....a drill with 1/16" and 5/32" drill bits (some other sizes too but those are the basic ones I use)....screwdrivers or driver bits for your drill and a several good clamps if you are building a sperate wing trainer plane (like my dominator). Most of the tools needed to build a spad are allready in your garage/hobbyroom if you fly balsa planes anyway. I have between 30-40 bux in all 3 of the spad planes I've built so far with enough 1" aluminum tubing - flat stock and u-channel left over to build a couple more planes.....definately you get more bang for your buck with spads.

In all 3 of my planes I have built so far I only used just one sheet of 4mill coroplast.....the 4mill cost me just over 7 bux for a full 4x8 sheet. All my control horns are built using a 10' section of white plastic gutter pipe (not the square downspout pipe used for a fuse) that will cost you just over 4 bux at home depot. While you are are home depot look for some 1/8" x 1" flat aluminum stock for landing gear (costs around 7 bux for 8') or if you are going to be building a spa3dt and need 1" square tubing get that at home depot as well (costs about 10 bux for 8')...both are available at lowes but cost about twice as much. Need the hdpe (poly cutting board) for motor mounts head to wal-mart and get an "American Chef" brand 11"x14" Poly cutting board for right around 6 bux. If you are looking to find the smooth 2 1/2" square downspout pipe head over to your local menards...they have it in 10' sections (white or brown) for 5-6 bux. The brown they had was discounted because of some scratches for 2 bux a stick....Now that's GOOD DEAL INDEED!

Here's a few pics of my spads:






Sorry for rambling on like this but I like to pass along a few things that I have found out since starting to build spads only 2 1/2 weeks ago.
Like I said before "It's an addiction"

Hope that helps,
Madd_Maxx

ICE_MAN

Wow thatnks for the quick reply Mad_maxx! I feel alot more confident in building my spad now! I do have a couple more questions.

1. Do I need a blow torch? In the plans for the spadstick it says that you need one.

2. What is flashing the coro?

BTW very nice SPADS man

Woodsy

"Flashing" coro is to make it glue better, what you do is use a small blow torch and pass the flame along the coro fast enough not to melt it but slow enough to "flash" it, it's sort of a black art.

OR forget that and sand the glue lines and rub with mineral spirit, or rub the glue lines with mineral spirit and a scotch pad.

or for PU glues you then have to "wood pecker" the glue lines

diferant people succede with diferant methods, it also depends a bit which glue works for you.

some like CA, some like goop/welder, some like PU glue

ICE_MAN

Woodsy,
Do any of those adhesives have better "sticking" quality's? I know that they all stick to the coro but some adhesives hold better to certain surfaces. is that all that the torch is used for?

Madd_Maxx

I didn't use a torch to flash the coro to glue it together for my dominator. Flashing (or heating) is what you do to the coro to bring the impurities to the surface so you can get a good glue joint if you are using CA or epoxy.....sanding and a wipe down with acetone can also be done if you want to use epoxy to glue it together.

Someone else on r/c universe suggested to use poly glue on the coro only after you ran a woodpecker across it (pokes a bunch of holes in the glue surface). I just wiped the coro down with acetone (to clean it real well) then went over it with the woodpecker and used elmers pro bond polyurethane glue for the wing joint. When you use the poly glue you will need to mist it with water to activate the glue (the stuff foams up like the exploding spray insulating foam in a can...only alot slower reaction) then clamp your wing together and let it dry overnight. Once it's dried this glue will hold plenty strong for a wing joint...the glue expands into all the small holes you poked in the coro with the woodpecker and makes a bunch of small rivets holding the joint together.

I finished up the new dominator this afternoon and hopefully the weather will cooperate tomorrow so I can take the 2 new spads out for their maiden flights at least.

Here's a couple pics fo the new spad.....sorry for the crappy pics but my camera doesn't work to good once it starts to get dark.





Now all I need to do is either paint it or get some decals out to really finish her up.....the addiction continues !!

Hope that helps,
Madd_Maxx

thudriver

All I do is sand lightly ,wipe with rubbing alcohol and glue with medium CA. If you really want a strong joint use Goop and let set overnight! thudriver

ICE_MAN

Thats a nice Dom. Thanks for the tips! Where can i get this woodpecker?

Woodsy

Yep, thats all the torch is for.

Glue is very much a location/personal thing.
I like CA but at certain times of year (low humidity) it dosent seem to stick well.
i also like the PU type glues because there cheap but it means clamping the glue line over night.
I've also used hot melt but it's heavy and you cant leave the plane in the summer sun.
I can't get the contact type glues to work at all but one of the other Aussies uses it all the time.

if you can get the Handibond brand plastic CA aparently it works excelent

ICE_MAN

woodsy thanks I'll keep that in mind!

ICE_MAN

any one have any more useful tips? All tips are appreciated

RCWINGS

My Feedback: (1)

You might check out post "My 2 Cents". This method is not as fast as "flashing/ca'ing. But for me, its faster then the "goop".