........WhaT type of fiberglassing resin did you guys use?................
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I use Minwax water based polyurethane. It's one heck of a lot less trouble than resins or epoxies, not to mention less smell. Get it at Lowes/Home Depot, etc. I've used it on my Herk, the OV-10, and am in the process of glassing the B-24 with it.
Randy

Wow, never thought about using that. How many coats do you give it and how easy is it to sand??

How many coats do you give it and how easy is it to sand??

======I usually end up with probably 3 coats. I had read about using this before, but was afraid to try it until I talked to a guy in our club who is an outstanding builder. He told me about it and sold me on the stuff. I'm using 3/4oz cloth. Basically you just lay on the cloth and brush on the poly to adhere the cloth to the structure. In the case of a rudder, you would do one side, let it dry and sand off the glass overhang around the edges, then do the other side. After a piece is done, it can be lightly sanded to get off any bumps, then add additional coats of poly to suit. I may hold back a little on the rear of the fuse, such as the underside of the stab, just for weight considerations. The poly sands really good.
Anyway, I then put on a thin coat of primer to show what needs filling, then add panel line tape if you're going to, then more primer. I remove the panel line tape before the color coat goes on.
I primed with Advance Auto "Plasti Cote" automotive primer. Actually, you can probably lay off the coats of poly and go for more primer coats if you wanted.
So far this evening, I've glassed the bottom of the B-24 wing, nacelles, rudders, elevators, flaps, horizontal stab, and am waiting for them to dry. I'll go back in about half hour and do the other sides.
(if I have enough glass)
Randy

I'd have to say this is my least favorite part and I want to get it over with soon as possible. I think I will pick up a can of poly and try it on the ailerons and see how it does. Tomorrow I will glue the stab on and hit it with the primer. What a pain trying to get the stab to fit was. I read all the posts about it and studied the pics off and on for about 2hrs. I think it fits pretty well now. After that I will start cleaning the mold lines up and prime the fuse.

Have to agree with you, the stab was a b**ch! Fortunately for me, Jimcork was providing information that helped me quite a bit, and I watched that really carefully when I did mine, Still took me about two evenings of cutting and fitting until I was satisfied.
Doing small parts first is a good idea to get a feel for using the poly. I think I'm just barely going to have enough glass to finish. I got 3 sq. yds. thinking that would be plenty, but I'm now down to using scraps to cover hatches, etc. But, I could not even imagine trying to monokote this bird. In my about 20 years of doing this, that's one thing I've never gotten particularly good at. But I can sure appreciate some of the jobs these guys do with monokote or iron ons in general.
Oh yes, while you're getting the poly, get some of the cheap disposable brushes to apply the stuff with.
Randy

I used the poly resin also, but i have seen where the edges tend to come up easy. I then went back over it with z-poxy finishing resin..... hard as a rock! I then sanded it doen to the closest I could get it to flat... then I will prime it later to paint.

Hi Billy:
I love C-130's also. I thought I would share this with you

Dave

Here's what happens when you don't properly "NOTAM" an airfield under construction.
A lack of communication over in Iraq.

Last week one C-23 Sherpa flew into a US operated airfield in Iraq during the day and saw there was construction equipment on the runway.

Yet there was no NOTAM (notice to airmen). A trench was being dug in the runway, and it was not marked. Its a long runway and they just landed beyond the construction. They filed a safety hazard report that was immediately forwarded to headquarters and the
Air Force wing based here.

Well, it seems the construction continued and still was not marked or NOTAMed. As a result, an unwarned MC-130H landed on the runway the night of the 29th. It wound up going through what is now a large pit on the runway. A few pictures are attached. The MC-130H was totaled. There were several injuries to the crew and the few passengers that were on board but luckily nobody was killed. Quite the set of failures somewhere in the system regarding this improper construction and no notifications about it.

Oh man, what a bad day on that c-130. Ouch!

O.K. I've decided not to cut out my elevators yet. I'll hold off on them untill I have the wing built and have the fues. ready for joining. The reason being is so I may have a "better base" for aligning the fues. halves (making the stab. parallel to the wing and most importantly, the stab. incidence in relation to the wing incidence (hence the better base for hanging the incidence meter on the stab.) Once that is done and set, I then will remove the stab and cut out the elevators.

Gunny

Well I looked for a water based polyurethane today and was only able to find some minwax stuff called polycrylic. Was this what you were refering to? I asked the guy who worked there for minwax water based polyurethane and he said this is the only stuff that he knows is water based. So far it seems this stuff has little to no smell and would be nice if this is it!

I'd say you got the right stuff. I just finished putting on the second coat and am waiting for it to dry to do the other side of all the stuff.
Randy

Randy have you tried putting baby powder in with the polycoate on the second coat? I have done that a lot , it helps fill the weave in the cloth, sands easy and smells good too. The B 24 is looking good. Rich

Randy have you tried putting baby powder in with the polycoate on the second coat?............
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I have not tried that, but thanks for the tip.
Randy

Did any of you guys notice that the rudder foam core was a bit wide? (meaning LE to TE). If you laid it on the plan sheet, It was wider by about 1/2". I trimed mine to match what was on the plan.

Gunny

Well, I did not notice the width of the rudder, probably because I did not look. But, I do have a problem with the top of the rudder where the wood block is on top. The heith or something just does not match. I cannot the smooth transition from the stab to the rear of the rudder. I kind of got it, but I do not want to grind much more off... might get into the foam..

On the baby powder... same thing goes with wet sanding. I saw a video of a guy who put some light filler on his sanding block. He sprayed the model down to do wet sanding... then went to sanding with the filler compound... it filled the cloth when it dried, and looked pretty smooth.

Wow,, the Herk In Iraq,, when I first saw the pics I thought it was the one from Pope in the early 70's

I' m glad you guys are progressing. You are right on the stab installation and incident. I made many adjustments to get the stab right. My first flight was what I would have called an emergency flight from take off to landing. The incident and stab was so far off I needed almost full up elevator to maintain level flight. If I had not had the flaps I would have crashed on take off.

The flaps gave just enough lift to rise of the ground. After take off I pulled them up and there was not enough UP to maintain level flight, so I quickly lowered them again. Then the bad fuel my #1 engine quit and I made a 3 engine landing with full flaps. The bird made a real hard landing and was flyable again. After the landing I mechanically gave more up until I had 1/4 " up elev just to fly level but still needed to hold 1/2 up stick. After the 3 rd flight of the day I took the bird home and began to reset the stab / incident. It took over 20 flights to get the right angles. Finally with stab 0 and wing +2 it is flying well.

I am interested in the paint poly coverings. I used epoxy resin vs polyester resin. So please keep us updated on the finish.

Thanks Jim

So far I think the polycrylic is working fine. Its alot easier to sand right through the cloth compared to poly resin so you have to be extra careful.

I never noticed anything wrong with the rudder but I didnt match it up to the plan either because nothing on the plans seem to be the right size anyway. I knew it would be hard to get the slope on the top to match so I just cut an extra 1/2 inch off and had a bigger block to work with.

My tail is done and ready for priming and the ailerons are drying but I can go no further until I get the wing tubes so I can match wing sections up and finish sanding. Now I have to make a decision on which paint I will go with. Is there anything that DOESNT work with the polycrylic?

Just today I fit the two fuse sections together and found out this thing is bigger then I thought, wow. I dont know how I am going to fit this in my 182 unless I take the back seat out and fully recline the front right seat. I also found out that it wants to sit on its tail and I pretty much have everything up front already and I dont even have the horizontal stab on yet. I tried putting the wing center section on and it didnt make a difference. Hopefully the wing with engines a little farther forward will set the nose down. I know my measurements are right as far as the main wheel placement goes.

You are right it will be tail heavy. My herk will sit level on the mains w/the nose wheel retracted.

You might have to add nose weight. I needed 24 oz of lead in the nose and I also put a battery back in the nose.

The radome is the location with a bulkhead and bolt for removal.

I made a LARGE CG machine to check cg, Sorry I don't remember where I put the cg, but as I remember 25% of the main cord.

Mine might have been more tail heavy due to the 3 servos and receiver in the tail.

I put the rec. battery for the tail in the landing gear box.

The rec. battery for the wing is in the radome.

Use caution and check cg closely. Jim

A4 On the polycrilic I use automotive Laquer primer and it works fine. I haven't found anything that will bother the polycrilic. I have been useing it for about 4 years. It is real userfrendly. Tha only problem is on thin balsa sheting 1/16 th. it will buckel the balsa beings it is water base.
On a sheated foam wing you don't have to worry about it.
If I am building a build up fus and wing and it gets thin, I will use Laquer sanding sealer to put the cloth down. Then put a coat of the polycoat on. It won't buckle the wood then. Rich

How did you guys hinge the elevators, given the design on the plans? Did you lay them down, then glass over them or just did it into the balsa at the top and strengthened it? How???

Well guys, I just bit the bullet and drove to Cookeville. Bob Sealy gave me a tour of his shop.
He took me out to his airplane trailer to show me his prototype C-130 in a dadgum snow flurry, so it was hard to discuss much or look at it very close.
After all the chitchat, we loaded up a kit in my "SMALL" Trans-Am and headed for home.
Man, I have to tell you, I'm used to putting together ARFs and kits where everything is pre-cut, so this project is going to be FUN!
Anybody want to build it for me for a reasonable price, LOL.

I ordered 4 GMS 32s two weeks ago and they were back ordered till the end of the month and was upset about the wait, but seeing the kit now it looks like I won't need the engines for a while.

The reason I went with the 32s was they were a few oz more than a 25 with almost the same HP as a 40.


Well anyway, wish me luck, Tommy D

Welcome to the group! This thread is a virual instruction booklet for that kit! Look back at the pictures for references. I am trying to finish mine before spring.. after about a year of just sitting there. I primer coated the fuse two weeks ago, and now I am trying to fill all the pinholes. I am finishing up the horz. stab in the next few days. The only real thing holding me up is hinging the elevators to the stab... kind of lost on that one. I also balsa sheeted the wing (the second one) two weeks ago, so I am going to try to lay the glass on tommorow if is warms up a little.
Again... welcome to the club.
Bill

As I said before, this is going to be a difficult build for me, but I do know how to hinge.
On the front of the elevators and the back of the stab glue a 1/4 to 3/8 piece of balsa the same thickness and length, then bevel it and then cut your hinge slots, but don't glue them in until after you paint them and your ready. Thats it!

Tommy D.

Oh, I forgot to mention a few things, sorry. You will have to cut whatever thickness you decide on for your hinge block from the elevator and stab for it to come out right. Thats how we do it on the big 3-D planes. The other thing is what glue to use.
Probond, gorilla glue or any polyurethane glue works well, just be careful because they foam, so use them sparingly. Epoxy always works well when gluing onto foam cores also.

I noticed two things about Bob's prototype C-130. The nacelles were larger than scale and the wing sat up high instead of being flush with the top of the fuse, so I asked him about it.
He said the nacelles were larger for the simple reason of getting the fuel tank and engine in each one. He really didn't have an answer about the wing, but he said if I wanted I could just cut the wing saddle out to make the wing flush. I wonder if anyone else has done this?


Thanks, Tommy D.

Welcome, Tommy D. You'll enjoy building the Herk. First thing, get a couple copies made of the plans. I cut up a couple cutting out bulkhead patterns, etc.
As far as hinging, if I am tapering the elevator in the center, I draw a centerline on the elevator, cut the hinge slots, and then taper it to the centerline. I find it easier to put the slots in before tapering.
Here's a pic of my stab when it was laid out to cut out the elevtors. The wide mark in front is what is cut out and replaced with the stab trailing edge and elevator leading edge. I'm pretty sure I used what the plan called for.
Pin holes in the fuse! Mine took quite a bit of putty to fill. I was told later by the auto body instructor at school that they make a polyester filler for fiberglass that doesn't shrink like putty and is lighter and easier to sand, but I haven't tried it.
Randy

Thanks for the info Extra300. Yeah I know how the plans and all show the hinge, but I was curious if anyone else here had a different method. Things get real creative on this thread. I have though about using the Robart pin type hinges, but it would be an eye sore. Hey Ryan, mine looks a lot like yours in the above pic... thatthing sure did look good in all primer! I screwed up on my horz stab tonight... drank a margarita before I screwed up... go figure. I am trying to re-engineer it now. On a laughing note... I cannot keep myself from compulsively hunting those damn piholes! Seems like when I think I have found them all, some new ones grow. Later guys,
Bill

Oh Randy, what is the lighter non shrink stuff called? If it is glazing putty, well I am using it

I just went back and read your last post. To clarify, did your taper your elevators in the center or taper it like the plans show?