I normally use 30 or 60 minute epoxy on robart hinge points... but after using gorilla glue on my foamies, I decided to give it a try on the Wildhare wings....

I didn't get alot of foaming, but the hinges seem more than strong enough....

Should I be concerned about the lack of foam????? There was a small amount of foam after the first 10 minutes, and just a little foam 10 minutes later... after that..... nothing....

I followed Tom's directions... used water to moisten the drilled holes... coated the holes with gorilla, and put a small amount on the hinges themselves....

FWIW, I going to using the gorilla glue from this point foward when using robart hinge points.... fast, easy, and clean... IMO..

If you got any foam out of the holes the holes are full, they will be fine.

For the record, I never said to wet anything, I have never done that. Humidity in the air is always enough for me.

TF

I've never wetted anything either and they seem to work well. Once I had a wing that I got that was damaged (1/4 scale gene soucy) and got afactory replacement....so being the nut I am I used gorilla glue to put in the hinges to "test" them to destruction.

I didn't wet anything and got a little foam. With me holding onto the wing and someone sittng on the couch that weighed 200lbs I could pull them upright off the couch. Never really got them to "destruct" or pull out. Did it about 10 times till I cracked the sheeting where I was holding it....Think the wing will fall apart before the hinge pulls out.

Of course I live where it's 50% humidity everyday - maybe if you lived where it peaks at 3% or something...heh.

Well I will throw in my two cents worth here. I live in one of those "dry" areas. When I use Gorilla Glue I just run a damp cuetip in all the holes just to be safe. Be glad your GG didn't foam a lot. Now here is the rest of the story.

When I went to giant scale about two years ago I read all the stuff and decided to go with GG on my hinge points. I have put together, maybe 6 giant scale planes. Every single one of them was a massive pain. If you are not extremely careful to clean things up you will find that you will be picking GG out the hinges and hinge lines for hours trying to get full throw back. The problem is that you have to stay, watch and keep cleaning the GG for about an hour until it completely stops foaming. It is very easy to not clean everything properly and end up with restricted throws. On my last plane (Tom's Giles G202) a friend of mine who is into big planes, big time, talked me into going back to 30 minute epoxy. What a difference way easier to clean up, way easier to get high throws and minimum gap with minimum mess. You don't have to stay there and monitor your work for an extended period. As with many things, you do have to insure you install the hingepoints correctly and get plenty of epoxy in there. But I am off GG for good. And yes, I've read all the stuff about gripping surfaces and foam wings, etc, etc. But for me, it's epoxy.

Splais,

I used 30 minute epoxy on the elevators, and rudder... but I was afraid the working time would not be long enough to epoxy the 6 robart hinges for the wing panel and the aileron... I used alot of Vasoline on the joints, and I also used a dremel cone to counter sink the holes.... I guess, I was lucky with the lack of foam.... LOL!! I tested (me pulling on the aileron, and a co-worker holding the wing) the ailerons this morning.... I'm satisified with the results....

thanks for the tips everyone.

30 minute epoxy gives you plenty of time to install an entire plane full of hingepoints. What I do is install the hingepoints, being sure to get plenty of epoxy in the holes (so some squeshes out when you insert the hingepoint), plenty on the hungepoint. Install them slowly, wipe off the excess with alcohol and tape everything in place to set up. Once or twice after about 15-20 minutes come back and move the surface to insure you are not fluing something in place. My prep is to put a drop of 3-in-1 oil on the hinge. After installing and getting it all spaced just right, just run a rag with alcohol on it up and down both side of the surface gap and around the hingepoint. this will clean it all up just fine, and you will not have to do it over and over again until it stops ooozing

hey I would recoment you dig them all out and start all over again!!!!





nooo I'm just kidding!!!! you should be fine,, I did all mine with Gorilla Glue it was my first time using it and I'm very happy with the results so far, I did wet the holes, I watched the video here on RCU that tells you how to do it!!!

Good luck !!

I demolished my Extra 300S this weekend so I had "parts" available for testing. I had used the Gorilla Glue for all the hinges and just poked a wet Q-tip in the holes prior to applying the glue. I tryed to pull the rudder from the vert. stab and it was not happening. Finally, by over rotating the rudder against the bevel the rudder came off but only because the hinge pivots broke. I was able to see the back side of the hinges inside the stab and they all had a good sized expaned foam wad inside the plane. I used vasoline lip balm (dispenses a nice narrow bead) to cover the pivot point of the hinges before gluing and found clean-up to be effortless with no reduction in throw after the glue cured.