Trailing Edge Material

proctor Sat Feb 04, 2012 8:59 am

Mostly all the plans I build from specify hard balsa for the trailing edge and mostly over the years I have used medium/light balsa to save weight on the micro f/f or rc models
I build.
I now see the error of my ways!
With lighter materials for trailing edge you tend to get a slight bend in trailing edge after
shrinking covering. This inevitably causes a warp that is difficult to get out.
Why did the penny drop after all these years?
I recently saw a plan for a tiny free flight model that specified hard balsa or pine
In future it's hard balsa for me.

(proctor) John

nitroairplane Sat Feb 04, 2012 9:02 am

Yup hard balsa is good!
I love free flight especially ones powered by little diesels Smile

It means I can go and fly with just the plane and my fuel no extra stuff.

dankar04 Sat Feb 04, 2012 9:16 am

Lite wood is good to a point. Some places hard is better way to go. I tend to go middle of road for general building. Contest balsa get damaged to easily and warps.
Dan

proctor Sat Feb 04, 2012 9:27 am

As a matter of interest the plan that specified pine t/e was a Keith Laumer ' Danyl Boom'
I would post plan here if I new how.
Love the wee diesels too, Dart's and Mills usually, but Ive got a Schlosser 0.25cc looking for a home.
John

PV Pilot Sat Feb 04, 2012 9:48 am

I just recently covered a set of TE material with the new Hangar 9 Ultracoat "parklite" shrink material. Was worried about the warp you mentioned as it has happened to me as well. This new stuff is nice. You can get the iron temp set to just glue it to the piece and then stop there, because it will just shrink very slighly at that point,,with no warp.

I found the temp sweet spot to be at 210° for just the glue down with my iron thermometer. Once you lay the iron on the piece it pulls the heat off the iron, so it is acctually gluing down at a lower temp and that works out just fine as well. The iron I use has a pretty fast recovery, so a quick pass down the sides and it is well attached to the piece.

The hardwoods are less prone to warp, but they can and will if you hold the iron in place for a bit to long.

proctor Sat Feb 04, 2012 10:21 am

Thanks for info, not sure if Hangar 9 stuff is available in UK. Normally a tissue and dope man
but covered last model with Litespan which needs very careful handling because their is very
little shrink and very low temp is required for tacking and shrinking. Followed instructions to the letter and got a nice job. Litespan is fuelproof but oil smuts on it are impossible to remove without resort to thinners or alcohol. Answer is to fuel proof, makes clean up a doddle.

andrew Sat Feb 04, 2012 10:32 am

proctor wrote:As a matter of interest the plan that specified pine t/e was a Keith Laumer ' Danyl Boom'
John

Here ya' go ---

dankar04 Sat Feb 04, 2012 10:46 am

Great looking model and should fly well. Mucho work for a small plane but very nice.
Dan Airplane

andrew Sat Feb 04, 2012 11:44 am

Keith Laumer was quite an intriguing individual. He was a science fiction author with over 75 published stories. I know of at least 18 model planes that have been published -- all small.

proctor Sat Feb 04, 2012 1:14 pm

Thanks for posting 'Danyl Boon' plan, his plans are something special,
I found them on Rcgroup's Old Timer Plans thread and well worth
a search if you are not familiar with them. Will look out for his books,
I do like a bit of si/fi.
Will make a start tonight printing out plan and if I figure out how
to do it will post photo of finished model.

John Goddard Sat Feb 04, 2012 1:37 pm

H9 Distributed by Horizon here John.

If you're not familiar with BC take a look,-

http://balsacabin.webs.com/index.html

Smile

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Trailing Edge Material