Elastic Launched Glider B

[NewSciolyer]

Does 15 minute epoxy work for foam attachment? I'm just wonder how much of the plane I can build with the glue that I have on hand. Plane is FF with CF fuselage and balsa and foam parts. I have medium viscosity insta-cure BSI CA glue, 15 minute epoxy, BSI EPP flexible foam glue, and Duco Cement. I don't have any acetone on hand right now. Thanks.

[bjt4888]

New,

If you are building the Freedom Flight kit, I think that the foam is Graupner Vector Board, which can be glued with CA. Glueing recommendations should be in the very thorough instructions. Yes, epoxy can be used to glue most foam to wood joints, however, I do not have experience with Vector Board foam.

If using epoxy, make sure the joint is gap free and use very tiny amounts of glue. I apply epoxy to foam flap joints using glue scraped onto the foam edge from the edge of a toothpick; no actual drops of glue. Epoxy is very heavy unless applied this way.

Brian T

[NewFlyer20002]

NewSciolyer:

You can use CA for the FF balsa to foam attachment. You can also use the Woodglue Titebond (Home Depot has it.).

Good luck,
NewFlyer

[builderguy135]

NewSciolyer:

You can use CA for the FF balsa to foam attachment. You can also use the Woodglue Titebond (Home Depot has it.).

Good luck,
NewFlyer

CA basically dissolves foam, please don't use it.

[NewFlyer20002]

Correction: You can use CA to glue the VectorBoard foam to Balsa in the FF kit, and this comment is specific for VectorBoard foam. builderguy135 is correct about not using CA for other types of foam. Thanks for catching the error.

NewFlyer20002

[Nathanfrommars]

I have a question about adjusting incidence. The thinnest piece of shim I could get is from the 1/32” balsa wood sheet. What about 1/64” to 1/100” for slighter adjustments? What material can I use for that precise shim?

Thanks,

Nathan

[builderguy135]

I have a question about adjusting incidence. The thinnest piece of shim I could get is from the 1/32” balsa wood sheet. What about 1/64” to 1/100” for slighter adjustments? What material can I use for that precise shim?

Thanks,

Nathan

You can try flattening the 1/32 sheet to make a smaller shim.

[bjt4888]

I like Builderguy’s idea. Another idea; most good quality playing cards or business cards are about 1/100” thick. You can cut shims from these. Also, most good hobby stores carry 1/64” thick plywood in small sheets. You can cut plywood this thin with good quality scissors.

Brian T

[builderguy135]

Remember to keep it at exactly 3 grams though. Don't overdo it with the heavy wood.

[bjt4888]

Agree with builderguy 100%. Weight budgeting is very important this year to achieve minimum weight of 3.0 grams.

I’ll be more clear regarding use of 1/64” plywood for a shim. The shim I am referring to would be about 3/32” wide and 1/4” to 3/8” long and would be used t make slight changes in wing incidence angle by placing between fuselage and removable wing pylon. I weighed one of these 1/4” shims and they are 0.006 grams. So, not a big shim. Remembering that a small drop of medium CA applied with a toothpick or pin weighs between .003 and .005 grams. So, we weight budget the glue too.

I like harder materials for shims like thin ply and card stock as they don’t compress when affixing the pylon to the fuselage.

Fun project this year, require a higher level of materials engineering thinking.

Builderguy, keep up the good work on this forum.

Regards,

Brian T