Tools for building kits

[Aky208]

Hi all

having been flying rc for a while now and bodging my planes back together, I thought it might be a good time to get into kit building. (having only flown artf). I have an idea of what sort of kit I would like, but really no idea of what tools I would need to accomplish the build. So my question is, what list of tools would you recommend to the beginner kit builder??

Many thanks in advanced

aky208

Edited By Aky208 on 06/08/2012 15:44:00

[Olly P]

Scalpel, and lots of spare blades.

Glues

clamps and spring clamps

screwdrivers

these are the main things I use, oh, and sandpaper....

[Rob Lewis]

I guess it all depends on the type of kit you are intending to build, as to how much cutting and shaping you have to do.

My workshop which i think is quite basic includes:

Modelling knife, spare blades, balsa saw and junior hacksaw.

Rule, set square, level, pencil etc

Glues, again depending on the applicaton, i have 5, 15 & 30 min epoxy, thin, thick and foam safe superglue, contact adhesive, aliphatic glue, and canopy glue.

A selection of clamps and clips and a small hobby vice.

Drill and bits ranging from 1 - 15mm.

Lightweight filler.

Selection of mini files in different shapes.

I have a dremel which is very handy, but not a necessity.

Various grades of sand paper. I generally use 240 - 1200 grade.

As well as things like screwdrivers, pliars, allen keys etc

Then if you are going to be covering in film, a covering iron is very handy. i know many people just use a normal household iron, but i find it much easier with a proper one.

Sounds like a lot but some of the stuff you may already have from doing ARTFs. I started off with pretty much just some glue and a modelling knife and then buy the things as i need them.

Rob

[Aky208]

Thanks for the info. most of my artf's have been foamies which hot glue and cocktail sticks do wonders with and here was me going to try and tackle a build with just wood glue. The kit im gonna try is the SLEC Funfly. i have a SC.46 engine to put in (not sure if this is overkill) but looks a really nice plane to progress myself in the IC world. i already have a Precedent T-180 but there is only so much flying in circles you can stand. the rest of my collection are elecs.

Cheers again for the info

[Andy Green]

Essential for building kits is a razor plane.

Andy

[Reno Racer]

Permagrit tools look expensive, but these (IMHO) are invaluable, especially the longer sanding blocks and LE profile shaping tools. They also last forever. The other tools I use most of the time:

Xacto knife (with spare blade)

razor saw

right angles

sanding blades (looks like a large nail sanding file)

mini files (sqare, flat, round and triangle)

a decent rechargeable drill/screwdriver

long metal ruler

building board pins

building board (I use cork flooring sections)

laser spirit level

wood glue, epoxy glue and lots of CA (superglue)

This is my building board, under my latest build a 1/4 sized WW1 fighter

[Cyclicscooby]

The list is endless, it's taken me 25yrs to get my collection together.. !!

Apart from the obvious screwdrivers, allen keys, etc, a good scalpel is a must, plus many spare blades, razor blades are also useful.. One of those hand-held sawblades, jewellers saw (available from hobbycraft n similar)

All types of glue.. Wood, CA, epoxy, normal and foam safe..

The Dremmel is like my right arm in the model room.. Not used all the time, but there when I need it, and it does save time.. Could be converted into a pillar drill too, if you haven't already got a proper big one in the garage.

Hinge-line marker, pinvice (handheld drill), rulers, clamps, pins, vice's.. I've got a tiny vice, a medium size one that clamps to my bench, and is most used, and a proper big bench vice in the garage..

A small hammer (bending legs, etc) a square, inclinometer ( or protractor)

Lots and lots of bench draws and boxes, for the multitude of bit's n peices..

Paul and I recently got each other a Bench belt n disc sander, and a powered fret saw.. Both have come in very useful in just 8 months.. Ace for rib packs, etc.. Cost about £70 each from Machine Mart..

I'm sure I could go on, but that shud get you going..

Luv

Chrisie.. xx

[NigelH]

Posted by Christian Ackroyd on 06/08/2012 17:58:31:

Very good looking model there. Cover it in clear film

What is it ?

[Mark Powell 2]

Is this a quiz?

It's a Neuport 11. (I think)...with the usual small mistake that 90 percent of Neuport 11 plans and kits have. Or has it? Difficult to tell from the photo.

Edited By Mark Powell 2 on 06/08/2012 19:19:03

[Anthony Billings]

I think nearly all the essential tools have been covered above with the exception of a hinge slotting tool, I have the DUBRO set and found it very easy to use, I think it is a must if you are going to use the Mylar type hinges.

Tony

[Concorde Speedbird]

Posted by Aky208 on 06/08/2012 16:13:43:

Thanks for the info. most of my artf's have been foamies which hot glue and cocktail sticks do wonders with and here was me going to try and tackle a build with just wood glue. The kit im gonna try is the SLEC Funfly. i have a SC.46 engine to put in (not sure if this is overkill) but looks a really nice plane to progress myself in the IC world. i already have a Precedent T-180 but there is only so much flying in circles you can stand. the rest of my collection are elecs.

Cheers again for the info

Good choice, here's mine.

The SC 46 will fly it very fast! Lots of people put 46's in these though, and you have a throttle stick so you'll be fine with that engine. It flies beautifully and will be the perfect plane to enter the world of IC and building, this was my first build as well.

If you can, do a build log, these are quite popular and it would benefit others. Any questions, please ask, I can help you because I have built the plane and others can with their experience. A razor plane is crucial for that cowl by the way.

CS

[Aky208]

I'm now armed with my list and have had the unavoidable ""this is essential gear for my happiness" speech with swmbo. I've had to promise the nursery will be finished by this Saturday. So I will be ordering the bits to start the model build this weekend hopefully.

Christian - that's and awesome looking plane, can only dream of building that ATM.

Concorde - a friend of mine suggested the Funfly as a good kit to build plus it looks the business. Yours looks really nice. What size engine do you have installed? Is there anything I should look out for during the build?

Cant wait to get started. Many thanks for all the insight guys and gals.

[Concorde Speedbird]

Posted by Aky208 on 06/08/2012 22:19:26:

Concorde - a friend of mine suggested the Funfly as a good kit to build plus it looks the business. Yours looks really nice. What size engine do you have installed? Is there anything I should look out for during the build?

Cheers, Your friend knows well... the perfect choice!

I have an MDS 38 at the moment, which flies it very well. Getting the tank high enough is tricky, you may want to mount the engine on it's right side in yours, so the fuel tank is level with the carburretor. It means that the exhaust would hit the ground in a nose over on landing, but with 3" wheels it doesn't nose over anyway!!!

Lots of the build is with slots in the liteply, and these can be a bit tight so be careful when pushing pieces in, we broke a fuselage side because of that! Opening the slots a little helps a lot, otherwise it was a great build. Good luck, any questions along the way feel free to ask!

CS

[Tim Cheal]

This is an area where I feel qualified to contribute.

I have been flying for 3 years now and like you decided it was time to build my own model.

Like everyone I wanted a Spitfire, but I don’t have the experience or knowledge. The BBMF use a Chipmunk as a trainer for the Spit, so if it’s good enough for them, it’s good enough for me. Its also the first aircraft I ever flew in as an Air Cadet, so natural choice for my first model. Therefore, I got all the bits together to build a Chipmunk from the Dennis Bryant plans and put them in a parcel for my wife to give me last Christmas.

Since then I have been spending a little time each week building to the plans and learnt as I have gone on. I have really enjoyed the experience, learnt a great deal and know what to do better next time.

Here’s what I learnt about tools.

I have grown my tool inventory as I have moved into the build, starting with what was in my garage.

I needed a building board, so B and Q medium MDF did it for me. You need to have a firm hand to get the pins in, but I found most of the time you could lightly hammer the pins into the board, and as more often than not you are using pins through balsa into balsa, this board works well for me. Obviously I needed some pins, and so purchased some steel T pins. These were very useful and almost a necessity. However, as useful were bog standard round map pins form the pound shop – often in stationary sets.

I have a newish Stanley knife and decided that some new blades would be necessary. B and Q do some Fat Max Stanley knife blades that seem to last quite well when only used for Balsa.

The problem I had was not knowing what was available, and as I had purchased a 2009 Ripmax Catalogue from ebay about a year previous I found this very very useful. You can browse through and look for ideas, and find what tools and bits are available – in fact I am browsing it now to recall what these various things are called.

This worked to get me going, but I soon found cutting balsa with even the sharpest blade can be a chore, and you will surely use some harder wood somewhere. Hence, the next addition was a small saw. I purchased a kit with a handle, two saw blades and a mitre box. You can manage without the mitre box, but I did find it very useful for cutting square ends.

I had a set of needle files already in the garage which were essential, as was a stock of sandpaper in various grades and some commonal household drills – you use these a lot so some kind of drill store with easy access is essential. Also a straight edge, I use a 12inch ruler I have had for years but a decorators edge works well – once the nursery is finished grab what you have used for the wallpaper!!

Talking of keeping bits and bobs I found myself using about 3 empty biscuit tins (or such things) and numerous Chinese takeaway holders as individual storage areas to stop bits getting mixed up (and to know where I had put things down).

As well as the obvious stock of balsa and other wood for the build itself I found myself buying various different sizes of screws and some piano wire in a couple of diameters for undercarriage legs and control pushrods. Also, I found having additional balsa and ply sheet came in useful. Small screws lend themselves to watchmakers screwdrivers and I lucked in by buying some on offer in Tesco which have been superb (cheap stuff but surprisingly useful).

I had purchased a second hand Dremel type hand tool from a friend at a swapmeet. This is the one thing I would not have been without. I have used it for sanding mostly, but for cowl cutting it is simply superb. I have found the most useful tool to be the sandpaper discs that go on the rubber holders, I think they are called drum sanders (and once I worked out that you tighten them up with the screw at the end they stopped flying all over the garage!).

I already had a sealing iron and a heat gun (the iron I bought specially for modelling but the heat gun is a paint stripping one).

Continued next post.

[Tim Cheal]

You will obviously need to decide what glue(s) you are going to use. I have used aliphatic resin for the most part, and have been most surprised by how much I have used. That might be me being a savage but I used at least 3 times as much as I thought I would! Another item I found very useful was a way of storing the glue tubes upside down (otherwise you spend all your time shaking the bottle to get the glue to the top and the neighbours get very suspicious of what you are doing in the garage at 11pm! I used an old ice cream container in which I cut a hole in the top, but you can be quite esoteric with this! I used a small amount of cyano where I needed a quick join (most often when I broke something off (a wing rib mostly) accidentally to be honest.

I bought a large 5 minute epoxy set (two bottles of 128 g) and only once needed a longer setting time. I have recently purchased some 30 minute epoxy, but I think you will get away without it.

You may also wish to consider what to do with your fuselage while you sand it and prepare it for covering or painting. I build a stand to put it in, but I am sure others will have some ideas. I had a couple of sanding blocks in the garage that I used for sanding, and whilst I have read great things about perm grit and I have hankered for one I have avoided this expenditure.

When it came to the control runs etc I used a couple of pairs of pliers to put z bends into the wire, but it was not a very tight result. I read one of Alex Whitaker’s articles form the archives where he recommends them, so I have just bought a set from Cosford last weekend and they do seem to make much tighter z’s!

As I looked through the archives I realised that getting things square is important. I didn’t want to buy a building jig, and I managed the build with an old standard carpenters set square, but there are some tidy small squares available I note.

So, in summary I am sure you will be able to find most of the stuff amongst your other modelling or garage bits, but in my experience you will need:

A building board.

Pins (T pins form the model shop and some round map pins)

A sharp knife and some blades for it.

A razor saw (optional mitre but recommended)

A Dremel type tool with drum sanders is highly recommended.

Small files

Small screwdrivers

Make yourself a Glue bottle stand (form old ice cream container!)

Loads of glue

You can spend a fortune, but you will also find things you can’t do without, the Dremel and the razor saw were the essentials for me.

Finally you need a little patience and some common sense. Everything can be undone, reglued or redone, but sometimes it just doesn’t seem right. Go away and go flying, or sleep on it and think it through. Pete Lowe talks a lot about drinking tea, and I see exactly what he means as it gives you chance to step back and take a look, or just think a problem through. I found looking at the archives really useful for hints and tips. It all takes a lot longer than you think, and the pressure gets on when you are down to your last piece of wood or piano wire when you are as far away from your LMS as me, so do have some spare bits. I wouldn’t make any promises about when it will be finished, or a date for a maiden because you don’t want to be up against any deadlines.

This is my Chipmunk post maiden on 30 July (I flew it before I finsihed the painiting or added any of the detail, it is in bits again while I finish the paint and add decals this week).

I wish you the best with the build.

Tim.

[Tim Cheal]

Forgot to mention clips of various sorts, but often the most useful are pegs!!

Tim

[Codename-John]

Im building a funfly at the moment, bought from cosford the other weekend, you need suprisingly little in the way of tools as it mostly slots together jigsaw style, up to now (a few hours in), fuz is half done and one wing is 70% done, what ive used so far -

Glues - Thin and medium cyano, aliphatic and 30 min epoxy

pins, quick clamps and tins of dog food for weight

a mini plane, razor saw, scalpel and sand paper

some 90 degree`s - either triangles or set square etc

a decent flat work surface to build on

a hoover for all the dust made and covering iron and hinge slotter for when its built

[Andrew767]

Plasterboard makes a good building surface, if you're on a budget and use T pins not the glass headed type....much safer.

Andrew

[Reno Racer]

Mark Powell 2,

You're right, its a 1/4 scale Neiuport 11c.

Its a Balsa USA kit, so the cowl is too long to be scale and the undercarriage (I think) is a bit further forward. Obviously a few more scale concessions have been made by Ron Busch when designing it. I think only the Arizona Modellers Museum scale kits are 100% scale, but they cost alot!

On my 1/6 scale N17, I used a more scale like aluminium cowl, but on this i've just replaced the ghastly ABS kit provided one with a fibreglass one from FiberGlass Specialties in the USA,

[Aky208]

Cheers Tim, you have inspired me with the chipmunk (notes down for second build). Im just about to get the ordering done. it makes you feel like a kid at christmas after you buy the kit and waiting for the knock from the postie!!

[Erfolg]

Being a North West lad, it is the three "T's" for me.

You all no them well, thy jump, thurdles, and thundred metres.

[Aky208]

The funfly has come through!!

It's just arrived at my place of work. It's easier to get my parcels delivered here but the only downside is that i have to wait til i go home to play with it .

If anybody is interested in how a beginner can mess up a model i can start a build log??

[Olly P]

Please do Aky, it also allows some of the more experianced members to offer advice.

[Concorde Speedbird]

Please do, there is not another Funfly build on this forum, I'd be interested to see how you get on. I don't think you'll muck it up! The first thing you must do is label all the parts, using the guide in the back of the pictures manual, it is sooo helpful when building. Have fun when you get home!

CS