Very new to model building

[Tel]

Hi all.

As in the title, newbie alert. I need all the info from you knowledgable people.

magazines, good reading books, what coverings what glues what tools where to buy (live in north London)...........I need the lot. Always had a 'thing' about building a Ka6e glider. I know that will NOT be the one to start out, but what would be a good starting model. Got a nice little shed with electrics not doing much at the top of the garden. God forbid, are there any good forums, apart from this one!!!

Think a couple of good books/magazines would be the way to start???

Appreciate your time and advice

Tel

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

Welcome to the forum, Tel.

Best bit of advice I can give would be to join (or at least visit) a club where you intend to fly. Have a look at what's being flown and what would suit you (good gliding sites in Noth London might be few and far between?)

Although you can learn from books and simulators, I believe that traditional instruction would help you progress faster (and with less attrition!)

Are you just interested in gliders or do you have wider interests?

The K6 would be a lovely model if the full size is anything to go by (do you have any particular reason for your choice?) but would need a considerable investment in time and effort so not the ideal model to learn on - but once proficient you shouldn't find it has any vices if built to a decently designed plan.

[Martyn K]

Take a look at the BMFA club finder site and find a club that shares your interests. You tend to find that clubs that specialise in gliders will have a different member profile than powered RC clubs. get in touch with them and arrange a visit and hopefully blag a test flight or three. Most clubs are very accomodating and you wil be made very welcome.

You will also get advice on the type of RC gear in use - may be important if you want to buddy with someone to learn - transmiters will need to match.

Good luck

Martyn

[BOB GADD]

HELLO TEL.

If you want just a gliding club, go to the BMFA web site and go to to the club finder and tyype in Ivinghoe Soaring Association, if you are North London, They are situated on Ivinghoe Beacon near Dunstable Down, not far from Whipsnade Zoo.

Hope that is of some help.

CHEERS BOB

[Tel]

hi Martin/martyn/bob

Sorry if I sent you in the wrong direction. I am a member of a club and fly very very badly!! no, what i am interested in is the building side of it. Would love to learning about the art of building. I am completely clueless about the building side of the sport. Thanks for taking the time.

tel

[Concorde Speedbird]

Have you assembled some ARTF's?

For the aeroplane, my first build was a SLEC Funfly, which was pretty good and the plane flies very well. There are other good first builds out there too, it depends what you want. If a standard sports model is on the agenda, the Funfly or a Wot 4 kit from Chris Foss would be good, but there are hundreds and I am sure others will come up with suggestions.

But before all that, you'll need a building board in your shed if you don't have one, which needs to be flat. At the moment I use a door with self adhesive cork tiles on, because it needs to be able to take pins. SLEC do a Balsa building board too, which doesn't need cork tiles because it will take pins in but I have no experience of this, and others will have their own boards too that I'm sure they'll mention.

As for tools, you will need sand paper and something as a sanding block, a razor plane (we use a Zip one), a scalpel (sharp, watch your finger- I didn't on the first day!), a long ruler can be helpful, pencil, the list could go on. I've only built two planes so I'm sure other more experienced builders will come up with a definitive list to start off with.

And the most important thing- glue. PVA is my favourite, although really strong bits (engine bulkhead) are for two part Epoxy resin, 30 minute stuff is my preference, and Cyano (superglue) is very useful I have found. Once again, there is more but these are my top three.

I hope this helps, there are much more experienced builders on here who will go into more detail for you. Have fun!

CS

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

I've been carving lumps out of balsa (and flesh) since I was 10 or less so didn't ever "learn" as it was an evolution through free flight, control line and radio so can't recommend any particular books. If you know anyone at your club who builds I'm sure they would help out with ideas and advice - they will almost certainly be an enthusuiast in every sense of the word.

What I'd do is buy a simple kit with well known provenence such as a WOT4, SLEC Funfly, Webbit or even one of the Flair Scouts (Magnatilla would be the easiest) which either come with good instructions or have a wide experience base - especially within this forum. If you don't want power, someone else will need to guide you!

Building something like this will give you experience of tools and techniques.

You'll need a good flat building board (check the forum search for ideas), a scalpel and blades, metal straight edge, razor saw, as many clamps from the pound shop as you can carry, T pins, clingfilm for covering plans, a selection of glues - thin cyano, contact adhesive, PVA (or aliphatic preferably) and some 5 and 30 minute epoxy would be a good range depending on the build - but be advised on this by he instructions for the kit you choose. A mini drill (Dremel are most people's choice but the cheap shops do alternatives) and a selection of mini drill bits, sanding drums, burrs etc. are invaluable.

A decent vice for metal bending, soldering tools, set squares, pillar drill, lathe, milling machine,...the list can be as long as you like and if you get the bug you may well find yourself lusting after or actually buying some of the later additions!

You'll also need larger drills and hand tools occasionally but these are the sort of things most people have access to.

Look through as many build blogs and threads on the forum as you can - different techniques and ideas will be illustrated very well in these.

[Martyn K]

Further to Martin's advice, I would pethaps go for something even simpler - try an ARTF Irvine Tutor II - it's more of an assembly than a kit, it will take you a couple of weeks with minimal tools but you will be involved in the build and the supplied instructions are excellent and in perfect english. You will see how it goes together and it will make a lot of sense. A good follow on from that would be the WOT4 ARTB kit - you will need sandpaper and glue and other basic tools as well as the building board and knife and small pliers that you used putting the ARTF together.

Importantly, take your time, there is no rush and having a clear understanding of how it all goes together will pay dividends when you move from assembly to building. It isn't too difficult, but you will make mistakes (we all do - even those like me who pretend that we know what we are doing), the mistakes just get less visible.. or better hidden. When you get stuck, simply ask for advice, there are lots of people here who will guide you.

Martyn

[Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator]

Hi Tel,

another pointer, take a look at the beginners section on here - you'll find it here - lots of practical advice for those setting out there!

BEB

[gliggsy]

Hi Tel, not sure where you mean by 'North London' but if you toddle down to Holloway rd and stop somewhere near number 308 there is reasonable parking and an excellent model shop, alternatively, Enfield high street but a google will bring you a few retail outlets.......G

[Tel]

Hi All.

Thats 'wot' I call brilliant. A huge thank you to one and all who has taken the time. to give your help/advice. It makes it just that little bit easier. The only trouble is that I will be expecting the same amount of help 'All The Time' lol.

Many thanks, I will be back!!

tel

Edited By David Ashby - RCME on 03/04/2013 07:59:18

[Tel]

Hi gliggsy. That would be 'Barnet'. I used to go to Al's in Finchley but they closed. I go over to Enfield hobby stores. Tks mate

tel

[Ruprect Spode]

Tel.

Had a part share in a fullsize Ka6e. Beautiful flyer, wooden plane with grp performance, would resist the temptation to build one straight away though, maybe in a couple of years or so.(3 or 4 builds per year) . There's nothing to add to the guy's advice above, but am looking forward to your eventual build blog. Welcome and good luck.

[Tel]

Hi Spode

Yea, quite a few years ago i did a gliding course up at Dunstable, I had my lessons in a Ka7 two seat trainer, there was a Ka6e,. always had a thing for the Ka6. Re build blogs......dont hold your breath!!! Tks mate

tel

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

How long ago was that Tel? I used to fly at Dunstable and did the odd bit of course instructing although usually on K13s/K21s...there was (is?) a privately owned K7 that was available to the club on occasions.

[David Davis]

Hi Tel

You haven't told us which models you have flown to date so it's a bit difficult to establish your interests but while I agree with every suggestion put forward so far, if slope soarers are your thing, you could consider a Chris Foss Middle Phase. I'm currently building one for a club colleague and I'm enjoying the build.

You'll just need some glue, a knife, a board, some covering materials and that's about it. The Middle Phase is available either with or without ailerons, i.e, as a rudder and elevator model or as a rudder, elevator and aileron model. If you can already fly an aileron trainer I'd go for the aileron version if I were you.

Another good choice for a first built-up powered model would be the SLEC Limbo Dancer.

[Tel]

Hi Martin

Would have been in the middle 80's. Loved it. Used to go up on the downs and pass a Sat/Sun afternoon watching the flying Did the 5 day course. Great time, then I got a motgage!! Learned to fly microlights, then the kids arrived!! Learned how to fly 'power' got as far as solo/crosscountry then the kids wanted to uni and that was it!!! Something always got in the way!! Loved gliding though, the others were too loud!!

What about you, still flying??

tel

[Tel]

Hi Dave

Flown (thats a laugh!!) the old 'Ready 2'. Got a TT trainer at the moment. The Chris Foss is a good idea, will look into that, just want to get into the 'building' of an aircraft. Got a good friend who builds mainly 'warbirds' but he lives 2 hours away, he said he would help but lives too far away.

Tks for help/advice

tel

[David Davis]

There must be other members in your club who build models from kits or plan. Most would be only too keen to help you in order to pass on building skills.

Why not ask one of them?

[Frank Skilbeck]

Tel

Have a look at something like this would be a good introduction to building. As for tools the most important at this stage would be

- Good flat buildibng board which can take pins

- Sharp knives

- Razor plane

- Fine saw

- Steel straight edge

You can then get the rest as you progress and find out what you need.

[kc]

Get a copy of Peter Holland's book Model Aircraft Building Sketch by Sketch . Out of print but still available on Amazon etc secondhand for reasonable price, or from your library. ( I bought a copy from Amazon for 1 penny last month - plus postage a couple of pounds) This shows all the techniques you need. Also books by David Boddington or Peter Miller would help you.

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

Posted by Tel on 03/04/2013 07:22:21:

Hi Martin

Would have been in the middle 80's. Loved it. Used to go up on the downs and pass a Sat/Sun afternoon watching the flying Did the 5 day course. Great time, then I got a motgage!! Learned to fly microlights, then the kids arrived!! Learned how to fly 'power' got as far as solo/crosscountry then the kids wanted to uni and that was it!!! Something always got in the way!! Loved gliding though, the others were too loud!!

What about you, still flying??

tel

PM sent.

[Tel]

Hi Frank....Brilliant idea think thats the way i'll go A few tools to begin with and build them up. A bit of building to do!!. Hard to tell from pic but is it covered in tissue??? What coverings do you recommend as a star.

KC thanks for the reading ideas. many thanks.

[David Davis]

I would recommend Profilm for covering gliders or sports models like the WOT 4 or SLEC Fun Fly. Others may prefer Solarfilm but I find Profilm easier to use and less likely to come unstuck or to bubble in strong sunlight. Both products are ironed on to the structure; Profilm is expensive mind.

Keep going with your Thunder Tiger Trainer, it's a good model to learn on and you'll find the experience of learning to fly it will set you up for your first self-built model.

[Frank Skilbeck]

As David says a heat shrink film like Profilm, Solarfilm or Solarspan would be a good start at which point a dedicated covering iron would be a good addition..........