Tools needed for the Mass Build

[kc]

To encourage those without a workshop full of tools to participate in this years Mass Build I have compiled a list of the very few essential tools I think will be needed.

If you ask a hundred aeromodellers what tools they really need to use you will get about a hundred different answers. Some will swear they could not do without a bandsaw and a Dremel tool. Somone will say they built planes with just a razor blade in years gone by. Many will say they have lathes, scrollsaws, routers etc all housed in a proper workshop and    " he who dies with the most tools wins "

The real truth is that the art of making anything - furniture, models or any DIY project- is to make the thing using just the tools that are available to you. The skill is to find a way of using the tools you have to maximum advantage.

So if you can muster just a few basic tools you should be able to participate in the Mass Build

 

Edited By kc on 23/11/2015 19:33:59

[kc]

My suggested list is

Minimum tools needed.

scalpel ( I prefer a Swann Morton Retractaway with 10A blade. Art shops sell them)

Stanley knife or similar with new blade.

Cutting board either self healing green type or just a piece of lino or hardboard etc.

Fretsaw ( hand type is sufficient) or Coping Saw

drill with drill bits 1mm to 6.5mm

Steel rule 12inch is OK but 24 inch better Or just a steel straightedge.

Sanding block homemade from wood block with glasspaper glued on

Screwdrivers various but especially Number 0 ( zero ) Posidrive ( 98 pence from Toolstation)

Pins dressmakers pins are OK but proper modelling pins like T pins are so much better
quantity of clothes pegs and bulldog clips

Building board must be flat & not warped. a piece of plasterboard about 1200mm by 450mm will do nicely plus another piece perhaps 900mm by 300mm. Offcuts from builders could be free source, but must be flat.

Bench or table of some sort. A B&D Workmate or clone makes a handy bench if you place an extra worktop on top. Use indoors for winter building.

Strongly recommended extras

Permagrit wedge sanding block. expensive but far better than glasspaper and makes less dust. Also ideal to rectify poor sawing in ply etc as it removes wood easily. Last a lifetimes aeromodelling. You don't really need any other shapes but they would be nice if you have the money.

Razor saw ( or Junior hacksaw might do )
Razor plane

Fine tooth wood saw 14 teeth per inch or more.

Bench hook - homemade to traditional carpenters design for use on any table etc

Pearl catcher ( pick up tool ) from Maplins or Proops etc . Perfect for fitting fiddly screws etc.

Ideal situation for any aeromodelling or DIY work

Woodworkers vice inset on a stout bench. Plus a 3inch engineers vice mounted on a separate bench or on a block to fit into carpenters vice when required.

 

Edited By kc on 23/11/2015 19:19:20

[kc]

Obviously every forum expert will have differing opinions. All I will say is let's not confuse newcomers too much. The list of what I suggest is a minimum is actually what I used to make my first RC model ( unless I forgot something!)

Edited By kc on 23/11/2015 19:11:20

[Piers Bowlan]

The razor saw and razor plane are essential not optional extras in my book. But, as you say, we are all different in what we consider essential.

[Dylan Reynolds LaserCraft Services]

I would also suggest you definately need a square

[Former Member]

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[kc]

Dylan is right a square is pretty important. Don't bother buying a Carpenters Try Square they are not square on both the inside and outside! Even the best makes. Buy an Engineers square even the cheap ones are better because they are made to a different Standard. I would say a 4inch /100mm engineers square is handy.

Even a cheap plastic setsquare from stationary section at Wilkinsons etc would be OK for our use.

[Former Member]

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[mightypeesh]

I would add a set of vernier calipers to the list, they are essential for measuring depths, thicknesses, widths, wire gauges, drill bits, holes............... Once you have some you never have them far from hand. Another vote for engineers squares and steel rules too.

Also, with the nasty dust and fumes from adhesives a quality dust/ fumes mask would not go amiss!

Cheers, Simon

[Martyn K]

My number one power tool is a vacuum cleaner. I vacuum up after every sanding session. I use an old industrial sized Aqua Vac and clean the filter very regularly. The build environment is much nicer and I don't have to risk the wrath of the current/present Mrs K or even demonstrate that I know how to use the household vacuum cleaner.

Martyn

[Peter Miller]

I would add a good, strong pair of pliers. Some map pins. The junior hacksaw is essential but buy proper Eclipse blades, cutting 8SW piano wire will ruin the best blades, you will need at least two to cut it if you use cheap ones.

Dial verniers or even the electronic ones that Alldo sell from time to time are good, I could never read the old standard type and prefer a micrometer for measurements up to 1"

[Rick Tee]

A long steel straight edge is fairly important. 24", 36" and 48" steel rulers are not straight, all the ones I've tested at B&Q, Homebase and Wickes are as much as 4mm out, check before you buy.

[Engine Doctor]

The most important bit that seems to have been overlooked is SWMBO permission to use the house uless your luky enough to have a man cave .

[Cuban8]

Bought one of these a couple of weeks ago, cheap as chips but works fine and is accurate enough for most modelling purposes.

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[Peter Miller]

Looks like the one that Aldi has sold in the past. Works well but I had to take the battery out of mine as it went flat otherwise.

[kc]

We should keep this to the MINIMUM expenditure on tools needed to participate in the Mass Build!

A vernier gauge is very handy but not essential. Probably Simon meant the digital verniers that are so cheap now and instantly convert metric to imperial or vice versa. But if you don't want to spend that much now consider a plastic vernier gauge - proper vernier gauge. They were about a pound or so last time I looked. Obviously not as accurate but more accurate than I expected. And they work without batteries so they can always be to hand. Make sure you get inch and metric type. .

Fuselage Jig. We have to say that it's not essential because all Peter's designs explain how to build without one! But I wouldn't be without my homemade jig.

Hacksaw blades. Eclipse or Sandvik are best quality, others are often useless. Piano wire wears out blades so I cut 8SWG piano wire by notching with a file and then snapping in a vice with hammer then file end flat. It should be said that you need a proper wire bender to bend 8SWG (4mm) piano wire. Expensive but it's the sort of thing you could ask a fellow club member to do or show you how. Or you could fit an alloy or carbon fibre u/c instead. ( depending on the model.)

[kc]

Some years ago I started a thread called Tools You Can Make Yourself

That shows my simple fuselage jig which works well and was made from scrap.

Also shows an improved type of bench hook which is intended to be used on a Workmate or vice. Traditional type is better for plain worktops.

[mightypeesh]

Hi kc. funnily enough I was just writing on the same subject but for some reason the page closed as I was about to post. I was worried that this long list of stuff would put people off having a go. When I started It was pretty much a couple of knives, pins, square and ruler a bit of plaster board sandpaper and glue. any thing else like drills and vices I begged or borrowed. The other stuff you get over time and wonder how you did without them. Other bits are in the household tool kit under the sink anyway.

One of the great things about scratch building from plans or otherwise is that the start-up costs can be so small compared to an artf or even a kit. We are spoilt now with laser cut parts, but none of the possible plans wing ribs would take long to cut at home (esp the constant cord of the front runner at the mo) and you could start building with a few sheets of balsa and add on from there over a few months or so of the build. The learning curve for beginners would probably be greater as well - repairs in the future would not be so daunting when you know how to do it in the first place.

Although it is nice to have a big pile of stuff at the start it really is not neccesary and as long as you have the bits needed at the right time - say the fuel tank when you are building the fuse then it will be fine.

Cheers, Simon

 

Edited By mightypeesh on 24/11/2015 12:23:22

[Daithi O Buitigh]

As someone who started with the old Keil Kraft kits way back with just a broken razor blade and a pair of flat nose pliers, I did progress a bit and, while I do have power tools now (drill, fretsaw (when did they decide that an electric fretsaw is now a 'scroll saw'?), I's suggest the minimum is:

Swann Morton (or similar craft knife)

Fretsaw (trying to cut ply with a modelling knife takes forever and blunts blades)

Pliers (snipe nose and flat nose)

A GOOD pair of wire cutters - cheap ones get dents in the cutting edge

Loads of pins and clothespegs (or bulldog clips)

A soldering iron

A drill (electric or had powered twist drill)

LOTS of sandpaper (they used to say that the difference between a beginner and an expert was sandpaper)

Building board (plaster board or even an old shelf/floorboard if it's proper wood - you can't get pins into MDF)

Sticking plasters (when the knife slips - blood is hard to get out of balsa)

[Dylan Reynolds LaserCraft Services]

I think a friendly laser cutter should be added to the list

[Former Member]

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[Former Member]

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[Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator]

One thing is for sure you'll need something to drill small holes. Now at this point at lot of people's minds jump to "a Dremel". Well a Dremel is a very handy tool - but when you're starting off building its a "nice to have" not a necessity. Its a good idea to get a pin vice like this. Cheap as chips but great I find them great for drilling those 1-2mm holes for things like control horn screws, guide holes for servo screws etc. etc.

BTW - you can spend a lot more than that on a pin vice - but my advice is don't bother - that cheap type works just fine!

BEB

[John F]

I can vouch for a pin vice too, had the same one for the past (gosh) 20 years from my wargaming model days when I used it to help convert model poses and add bit.

Controllable drilling is easy with a pin vice through ply etc, as BEB says. If you're not able to hold a power tool with pinpoint accuracy then the pin vice would suit very well.

[kc]

The pin vice that BEB suggested has a swivel top. This makes it easier to drill one handed - the swivel should rest in the palm of hand. Many jobs need the other hand to hold the work.

Many pin vices do not have a swivel head.

Hand drilling can be safer than power drilling.  Look out for an old hand drill at junk sales etc and buy if cheap enough.  Only good brands are worth buying - Stanley, Record etc,- cheap foreign ones usually have poor chucks that won't grip properly on small drill bits.

Edited By kc on 25/11/2015 11:32:30