Where to Cut printed Balsa sheets

[Tom Darville]

I have a few free flight kits by Keil Kraft, Guillow and West Wings etc.

Some are die cut sheets and some are printed.

With regards to printed balsa sheets where do you cut? outside the line, the middle or inside the line to ensure correct scale and that retrospective parts fit correctly.

Thanks in advance 

Tom

[fred chamberlain]

I always cut to the outside of the line that way it gives you an allowance to sand out any inperfections

fred

[Mike Rolls]

I agree with Fred

Mike

[Mike Rolls]

I also agree with Jetsome on the tissue idea - I learnt it the hard way a loooong time ago when forever splitting bits off fiddly little formers when trying to notch them.

Mike

[Mark Lubbock]

On the KK kits especially, I would copy the parts onto some better quality (indoor quality if you are really flush!) balsa & keep the kit intact. This has a number of benefits-it preserves the value of the kits which are getting rare now, you can build another later from the patterns, repair parts are then easy to make & the resulting model will be lighter, stronger & fly better.

Cut to the outside line & sand/trim parts to fit the plan & other parts. Use a VERY sharp scalpel for all those stringer notches

Throw away the KK prop & use a larger (8"?) diameter, I think the West Wings props are OK. Also use some better rubber (assuming you are not going to electrify/CO2 them) The KK kits simply will not fly on the supplied rubber/prop combination, but with the above mods & some patience can be made to fly very well.

[Andy Green]

I have 3 spar slotters, 1/8, 1/4 & 3/16. For 1/16 is use a ceramic jigsaw blade. Also I never cut the slots until I've built the structure, that way I always get them straight, as even some kits the holes don't line up properly. Andy

[Tom Darville]

Well thanks all for your advice and tips, it's very much appreciated.

 Also are there any scaled, more realistic props out there that can be used instead of the props supplied?

Tom