Sweet sweet epoxy resin.

[Nick Stock 2]

I'm nearly at the point where I want to assemble the horizontal tail assembly to the fuselage.

I have plenty of 20 minute cartridges from screwfix lying around but would prefer to use something more suitable.

Any suggestions here? Brands? Cure time?

 

 

Edited By Nick Stock 2 on 15/08/2018 12:21:03

[Gary Manuel]

Nothing wrong with Screwfix epoxy as long as the cure time is long enough for you to get the pieces assembled. If not, get some with longer cure time.

I use Araldite as a personal preference ("Ultra" for slow cure and "Rapid" for fast), just because it's always served me well, but there's nothing wrong with most other brands.

The only one I've had problems with is the Tommy Walsh stuff from Poundland - it dried VERY quickly to a shiny brittle mess and the joint just pulled apart. Maybe it was past it's sell-by date because it had been in my tool box for a while, but it has put me off using it again.

Edited By Gary Manuel on 15/08/2018 13:19:21

[The Wright Stuff]

What materials are you gluing? Wood?

[Geoff Peacock]

Longer cure = better bond.

[The Wright Stuff]

Posted by Geoff Peacock on 15/08/2018 15:32:19:

Longer cure = better bond.

Up to a point, yes. Although it also depends upon the materials being bonded, and the initial viscosity.

[Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator]

Long cure time is essential here - it's not just about the bond, you need to be able to measure this, eyeball it, gauge it with string, view from four different angles. You want to take your time over this, you don't want to feel hurried. During all that you need to be able to tweak it, it mustn't set or even start to stiffen in the that time.

Use the longest cure time you can - at least an hour. And do it on a cool day!

BEB

[Bob Cotsford]

I usually use white wood glue to attach the tailplane these days, my preference being Evostic Resin-W. Slow setting and as strong as anything for wood to wood joints. PVA isn't the lightest of glues but it's a damn sight lighter than epoxy.

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[Geoff S]

I position the tailplane without glue then drill 2mm holes for cocktail stick dowels. The dowels are glued into the tailplane and allowed to set (I usually use cyano) before fitting to the fuselage with the adhesive of choice. I find it less stressful and it minimises any slipping because the dowels act mainly as locators but add a little strength, too.

Geoff

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

Posted by Gary Manuel on 15/08/2018 13:19:12:

The only one I've had problems with is the Tommy Walsh stuff from Poundland

Slightly OT but may be useful to those interested in adhesives is the new "Stick it" cyano-acrylate glue in Poundland - it is not the Tommy Walsh branded stuff although when you could get that with an aerosol of accelerator it was worth having. I bought one of the 3 packs recently and I'm very impressed. It seems every bit as good as thin Zap, comes with effective thin extension nozzles and at a £1 for three useful sized bottles is amazing value compared to the branded alternatives.

I can't see it on their website yet so hopefully it isn't a one off in my local branch!

[Ron Gray]

Like Bob, I’ve moved away from using epoxy to join the tail features to fuz and now use aliphatic instead which can be wicked into the joints after ensuring everything is square. Makes for a much cleaner joint imo.

[The Wright Stuff]

Agreed, that's why I asked about materials in an earlier post.

+1 for aliphatic rather than epoxy.

To glue wood, I use wood glue. Clue's in the name!

[Cuban8]

If you can find it, Bob Smith's Industries Epoxy is very good. I've used their glues and laminating resins for ages now and they are reasonably priced. HobbyKing Epoxy (bottled stuff) is a BSI product.

[Nick Stock 2]

All great and interesting responses so thanks everyone.

I'm gluing wood to wood for those who asked.

Personally, I am set (no pun) on using an epoxy though interesting that some of you have used aliphatic etc to good effect. Noted now that (particularly) excessive use of epoxy comes with a high weight cost, but this is line I intend to straddle because of my slight paranoia of the tail snapping off under heavy load in flight.

I'm going with Araldite Standard dual syringe which is repositionable for up to 2 hours and I know will set rock hard.

[The Wright Stuff]

I'm sure you know this already, but you asked for 'best adhesion'. This isn't exactly the same as setting hard. If the tail snaps off under heavy load in flight, it won't be because the glue itself fails, it'll be because the top surface (fibres) of the wood pull away from the rest if the glue is only on the surface. The best way to get a strong bond is to roughen the surface a little and use a low viscosity epoxy so it can soak into the surface a little. I'm wary of the Araldite in tubes because I find it quite thick, but the syringe packaged stuff seems to be a bit thinner, so I'm sure you'll be okay.

Again, sorry if you knew all this already! If you've got this far through a 1/5 scale warbird then you probably know what you are doing! Don't forget some pics when you've finished.