Building boards

[Frank Day]

Havent built anything balsa since I was a kid, balsa cement and  wood glue.

 

Im thinking of building a simple kit first and ultimately when flying and building skills improve I have a Gary Hethcoat deluxe kit Horten Ho229 to build.

 

The build is essentially just wings so will need a fairly large board. There are numerous recommendations for board material but wondering what the consensus is.

[kc]

Most people like plasterboard.    It's cheap and lasts if stored vertically.  Cut sheets to size by scoring and bending back over a batten, then cut remaining paper backing.

[John Lee]

You won’t get a consensus. Ask 4 modellers and you’ll get 5 opinions 😂.

 

My twopenneth worth is that I’ve never regretted buying a SLEC board.

 

https://slecuk.com/product/balsa-building-boards/

[Dale Bradly]

Steel and magnets for me

[GrumpyGnome]

Kitchen worktop with two layers of cork...... strip em off with a paint scraper when they get manky.  But I'm not a prolific builder. I do feel a prolific repairer though.... 🙂

[Ron Gray]

Loads of different materials to chose from for the build surface but the most important thing is to ensure that the supporting structure is level in all planes (no pun intended).

[Murat Kece 1]

 

[Murat Kece 1]

 

[Murat Kece 1]

I  use a chip board from B&Q covered with 10mm cork floor tiles and covered again with doculam to avoid gluing to the cork. It takes pins easily and works for me.

 

[Frank Day]

Thanks for all the replies. Obviously the base has to  be flat and  thereafter whatever takes your fancy. 

 

I like the idea of the magnetic option but havent read up on it yet.

[Chris Walby]

4 hours ago, Frank Day said:

Thanks for all the replies. Obviously the base has to  be flat and  thereafter whatever takes your fancy. 

 

I like the idea of the magnetic option but havent read up on it yet.

Would be interesting to hear from those with magnetic building boards how they prevent rust forming on the base or angle blocks?

[Ron Gray]

No rust on mine Chris and no special treatment but the board is painted. 

[Geoff S]

3 hours ago, Chris Walby said:

Would be interesting to hear from those with magnetic building boards how they prevent rust forming on the base or angle blocks?

 

Never any suggestion of corrosion on mine.  It's about 1mm thick and still as shiny as the day I bought it along with the blocks at the last Cosford LMA show (5 years ago?).  I've done nothing to protect it and I keep it standing on edge in my workshop.  In use, I use the 20mm MDF board with stiffeners that has my SLEC fuselage jig as a flat base.  It all works perfectly.

[Martin McIntosh]

You need something that you can easily push pins into using a blunted pair of wire cutters. When I built my new workshop in 2001 I obtained two benches 6`x3` to which I glued 3 or 4 mm lite ply. Should have used 6mm. The benches are metal framed and nice and flat. I would avoid magnets depending on what you intend to build since a wing for instance often needs to be left overnight while the glue sets. Never looked back on this set up.

[Ron Gray]

1 minute ago, Martin McIntosh said:

I would avoid magnets depending on what you intend to build since a wing for instance often needs to be left overnight while the glue sets.

Sorry Martin, I don't understand why magnets should be an issue in this situation?

[Martin McIntosh]

Nothing beats pins for holding stuff down properly.

[kc]

Actually Martin plasterboard screws beat pins!    If using plasterboard then modern screws hold well and can hold wing spars etc down better than pins ( horses for courses though ) and the holes in plasterboard almost self seal afterwards.    I use simple clips with screws like those in my photo - they are marginally thinner than the spar so they grip.

[Ron Gray]

57 minutes ago, Martin McIntosh said:

Nothing beats pins for holding stuff down properly.

Depends how strong the magnets are!