Help! How to mount plans to foam core

[gadgetmann]

Have looked around a lot of places on Flite Test and can't seem to find any posts on mounting plans to foam core. I have the fast build kit for the FT Edge, but I also purchased some extra sheets from a local crafts store. I've printed the plans on 11x17 tiles and would like to mount the wing panels. After I have a little experience with the techniques of cutting and gluing Flite Test plans, I want to experiment with some ideas for wing reinforcement and installation.
Thanks for your help

 

[FDS]

Most people either use the plans to make templates, which you can draw around onto the card, or they make the paper sheets up then use painters tape to hold the plans over the foam board then use pin pricks through the paper to mark out the foamboard. You don’t want to add a layer of heavy paper on top of the existing foamboard paper.
I assemble the plans then use removable spray mount to fix them temporarily to the foam board whilst I cut out my parts.

 

[Robyle3]

Hmm, I've also seen people cut out all the parts and trace around them (kind of like the template idea, but with the actual paper).

 

[Merv]

Glue sticks, pin them, any kind of weights, bag of rice, the list goes on and on.
I prefer to make my templates out of foam board.

 

[Hondo76251]

When I got the tiny trainer for my boys to learn to fly with i purchased the speed build kit. Then I cut out all the pieces and used the pieces to trace and cut new pieces out of virgin foam. I built 2 planes and several extra noses and then just saved the speed build kit for making more parts later as necessary...

 

[sprzout]

I print it out on paper, tape them together using regular scotch tape, and then spray glue it to the foamboard. I do a light spray with the spray glue, enough to make it tacky, then lay the taped together pattern down. Once that's done, I cut it out and peel the paper away after I've made my cuts. Works pretty well for me.

 

[cranialrectosis]

+1 on templates. Because after the maiden...spare parts...

Be careful thinking about reinforcing foamie plane parts.
IMO Foamies are meant to be destroyed.

If you reinforce them you are likely thinking about keeping your foamie over time. You can't fly your foamie and have it too.. At least I can't (says the guy who calls himself butthead and who's icon is literally a plane faceplant)...

Also, reinforcing tends to add weight. There are some really fine and quick ways to become a faceplanter like me. I prefer reversing the elevator, but adding weight can easily do the trick.

There is wiggle room and you totally should experiment. But if you are the experimenter type, templates ala @FDS , because you are going to want spare parts, lots of them.

 

[PsyBorg]

This is how I did all the edge540 stuff. A friend gave me the idea to use the refigerators and magnets to hold the pages in place as I taped them.

Then I spray glued the cut out piece to poster board using 3m super 777. Cut that all out and now have permanent templates for it.

https://forum.flitetest.com/index.php?threads/psyborgs-edge-540-build-log.54757/

 

[Robyle3]

When I got the tiny trainer for my boys to learn to fly with i purchased the speed build kit. Then I cut out all the pieces and used the pieces to trace and cut new pieces out of virgin foam. I built 2 planes and several extra noses and then just saved the speed build kit for making more parts later as necessary...

Flite test should hire you for advertising.

That is a seriously good reason to buy the kits. 50$ for a virtually unlimited amount of sea angels? Take my money XD.

 

[gadgetmann]

Wow! Just Wow! Thanks so much for all the feedback. There are some great suggestions here and I have to admit I had not considered google spray adhesives.
One flaw in my thinking, that made it intimidating to consider was thinking only in terms of the 30x24 panels in the plans instead of isolating individual parts. Since I am interested in the wings only, that makes even more sense.

I started on my Edge this afternoon. It was intimidating at first. Making that first channel cut, first gluing, etc. In spite of all the videos I've watched, I am blown away. The quality of the design. The precision as it goes together. Even the somewhat accelerated pace of the Edge video is not a problem.

I will come back later and respond with any specific questions or follow ups to the many posts.

 

[Hondo76251]

Flite test should hire you for advertising...

Nah, just a married man,

You have to get good at justifying why all these packages keep showing up! 😉

 

[speedbirdted]

I started on my Edge this afternoon. It was intimidating at first. Making that first channel cut, first gluing, etc. In spite of all the videos I've watched, I am blown away. The quality of the design. The precision as it goes together. Even the somewhat accelerated pace of the Edge video is not a problem.

Mindblowing knowing it was designed by a 17 year old...

 

[Jackson T]

Mindblowing knowing it was designed by a 17 year old...

He's pretty talented, that's for sure! Isn't he going to study aeronautical engineering at university next year or something?

 

[PsyBorg]

Wow! Just Wow! Thanks so much for all the feedback. There are some great suggestions here and I have to admit I had not considered google spray adhesives.
One flaw in my thinking, that made it intimidating to consider was thinking only in terms of the 30x24 panels in the plans instead of isolating individual parts. Since I am interested in the wings only, that makes even more sense.

I started on my Edge this afternoon. It was intimidating at first. Making that first channel cut, first gluing, etc. In spite of all the videos I've watched, I am blown away. The quality of the design. The precision as it goes together. Even the somewhat accelerated pace of the Edge video is not a problem.

I will come back later and respond with any specific questions or follow ups to the many posts.

The edge really is a solid build. right up to where you get to the cowl. THATS what makes it an advaced kit. Thats a complex cut and fold to get that one perfect.

One word of warning. Under the cowl is the weakest part of the aircraft. You want to double or even triple the layers of foam supporting the engine mount. If you look at it funny it crumples and shifts. Then you have to fix all that AND make a new cowl. Cutting all that apart after a crash is actually harder then building it.