What can BROWN do for you

[Scorp11157]

Btw. Where do you fly fdnyjery. Always looking to get together with someone to fly with. Talk about the hobby. Share ideas. I'm in apopka fl. Let's get together and swap stories/ ideas/crash some planes some time

 

[fdnyjery]

Great to hear from you Scorp. I fly with the RCACF = Radio Control Society of Central Florida. and Guess what ?we fly in your hometown of Apopka. Go to RCACF and our web site will come up with all our information . Its a Great Club and guys fly everything from Giant Jets and Gassers to Foamies. Its a beautiful FIELD WITH A 700 FOOT RUNWAY that is Paved. We are always looking for new members. I live in Longwood and they way I go to the field is to go out 436 to Sheeler road make a left their go down Sheeler road which becomes Kean road
follow that road and go under the highway up to the light GO across Clareacona rd. and go down about 1/2 mile and look for our sign on the right. Guys are there 7 days a week most week days guys fly from 7 am till around noon when it gets to hot. here is my e- mail
euph2201@cfl.rr.com. Tell the guys you spoke to me I am Jerry Okeefe, you have my address send me an e-mail so I can give you my phone number and we can talk OK Are you going to flite fest this July ? I am talk to you later Scorp . Blue Sky's Jerry

 

[Mach60]

I have a question for all of you tape experts. I tried using tape over the white foam board and it ended up peeling the paper off of the foam so I have bubbles in various places. Do you peel the white paper off first or did I do something wrong? Do you have to prep the paper first? would the waterproof work better?

I have not had very good luck with paint.

Thanks!!

 

[bpw823]

I have a question for all of you tape experts. I tried using tape over the white foam board and it ended up peeling the paper off of the foam so I have bubbles in various places. Do you peel the white paper off first or did I do something wrong? Do you have to prep the paper first? would the waterproof work better?

I have not had very good luck with paint.

Thanks!!

I've never had to prep a plane for tape. I don't use a lot of it but if you do it slowly and press firmly and equally across the surface it should work. Don't know how it'd take up the paper though.

 

[Hai-Lee]

I have a question for all of you tape experts. I tried using tape over the white foam board and it ended up peeling the paper off of the foam so I have bubbles in various places. Do you peel the white paper off first or did I do something wrong? Do you have to prep the paper first? would the waterproof work better?

I have not had very good luck with paint.

Thanks!!

I have built and taped about 70+ FB designs, (and painted about 20 others), and the first trick is to tape either before you cut out or before you fold up and glue. Second tip is to have the tape overlap a small amount (approx 1mm). When applying the tape I use a finger to rub the tape onto the board expelling the air as I go. Once the tape is all applied I then rub the tape under some pressure into the FB as this improves adhesion and pushes air out further. Normally you will see a slight colour or shade change caused by the rubbing under pressure process. The scrap around the edges is removed with a sharp knife in a similar manner to the cutting out. When folded and glued, and the plane assembled, I coat all exposed edges with glue to seal the edges especially the paper. Always coat the hinges etc in a wipe of glue as this is where water can really do damage quickly.

I do not prepare the paper first except for wiping the surfaces with a clean rag to remove dust etc. When about to apply a strip of tape I do pull the tape taught and lower it to the paper surface on one end. When the beginning end is stuck down I use the, aforementioned, finger method to lay the tape on the paper and drive out any possible air bubbles.

Painting the white FB is simple as long as you give the paper a light coating of a poly Varnish. When dry you will need to ensure that all exposed foam is coated with a thin layer of glue. Once the edges are glued and the paper is varnished you can paint away to your hearts content.

Just what works for me!

Have fun!

 

[Mach60]

I have built and taped about 70+ FB designs, (and painted about 20 others), and the first trick is to tape either before you cut out or before you fold up and glue. Second tip is to have the tape overlap a small amount (approx 1mm). When applying the tape I use a finger to rub the tape onto the board expelling the air as I go. Once the tape is all applied I then rub the tape under some pressure into the FB as this improves adhesion and pushes air out further. Normally you will see a slight colour or shade change caused by the rubbing under pressure process. The scrap around the edges is removed with a sharp knife in a similar manner to the cutting out. When folded and glued, and the plane assembled, I coat all exposed edges with glue to seal the edges especially the paper. Always coat the hinges etc in a wipe of glue as this is where water can really do damage quickly.

I do not prepare the paper first except for wiping the surfaces with a clean rag to remove dust etc. When about to apply a strip of tape I do pull the tape taught and lower it to the paper surface on one end. When the beginning end is stuck down I use the, aforementioned, finger method to lay the tape on the paper and drive out any possible air bubbles.

Painting the white FB is simple as long as you give the paper a light coating of a poly Varnish. When dry you will need to ensure that all exposed foam is coated with a thin layer of glue. Once the edges are glued and the paper is varnished you can paint away to your hearts content.

Just what works for me!

Have fun!

Wow! This information is wonderful. Thank you for taking the time to spell it out like this. I think I have a very good understanding of this process. The next one I build, I am going to give tape another try. I didn't rub the tape down after I applied it to the foam board in the past.

 

[SteveRobey]

What about the added weight?

Hi guys,

As I have been gathering up everything I need to build my first FT model, the Tiny Trainer, one of the things I picked up was a couple of rolls of colored packing tape because I knew the speed build kit I ordered was going to be brown like a paper bag. I'm new to building and flying but have just recently joined my local RC modeler's club and that has given me access to a lot of guys who have been doing this stuff for a long time. For that matter, most of the guys in the club have one or several FT models they have built.

I mentioned the idea of covering my trainer in colored packing tape to improve appearance, durability and visibility and doing so has been recommended against. What I have been told is that it adds too much weight, and there's not much point in making your first plane too pretty, because it's probably going to die someday anyway. It's been further recommended that I go with the varnish and paint method over packing tape as it would be lighter and simpler.

Not to go against the advice of my club members, but I would like the opinions of a larger demographic just to get an idea what to expect. With a small plane like the Tiny Trainer, is covering the whole thing in tape going to add too much weight or would it be better to just add some stripes for visibility? What about other models like the VersaWing?

Should I just let my Tiny Trainer fly naked and free until it is guided to it's doom by this inexperienced pilot?

 

[Hai-Lee]

The question of Tape or Paint is an old one and I do both.

Where a model is likely to have a short life of a lot of ground contact I tape it for strength sometimes just using clear packing tape. The impact resilience is well worth the few extra grams it adds. Actually if your plane is too heavy with packing tape then it was too heavy before it was applied.

Paint also adds weight but actually makes the FB stronger also BUT it also makes it more brittle. If I am building a single layer wing, like the Mini Scout or Speedster The paint makes the wing more rigid but more prone to serious crash damage.

Tape will protect the exterior of a FB build but it is almost never used internally but the water gets everywhere. I use the varnish on all FB internal paper now for the water proofing properties and then decide if I want to varnish and paint or tape as the finish.

I have even played with using iron on film as a finish.

Have fun!

 

[jaredstrees]

Tape will add some weight for sure, but nothing you'll really ever notice. My mini corsair weighs in at 8oz, almost 2 ounces heavier than the specs say, but most of that is the extra glue that probably isn't needed! she does fly wonderful though. Also, if you want some nice pinstripe effects, go to your local auto parts store and get some pin striping for cars. Works great, light weight and you can create curves and other designs with it. It also can be bought in various colors and thicknesses. You can see I used it to form the canopy lines on the corsair. I'm not a big fan of paint because it involves a lot of extra prep and is messy. Do what you like, however, because that's part of the fun. You get to make a plane look how you want it!

 

[PsyBorg]

OOH someone made a plane out of Chocolate. That looks tasty! I actually like the darker color like that. How hard is it to see in the air?

 

[jaredstrees]

Not terrible. It's too small a plane to get to far away with. The underside is white so there is some nice contrast to help. It is a little tougher than some of the bright colors though!

 

[Michael9865]

I have used both methods mentioned as well as magic marker on the white DTF. Tape is quicker than taping off the plane and spray painting it. I would recommend using the colored packing tape, not colored duct tape, for color to help you see it and its orientation.

 

[SlingShot]

I have a question for all of you tape experts. I tried using tape over the white foam board and it ended up peeling the paper off of the foam so I have bubbles in various places. Do you peel the white paper off first or did I do something wrong? Do you have to prep the paper first? would the waterproof work better?

I have not had very good luck with paint.

Thanks!!

This guy is pretty good with tape.

 

[Hai-Lee]

Thank you! It seems I developed similar techniques for tape handling and application independently. Great video for those with too many thumbs!

Have fun!

 

[SteveRobey]

Adding tape to my Ft Tiny Trainer.

Hi again all,

So this weekend I did end up adding some tape to my trainer because I keep crashing it nose first into the ground. I have not yet developed the muscle memory needed to get out of nose dives and wing-overs. Needless to say, I'm also ordering more propellers tonight. I covered the front most nose section of the fuselage in red Uline 2.2mil packing tape and while it makes it look a little nicer than cardboard box brown, I'm not sure if it has made my plane much more crash resistant. This is the part of the plane that not only takes the skewers that hold the wing on, but it takes the skewers that hold the power pod in place. I've also got an 800 mAh 3s 20C battery slung from the underside of the power pod. This is the larger of the two batteries FliteTest recommends for this plane. Anyway, the last crash from around 40' not only broke my last prop and mashed the nose, but it also tore the paper around all of the skewer holes, because everything got pushed back.

It's probably still usable, but since I saved the sheet it was punched out of, I'm going to trace, cut and build a second nose and doubler set that I plan to add some reinforcement to during the build process. The power pod has already been reconstructed out of white foam board that if I'm not mistaken seems to be a little thinner and more rigid. Has anybody else noticed that? I may have got some different material though, I purchased a sheet of white foam board from Walmart, I know the recommended place to get it is the dollar store but I thought, hey, I'm here and it looks like the right stuff so I threw it in my cart.

I'll create a new thread to document my reinforcement efforts if I find that it works out. So if you never see that thread, it didn't.

As for putting tape on your FT plane, in my opinion, it doesn't hurt. Most of the power packs they sell for these seem to provide heaps more power than you need to get the plane airborne, so a little extra weight is probably negligible. It also was mentioned as part of a reply to my question about fully covering FT planes with colored packing tape that you're likely to have increased weight as a result of using a little too much glue, which I am also definitely guilty of and mine still flies well too despite the faulty pilot

 

[jaredstrees]

Try strapping tape around your powerpods. It will give them quite a bit of strength.

 

[Hai-Lee]

No matter what reinforcing efforts you undertake it just transfers the impact stresses to somewhere else.

I reinforced both the nose and the powerpod and found that broken skewers and bent motors were the result.

Eventually I learned to fly without too much crashing but in the meantime I raised a few posts on reinforcing FB with Balsa and even building light in balsa reinforced FB.

Before I dropped the whole idea of reinforcing I posted a TT based canard which moved the powerpod to the rear and crashes almost completely disappeared.

Simply find out what you do not minding replacing everytime you crash and build a number of them!

Just what worked for me!

Have fun!

 

[mrjdstewart]

i don't seem to mind brown. work with what ya got...



very please with this project so far. first attempt at a full size FT plane.

laters,

jason

 

[rockyboy]

Very nicely done Jason! I might steal your idea there for a Baby Blender speed build kit I have...