I build WWII aircraft exclusively and one of my pet peeves is filling the seam on the leading edges of the wings and other areas like some wing roots. I have been to Swanny’s site and the Aircraft Resource Center and there are some excellent tips there for filling concave or flat seams, but nothing for convex areas.
I always end up with a line down the center of the leading edges of the wings which isn’t supposed to be there, no matter how carefully I glue. Anybody have a good method of filling these, and other convex seams?
Rich [8D]
Don’t fill them- sand them. Use a flexifile and go at ti until it disappears. If necessary brush on a few good coats of mr surfacer 500 and then have at it with the flexifile again.
I use a welding-type glue (Tenax or Ambroid), and once applied I squeeze the wing halves together. This will squeeze a bead of melted glue out of the joint so that instead of a seam that needs filling you have a small bead that simply needs to be sanded off. If that doesn’t work, Swanny’s method works quite well.
Using Tenax as described by Scott always works for me.
Regards, Rick
I use Weldon #3, same as the above. Leaves a bead to sand off. For curved and concave surfaces, I use various grades of sandpaper on a curved sanding block, like a portion of PCV pipe, that is close to the diameter I am sanding. Electrical conduit straps, the curved ones that hold conduit to the wall are great for small diameters. Really helps to reduce/eliminate flat spots on curved surfaces.
I have the exact same problem on most of my aircraft i actually use white glue (yes white glue) to fill the seams in and then just wipe it away with a paper towel or something dipped in lukewarm water and that usally fixes the problem for me.
does the glue hold up well? ever had it crack or split?
also, does it sand after drying?
The “Welding Glues” evaporate completely very quickly. They aren’t really “Glue” but more of a solvent for styrene and they effectively cause the plastic to melt where they touche. The joint itself is formed by melting the plastic on both sides and when they dry the joint is as strong as the plastic that was melted together. The joint sands easily because it is nothing but styrene once the solvent evaporates.
I have had joints split back open but that was typically in places where I didn’t get enough glue on the joint. If you get enough in the joint it is pretty much like the two pieces were molded together.
Thanks guys. The white glue sounds like a method worth trying (I’m basically a lazy beggar…[(-D])
Rich [8D]