I just came up with a unique (at least to me it was[:p]) way of securing balance weights in your aircraft models. I used silly putty to hold the weights. It can hold any shape of weight, provided it fits inside your model, conforms to any shape, sticks well to the plasic and shouldn’t have any long term affects on the styrene parts. Squeeze the fuselage halves together and it shouldn’t come loose, though I used a small piece of sheet styrene to be sure.[8D]
Let me know what you think![;)]
I’ve wrapped silly putty around lead weights (sinkers, to us fishermen) and it works pretty good.
Yup silly putty works great! A few weeks ago I round a bunch of magnets lying around and I decided to use those as my weights. It sure was funny when I was cleaning up and my Xacto knife clung to my A-6A Intruder (took a few seconds to remember I had used magnets[:D])!
[(-D][(-D][(-D]
Note to self, don’t put magnets into airplanes if you plan to use tools on them later.
[(-D]
Lead shot for shot gun shells is great too. They are small but heavy. And they will fit in very small places. BB’s are good too.
Silly putty?.. what is it?.. I live in Perú and I’m interested in that, maybe I can buy it here, but with another name…
I agree, I have changed to shotgun leads. Great ideea with putty to hold them together.
What is required (in form of equipment) to do your own lead weights if you do a master of clay or something?
Silly Putty comes in a plastic egg. It’s like clay that never gets dry. Here’s a link to it… http://www.sillyputty.com/ hope that helps!
I use .40 cal. bullets with super glue. They are heavy and quite small. So it does not take many. I never thought of silly putty. I tried plumber’s putty once, about same consistency as silly putty. Big mistake, a film seeped through the seam and made a heck of a mess.
I prefer to use epoxy, but I’ve seen other posts on Silly Putty.
Regards, Rick
casting resin also works (especially after you’ve closed up the model only to find it is a tail sitter)
Isn’t that a bit expensive and wasteful?
Hirarux,
I think I bought 100 of them for about $4.00 at a gun show. Usually 2 will take care of a 1/48 and 4-5 will take care of a 1/32. So that 100 will las t me quite a long time.
I was going to use that method you all. But then remembered I have to go through airport security[:D]
I get my nose weights from Terry Dean. Good prices, tight fit, and no more guess work in figuring out how much you need. hey are bang on!
boogie bear
If you have any doubts about a model needing nose weight, tape the major pieces together, then set the assembly across a round pencil or X-acto knife handle placed where the main gear will be. If it leans back, you need nose weight, if it leans forward, you don’t. Place BBs or small lead shot in a little bag and drape it over the nose until it drops forward. Then epoxy or super glue that much weight as far forward as you can get it.
Darwin, O.F. [alien]
What ever happened to good ol clay and lead?
actually three words Moldable Lead Weights I got 2 packages from my LHS before it went out of business and it can last a while it goes into small areas easily and it takes super glue pretty well.
MKelly: I usually get my bullets from a shooting range. I just pretty much use the 9mm bullets since they are also small but heavy.
Gilmund: what you need is a melting pot for melting the lead and then you would need a special ladle for transfering the lead from the pot to the mold you could probably find those at your local sporting goods store in the hunting section.
It