weights in planes ?

Sorry for the dumb question. Im new to building planes, Ive been looking around this site for weeks now getting tips and stuff, let me tell you…you guys are a great help. I know it has to with balance etc. but why do it,on what planes to do it,do you always do it,etc. Basically let`s talk weights.[%-)]

I assume you mean weight to balance tricycle gear? Unless you plan to gue the plane ot a base, yes, you should do it. Not required, of course, with a tail dragger. Any open, unseen space forward of the main gear will help balance. Naturally, the farther forward, the less weight you need. Some people use bb’s. sinkers or shot with superglue or epoxy. I like window caulking strip, a model;ing clay like product that comes in rolls from the hardware store.

I have superglued pennies together (doesn’t take many) and secured them with tack putty that you hang posters with. Works great and stays put. You can place them in the fuselage nose or engine cowlings. I put pennies in the nose of this one to balance it for the tricycle landing gears.

I typically use lead shot. I pour the shot into the nose (like this P-38) and drop a few drops of thick superglue into the nose, then hit it with accelerator.

Jeff

I usually grab the round weights with the snap apart rings made for the wooden race cars (most craft stores have them in the kids section). They are small enough that when broken apart you can get several into the nose cone.[2c]

I use tungsten powder. It’s a fine powder with 1.5 times the weight of lead, and it will completely fill and conform to any cavity on a model that can be sealed . Best thing I’ve ever used for ballast.

I don’t need weights. I display my models by hanging them, nose down, against a bedroom wall. They’re suspended from a thread that goes to a pin at the top of the wall, tied to the tailwheel or a tiny hole drilled through the rudder. Takes up zero shelf (or any other) space, and if the airplanes are closely packed together in a random pattern, it makes an extremely colorful display that can be appreciated by anybody, whether or not they have any interest in modeling/ Looks like a big tapestry.

If I may say so myself, it’s the best, most compact and most effective way of displaying models I’ e ever seen.

And you don’t need nosewheel weights…

Stephan

ruddratt, where do you get tungsten powder? I usually use #12 lead birdshot and it works very well for me, but occasionly I find that there just isn’t enough room to get the amount of lead shot required to do the job installed.

Quincy, I am able to buy tungsten powder through a golf supply outlet called ‘Golfsmith’. Here’s the link…

http://www.golfsmith.com/products/9466?fcst=GSI_WEB