SaviCatses

I'm currently in the middle of building a Midwest Aero-Star, and I'm a bit at a loss about what to do with the fuselage. The problem is that the light-ply provided is rather warped. Several of the pieces will not lie flat on the table with the corners of each piece lifting off the table. If I was trying to build a sled, I imagine I'd be in business! [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] Ok, so it's not that bad, but the first step in building the fuselage is to put all the pieces togerth with masking tape, checking alignment and such as you go along. The problem is that well, with all the warping, I can`t get the tail straight, it keeps twisting a little bit, and veering to the right by about half an inch.

What I mean by this, is that If I lay the fuselage on it's side and measure how high the tailpost is, well, when it's on one side, it's 1 3/4 inches high, and when I measure it on it's other side it's 1 1/4 inches high.

No amount of taking it apart and rebuilding the fuselage seems to get this into perfect alignement.

What can I do about this? Also, are kit parts always warped?

Thanks for any help!
Stephane

FHHuber

Try steam ironing the 2 fuselage sides. Just lay a cloth over the lite ply, and set the household iron to a medium steam setting. Iron one side of the lite ply, flip and do the other. It should lay flat afterward. Lay a couple of books on the fuselage sides to hold them flat for a couple of hours, so they don't re-warp as they cool.

Usually, that will cure warped lite ply problems.

SaviCatses

Thanks for the tip! Fortunately, I didn't need to 'iron' the light ply. I had posted the same thread on the local flying club's website (where I hope to fly next year) and that was the answer I got the first. I was told that the warp was common and would pretty much dissapear as I actually started gluing the fuselage together. So far so good, I'm halfway through the gluing and it's nearly gone. Next plane kit though, I might consider trying out the ironing method.

But as always, here's another question relating to the gluing. I have a jar of balsa filler. As I've been gluing the fuselage together, in almost all places, the joints on the outside of the fuselage are a tight fit with no gap showing. the thing is that when looking inside the fuselage, a gap shows. Yesterday I used some thick CA and applied some all along the inside of the fuselage, but the wood simply seemed to absorb it, and there's still a gap. Should I simply run some balsa filler all along the inside edges of the fuselage (not much, just to fill the gaps)?

With all these construction questions, I feel someone might start to think I'm hopeless I'm building [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

kenandjudy

My Feedback: (2)

I would be inclined to use Sig Bond as a solution to the gap. Good luck!! .. Ken