Hot Glue for filets?

[peabody]

ARFs seem to be glued together with hot glue....has anyone tried to use hot glue for filets?

[Douglas Ames]

I'm pretty sure the ARF manf'rs. use it for quick construction over strength or weight.
Has anyone done a comparison of CA vs. Hot Glue vs. Epoxy?

[Clint Ormosen]

ARFs seem to be glued together with hot glue....has anyone tried to use hot glue for filets?

.

[Avaiojet]

ARFs seem to be glued together with hot glue....has anyone tried to use hot glue for filets?

Peabody,

I won't have any fillets on the stunt ship I'm building. Just the sharp inside corners and whatever build up accumuates with the finish paint. Considering not using primer also.

[peabody]

I have never seen a factory glue joint on an ARF fail.....just curious

[Bob Reeves]

Probably work and look ugly, I wouldn't do it..

[Phil Krankowski]

I have used hot glue for RC stuff, and a coroplast 1/2a basher.  I have glued servos into foam, among other things.  It gets heavier than epoxy really quick because it is so hard to spread it thin over large areas.  There is no way to make hot glue lighter while epoxy can have microballons, balsa dust, or other lightweight fillers mixed into it.  

The basher is a man-win wing from the Balsa Beavers website.  I was having problems with snow, ice, and mud packing into the flutes so after cleaning I filled the ends with hot glue.  Due to the number of awful landings that filled these flutes the holes in the wing for the motor mount gored out so I filled these with hot glue and redrilled.  I also went to pin hinges instead of a cut flute since I like having "down".

This basher has been bashed much harder since the rebuild with pilots as young as 6 driving it straight into the dirt with no further damage.  It does not fly quite as nice with the extra weight, but is still capable of insides, outsides, inverted and rather lazy 8's.  The baby "stunt" bee on it only has 10 level laps in the tank though.  

I am building a new one to give to my nephews, and will use Gorilla Tape on the ends (The stuff is pretty awesome).  I will still use hot glue reinforcements, and if I use pin hinges, I will hot glue those too.  This one is getting an old Golden Bee.

Phil

I asked and Bernie delivered.
http://coxengines.ca/aluminum-fuel-tank-for-cox-049-engine-stunt-version-silver-5cc.html

[Dan McEntee]

   If you do a search of the forum, you will find discussions about the failings of the nose on the Top Flite Score. I had the nose come completely off on mine that is powered by a Saito.56. In examining the pieces, I found that I could peel the glue right off the wood and not even lift any fibers. To the good side, since everything came apart so clean, it was easy to put back together, but with epoxy, C/C and a few extra pieces of wood for gussets and bracing. The model didn't appear to pick up any extra weight. I think hot melt glue is best left for the crafts people to use. I don't think I could ever get any confidence in it.
  Type at you later,
   Dan McEntee

[john e. holliday]

Way back in the early years my brother Bob built a control line plane using  a hot glue gun.   The Ambroid, Duco and Testors cement would set off his wifes sinuses.   We flew that plane I can't remember how many times and it was still going strong when he gave it away.   Yes, he had to bring to my house for covering and doping.

[Mike Griffin]

This is strictly my opinion but I do not think hot glue has any place in building a flying model.

Mike

[CircuitFlyer]

After you lay a bead, don't spread it out with your finger!  Yowza, it hurts.  (Don't ask how I know)

[Phil Krankowski]

After you lay a bead, don't spread it out with your finger!  Yowza, it hurts.  (Don't ask how I know)

Use a piece of foam board like the Dollar Tree paper faced foam poster boards as spreaders.  The foam insulates the glue so it remains workable.  The paper strengthens the foam and makes it usable as a spatula.  The paper also prevents air bubbles from foam melting into the glue.

Still, I think I would rather not use hot glue on a wooden model.

Phil

[Sean McEntee]

   If you do a search of the forum, you will find discussions about the failings of the nose on the Top Flite Score. I had the nose come completely off on mine that is powered by a Saito.56. In examining the pieces, I found that I could peel the glue right off the wood and not even lift any fibers. To the good side, since everything came apart so clean, it was easy to put back together, but with epoxy, C/C and a few extra pieces of wood for gussets and bracing. The model didn't appear to pick up any extra weight. I think hot melt glue is best left for the crafts people to use. I don't think I could ever get any confidence in it.
  Type at you later,
   Dan McEntee

Didn't you use some kind of caulk or something to seal the joints on your P-force?

[Dan McEntee]

Didn't you use some kind of caulk or something to seal the joints on your P-force?

   Yes, on my ARFs, or anything that has an iron on covering on the wing, after the wing is glued in securely with epoxy, and I have a small fillet of epoxy to esure there are no open gaps, I have been using white bath tube caulk to seal the joint and seal the dge of the covering. I saw Keith Sandberg do this once while assembling a Flite Streak at the SIG contest one year. he called it "Tube-O-Fillets!" Works well and haven't ever seen any issues. When I recovered the P-Force, I was able to peel and dig out the caulk very easily, it didn't seem to show any effects from fuel or exhaust, and it did seal the edge of the covering. Wish we could get it in more colors!!
  Type at you later,
    Dad

[Sean McEntee]

Wish we could get it in more colors!!
  Type at you later,
    Dad

Rit dye? Food coloring?  Water-based paint?  Of course you would have to de-tube it to add color

[Phil Krankowski]

Bath and tile caulk has only a few colors, white, clear, almond...

Heck of a good idea!

Phil

[Larry Renger]

I have also seen black and red.

Hot melt glue is what we use to assemble the ET-1. It works great for that.

[John Craig]

In my dark past, I remember reading an RCM article about using Hot glue as the only glue to complete an R/C trainer.  The big complaint was the added weight over the solvent or water base glues of that time.

What is the strength of hot glue after the plane sets in the hot sun on a 90 degree day or a 35 degree day?  Perhaps sets in a warm car on a hot day?

When I get CA, white glue, epoxy, or solvent base glue gets on my fingers it is generally not much of a problem.  A little hot glue is a different story.  Second degree burn time.          I have the gun & the glue sticks, I have not used it in years. When I do, it is a temporary tack to hold parts together.