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#2 wood screws

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Jim Roselle:
Hello,

 I’m returning to the hobby after a long absence and I’m building up a couple 1/2a skyrays to keep at my in laws house to fly with my son when we visit. My son is 7 and his plane will be a trainer. In the past I always used 2-56 or 4-40 t nuts on the back side of the firewall to secure cox engines. I am thinking of trying #2 wood screws directly into the firewall for expedience and simplicity. What is everyone’s experience with this method. Will it stand up to a trainer that is going get doinked into the ground?

 Thank you,
 Jim

Dan McEntee:
    yes, that will work fine. That has more or less been the main way of mounting a Cox .049 since I was a kid many, many years ago. It was what was shown in all the kit plans and model magazine plans. To borrow an idea from the Goldberg Wizard, make two firewalls. One is 1/4" thick and has 4 rounded ears at each corner. Mount the engine to that with your #2 screws. Make an identical firewall either out of 1/8" or thicker plywood and glue/assemble that to the fuselage. Then you use rubber bands to hold the engine to the model by wrapping rubber bands around the ears, so the engine will give or pop off in a hard "landing" !! It really is the way to go for a trainer. Some one may have pictures posted in this section of Stunthanger to illustrate what it looks like.
  Type at you later,
  Dan McEntee

Jeremy Chinn:
2-56 screws with blind nuts are fine.

#2 wood screws do fine as well. I like Dubro allen head screws for this job.

Jim Roselle:
Thanks guys, both great answers. 

Colin McRae:
I have seen a few Cox 049 models use simple wood screws. But after a bit if time, vibration, oily residue in the mounting screw area, etc., the screws will work themselves loose. Just check them for tightness often.

But if it were me, I would use a bolt-thru method.

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