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Building Tips and technical articles. => 1/2 A building. => Topic started by: Chancey Chorney on August 13, 2007, 10:21:06 PM
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Hi there. I would just like to ask what the best way to get nice hinges on a 1/2a model. It is 1/8" sheet balsa. I have two planes waiting to have this done before continuing. I have used elmers and ca before with nylon, but they were far from looking good. I also plan on one of th emodels to be my first all dope finish to try as all the ones I seen here looked very nice. I used to work in a body shop so my others were 'paint and primer' jobs when materials were at my fingertips. Thanks in advance.
Chancey
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My preferences are the good ol' Cloth Over-and-Under hinges, or Figure-8 hinges with Carpet Thread. My cloth hinges are made from un-inked typewriter ribbon, nylon, about .006" thick. They practically disappear under a dope finish!
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Square fig 8 stitches per the Min modeller method. I always used ribbon till I saw this and I hated getting the glue all over the place (makes for rough fingers, made my wife pissy mw~). The stitching method is clean and easy, and can be repaired in the field if you have a bad crash, which happens to me often n~.
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...My cloth hinges are made from un-inked typewriter ribbon, nylon, about .006" thick. They practically disappear under a dope finish!
I have some of that from a typewriter factory in Lexington. I think it was discarded from a process where the ribbon was inked and transferred to smaller spools. It was given to me long ago (late 50's) and I am still using it.
Another type of cloth hinge is to glue it to the bottom of the stab and elevator. You must bevel the elevator so it/they can be pivoted from the bottom for a close fit. I used this method a lot on Scientific kits. It looks nice when viewed from the top! ;D
George
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I do figure 8 hinges, but use dental floss. Never had a failure.
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Definitely dental floss.
I even use it on 60 powered planes - NEVER had a failure.
Bob Z.
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Hi! I'm not really a 1/2 A builder but I read about this someplace...
Tyvex.
You know those plastic envelopes you get things shipped to you in. The ones you can't tear to open. V E R Y thin, and extremely strong. Cut them into little "over/under" style hinges and cement in place. This material is so thin, I'll bet you'd never see them under a couple of coats of dope.
W.
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Mono-kote over/under.
Cut a couple strips of mono-cote 1" wide, flip one over and overlap the adhesive side by 1/8 - 3/16".
Use a trim iron and stick them together. Cut the joined strips into 3/4" wide hinges, and put them on like regular over/under style.
They are so thin they practically disapear, and seal the hinge line as a bonus. If you scuff them with a scotch brite pad to remove the gloss they take primer fine, and you can paint over them.
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Well thanks all for the input and advice. I have actually fell off the building wagon for a while but actually did hinge 2 elevator surfaces this weekend using a thin fabric and dope. Turned out very well in my opinion for a first time. I am now in process of mounting to fuselage but will post pics as soon as I have a few minutes and they're mounted to get a few opinions of what I did right and wrong. Thanks again.
Chancey
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Hi there all. Just took these photo's. I would appreciate if someone let me know if I did it alright, or where I went wrong if I did. Thanks.
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Looks good to me. I usually butt the hinges up against each other rather than leaving the small gap between, but your way works just as well.
Hope you're not using a light (color) finish 'cause that ink will bleed. Maybe seal it with some clear first.
Show us some finished pics when you get there?
--Ray
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Thanks Minnesotamodeler. It makes me feel a bit at ease now. Thanks for the bit about keeping them tighter. Will definately do that on the next ship. This was practice as my next will be a scratch Pinto (probably after x-mas) and I want it looking 100%. As for the bleed through, it hit me just as teh dope hit the markers. I should have known better as I am a bodyman and it happens on cars too! Thanks again.
Chancey