I myself use a straight edge to cut material to width I want.  The material is taped to a cutting surface.  Sharp single edge razor blade or new X-acto blade.  Then cut to length using regular scissors.  Pinking shears leave to many small peices of material raveling away.  I think the old Perfect material had some kind of glazing to keep the threads in place.  The little wife just suggested using spray starch on the polyester to hold the threads in place.  Also my hinges are usually about one inch wide.  Small planes I make them 3/4 inch wide.

Doc,
Gil,

Thanks for the info on cutting hinges.

I purchased a $21 Rotary Cutter from a fabric store.  And, 6 inches by two yards of Polyester material.  The sales lady thought it was an unusual purchase. 

Today, I cut and equal number of 2.25 X 2 inch and 1 X 2 inch strips of polyester material for Flap and Horizontal Elevator hinges.  It took about 45 minutes to cut approximate 80-100 hinges.  Will last for 2-3 aircraft.

Thanks again for the EXCELLENT advice on making hinges.

T Michael Jennings     
Knoxville, TN.

The best cloth hinge job I have ever seen is by Gerry Phelps. He uses Tafeta and I believe he did a write up for SN some years back that was published. Should be an easy find and a good read.

If I may suggest Kevlar hinges. They last forever and you insert them with epoxy and after that you use the back side of the Exacto blade to scour the Kevlar at the hinge line the snap the glue joint and you work it out a bit. They will loosen up more and more and they will not brake. The guys who fly Gliders use this technique on planes that go 300 mi/hour.

Here are my hinges using SIG Coverall cut into strips.

I've posted this picture before but here it is again. This is the stab of my Yoicks using the Tom Dixon fabric hinge method. The hinges were glued on with Testors Green glue but I've also used Sigment and clear dope to apply my hinges on various models. Tom recommends laying a strip of masking tape along the leading edge of the stab hinges and the trailing edges of the elevator hinges. After gluing the hinges on, you carefully cut through the hinge material along the masking tape line. When the tape is removed you have a very neat straight line, which adds to the craftsmanship effect of the work. Hope this helps.

Hi dennis,

I will back up Ty's recommendation for putting a coat of dope on the fabric first.  It really cuts out all the frayed edges!

BTW: Is that the Barracuda John Pond had in AAM back around 1964?  I have had those plans for decades, but never really tried to build one.

Hi dennis,

BTW: Is that the Barracuda John Pond had in AAM back around 1964?  I have had those plans for decades, but never really tried to build one.

Yes it is Pond's Barracuda. It has been sitting for more than a year waiting to be covered. I wanted to do that last summer but it rained enlessly and the humidity was always to high. I plan on finishing it off right after New Years day (can't stink up the house right now as relatives are coming for Christmas). I have to get the Cuda and a couple of other projects fiinished before spring arrives as I have to work on a 1:1 scale project when the weather warms up (see picture below).

What power train?

Although a little off topic Bill (where did I see that name before?)  ...
It has a Geo Tracker belt drive conversion for power. I'm wondering if I should send it to Randy for mods?
The Cuda will have a Rojett BSE .40SE.