RADIO CONTROL SLOPE SOARING
Dave Garwood, 5 Birch Ln., Scotia, NY 12302; E-mail: [email protected]
The "Building With Speed and Efficiency" article in the November 2004 MA hit a responsive chord, and more readers responded to that topic than to any other article or column published in 2004. It looks as though we have some builders out there. The tips presented in that article were:
- Thoroughly read the kit instructions.
- Review the tools you'll need.
- Gather building supplies and materials.
- Is this the time for shop improvements?
- Make sure you have all small parts you'll need in stock.
- Follow logical procedures.
- Prepare your finishing supplies and materials.
- Keep safety in mind.
- Get help if needed.
- Make building an enjoyable time.
During the time I've spent in my basement workshop this winter, six more topics have come to mind. Four of those relate to storing and protecting delicate equipment, which help keep our tools and instruments in good condition.
I'm trying to practice the "A place for everything, and everything in its place" doctrine because finding a tool quickly and having it clean and in serviceable condition makes my building work go smoothly with fewer headaches.
The remaining items cover shop solvents, which are used for cleanup and to keep tools in good shape for their next job, and the wide variety of tapes available to help in enjoying our hobby.
11) Stock storage boxes on shelves
To reduce the search time for items I keep available, I made a dedicated storage region for medium-size parts and tools such as the soldering iron and collections of small parts such as servos.
I was wasting time and pulling my hair out finding a servo I knew I had and searching for heat-shrink tubing — "I know I have it around here somewhere." There is no point in stocking tools, supplies, and materials if you can't find what you have in stock, and you have to go to the store anyway to advance a project.
The boxes I have were being discarded at work—too good to throw away—so I began collecting them, keeping them out of the landfill. After all, reuse beats recycling. I purchased two sets of medium-duty steel shop shelves at Kmart and combined all of the shelves into one set of uprights. In a 12 x 30-inch corner of the shop I now have 48 medium boxes and a few larger boxes on the bottom shelf. Now, if I can remember that I put the tool, part, or supply material in a box and labeled it, I can find it by just reading the labels.
Similar white boxes may not be appearing in the trash at your workplace, but if you like this idea you can order Indestructo Mailers (part 114596R2) from Ship-It, 300 Eagle Way, Twinsburg, OH 44087. The company's Web site address is www.shipitcatalog.com. Since 100 is the minimum quantity you can order, you may want to split an order with a modeling friend.
12) Put small parts in section boxes
More and more I've been keeping tiny parts in sectioned plastic boxes. This makes nuts, bolts, clevises, etc., much easier to locate. I've gotten the boxes from Kmart and mail-order suppliers. Fishing-equipment suppliers offer a great variety of sizes.
I've come to like the softer plastic boxes more than the harder plastic boxes because they resist damage (cracked tops, broken hinges) better. Two designs I like are the "Hobbico Parts Box 7x4x1 w/Adjustable Compartment" (item LXRH17) and "Hobbico Parts Box 11x7x2 w/Adjustable Compartment" (item LXRH18) from Tower Hobbies at www.towerhobbies.com. The smaller of those will fit inside the white paper boxes on my shelves. I've never been so organized!
13) Use resealable bags
For small- and medium-size parts that need extra protection, including moisture resistance, it's hard to beat zip-close bags. I purchased "Minigrip Mini Assortment Pak 4 mil" (SKU 090282R2) from Ship-It. I find the 4 mil-thickness bags much tougher than the 2 mil bags and well worth the extra cost. This assortment pack has met my needs for more than three years, even after giving bunches away to my wife and her thread-bender friends and to other modelers.
Uline Shipping Supply Specialists (www.uline.com) also sells recloseable bags. I've seen them in smaller quantities at hardware stores.
14) Store delicate equipment in hard cases
Often our equipment and tools need to be protected from knocks and bumps. I keep transmitters and cameras in pistol cases that come from Kmart and shooting-supply stores. They protect the gear with foam inserts. My VOM multimeter is protected in a smaller hard case that came from a surplus equipment supplier.
15) Keep shop solvents in stock
These are extremely useful for cleaning tools and parts, and I use several of them. I like to start with the gentlest solvent and progress to something more volatile and aggressive in its dissolving power if the milder product fails at the task.
- Isopropyl alcohol: Also called rubbing alcohol, it is safe enough to rub on your skin, yet it will dissolve many materials and clean quite a few messes, including excess epoxy before it cures. It's available at drug stores and grocery stores.
- Mineral spirits: Also called paint thinner for some oil-based paints, this is a mild chemical that cleans numerous things, including many petroleum-based materials, better than alcohol. Get it in a hardware-store paint department.
- Goo Gone (Magic American Corporation): The only solvent I've found that will remove old, hardened hinge-tape residue without damaging a painted finish. It's as close to a universal modeling solvent as anything I've found, so I keep a bottle in the toolbox and in the shop. It's available at home-supply stores, hardware stores, and some grocery stores.
- Coverite Ironex: Works well at removing excess adhesive from a covering iron or a freshly covered model, and it's the best solvent I've found for cleaning accumulated adhesive and general goop from shop scissors. Get it at the hobby shop or from Tower Hobbies.
- Acetone: Available in the paint department at hardware and home-supply stores. It's highly volatile and flammable, and it tends to dry your skin, but I can't think of anything I've tried it on that it hasn't dissolved. Acetone is the active ingredient in cyanoacrylate dissolver and many nail-polish removers; those materials can be purchased at the hobby shop or the drugstore. Straight acetone is a powerful solvent—use it with caution.
16) Make use of special tapes
I used to think the modern world was held together by threaded fasteners, but now I know it's secure with tape. We use a lot of tape in model building, and it seems like the more specialty tapes you have, the more you need. The ones I use often enough to have restocked are as follows.
- Masking tape: For masking paint, keeping glue away from places I don't want it, and making labels. I find the quality of name-brand tape worth the extra cost. Masking tape tends to harden in time and should be removed as soon after application as practical.
- Color cellophane packing tape: Works great for decorating foam Combat wings, as well as for sealing shipping boxes.
- Filament tape (strapping tape): Used where and when I need something tougher than cellophane tape, including for stiffening and strengthening EPP-foam model airframes. Bidirectional strapping tape has filaments running in two directions, 90° apart, and provides strength and stiffness in both directions. I particularly like the bidirectional tape for forming wing LEs and for hinging ailerons on foams. If it's not available locally, you can order it from Fast-Pack.com at www.fast-pack.com.
- Mylar hinge tape: The best material to use for attaching ailerons and flaps to sheeted foam-core wings. It has an extremely aggressive adhesive and generally can't be repositioned once it's stuck down, so apply this tape carefully. It resists deterioration from sunlight, so it lasts a long time in service. When removed, the adhesive residue can be cleaned up with Goo Gone.
- Scotch 845 Book Tape: A high-quality, clear material that looks like cellophane packing tape but is tougher and lasts longer without its adhesive hardening and loosening. I have used it as hinge tape when I have run out of the Mylar hinge tape. I get mine at an office-supply store.
- Double-stick thin foam servo-mount tape: Wonderful for mounting not only servos, but switches and other small items. It sticks best to nonporous surfaces, so if you're mounting a servo to a wood surface, seal the wood grain with sanding sealer or thin cyanoacrylate glue.
I'll close this month with a quote, although I'm not sure who to attribute it to: "The world is moving so fast these days that the man who says it can't be done is usually interrupted by someone who is doing it."
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
