🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <73097@cup.portal.com> sbixby@cup.portal.com (Steven W Bixby) writes:
|
|>I am just finishing a Super Sportster 40.  The last thing that I need to do
|>is glue the canopy to the fuselage.  The instructions mention using CA glue
|>but I was wondering if epoxy or some other glue might be better.  Also, 
|>should I glue the canopy to the monocote or should I cut the monocote where
|>the canopy touches the fuselage?  I would appreciate any advice or personal
|>experiences.
|
|I would choose to use thin CA, very sparingly and slowly.  The idea is to
|let the minimum amount of glue dry completely before adding more to a 
|joint - otherwise, the fumes from to-quickly-curing glue will fog up the
|canopy.  

If you use oderless CA, like "UFO", you will not craze the plastic.

My favorite method is to cut the covering (if plastic) and use "RC-56"
glue.  You can make a nice bead, and it looks great.  (But careful about
your fingers--the stuff actually softens the canopy plastic temporarily,
and you can leave a permanent fingerprint if you're not careful.)

|If you stuck down the monokote well, it will make a great gluing surface
|for the canopy - if you tacked the edges and used a heatgun to shrink
|the center flush (no scratches, etc), then I'd suggest using the iron
|to firmly tack at least the area where the canopy will touch before
|gluing.

That also goes if you plan on cutting away some of the monokote--tack
it down around the edges of the cut before gluing down the canopy.

I *always* tack Monokote to all wood it touches.  If you sand well, and
vaccuum it after, and use a sock on your iron, it looks fine.  And it
doesn't sag so easily.

|If you want to trim back the monokote under the joint, you'll know the
|joint is as strong as it can be, but it looks a little messier, IMHO.
|But you can keep it neat, and just use a trim stripe over the joint
|to finish it off; something I'd do for plastic-to-monokote, too.

Always looks better if you trim the glue joint, no matter what method
you use.

		Dave Svoboda, Palatine, IL