🚀 go-pugleaf

Hi,  name is John Moonan and I have just recently started following this 
newsgroup.  However, I have been building and flying models for about 40 years.
I am currently the club secretary for the 495th R/C Squadron.  We operate in
northeast Mass and southern NH, centered on Lowell, MA and currently have 3
active fields, 2 for wet power and 1 for gliders/electrics.  I also operate
the club's BBoard system.  All are welcome to use it.  It operates 24 hrs/day,
365 days/yr and can be reached at (508) 448-3483.  I am currently investigating
a way of tying a news feed to the BBoard so that my local users can get access
to this news group.

Several of the recent discussions were interesting and I thought I would try
to post my own comments/opinions.

Monokote/Super Monokote:  When Monokote originally came out about 20+ years ago
it had a contact adhesive on the back and was very low shrink.  You actualy 
applied it over silkspan.  This material is still available but they now call 
it Trim Monokote.  Super Monokote came out years later and is what is available
today.  They have just dropped the Super moniker as it is no longer needed to
distinguish it from the original Monokote.  I have also heard the Great Planes
bought out Top Flight and are now the manufacturer of Monokote.  One thing I
and several members of my club have noticed is that the colors have changed and
don't seem as opaque as they used to be.

OS40FP vs OS46SF:  For a trainer, I would definitely go with the FP.  Why?
There is more than just a difference in the bearing between these engines.  If
you will look at the carb intake diameter you will see that the SF is much 
larger than the FP.  That is because the SF is designed with different timing 
for operation a much higher RPMs.  This also makes it more difficult to set up
and adjust for a beginner.  The FP has better fuel draw and will be much more
forgiving of a sloppy tank/fuel installation.  The FP should have plenty of 
power for any trainer and because of its smaller carb will be much easier to
set up and adjust.  I have been flying a Train-Air 40 with a 40FP off of a
grass strip and there is no lack of power to get off the ground and do any
manuever that the airframe is capable off.  Most of the time you have to fly
throttled back anyway.

Glues:  When I started out in this hobby everyone used Ambroid or Duco glues.
They worked OK but were heavy and tended to warp light sheeting due to
shrinkage as they dried.  We then advance to the aliphatic resin glues, e.g.,
Titebond.  These are not the white glues (like Elmers) but are of an amber 
hue.  i still use Titebond where I need a long set up time but don't require 
epoxy's strength.  Epoxies came next and were used for hardwood to hardwood
joints that needed extra strength and vibration resistance (motor mounts).
Epoxies however tend to be heavy so I use them as little as I can.  Most 
recently came the CAs (actualy they first came out from Kodak some 25 years
ago but were prohibitively expensive).  Thin CA is the glue of choice where
you have a good tight balsa to balsa or balsa to hardwood joint.  Thick CA is
used where the joint isn't that tight or where you need longer setup time,
e.g., sheeting a wing leading edge.  If the fumes from CA bother you most
CA manufacturers now sell odorless variants.

					THANX, John Moonan
					SYSOP, 495th R/C Squadron
					Groton, MA