IMAC JTEC/ Radiowave 3.1m competition series

[Kevin-Young]

yeah, vacuum bagging the foam parts is certainly not required when building the airplane as you can do a great job with just weight.  I actually sheeted two rudders last week and just used weight and the sheeting turned out great.  Some of the best builders I know use just weights when sheeting.  That being said I do find bagging the stuff kind of fun because it is a new experience.  We have done all of our bagged parts with gorilla glue but I think on the next airplane we are going to try epoxy to see the difference and compare the bond to see if the epoxy saturates the carbon tow better.

 

[Alky6]

Thanks everyone for the replies and the support - will definitely be taking advantage of it when the time comes! Music to my ears on epoxy!

Kevin: FWIW on the epoxy and the tow, not sure how well it will do with bonding with the foam wing cores, but, back in the day when I was building my race boats, I used Hysol 9430 (mixes by weight so really easy to batch any size - 9412 is thinner resin for laminating) as it bonds really well with prepreg carbon/aramid honeycomb panels - and pretty much anything. Also wets out really well. Great structural epoxy. It also has a reliable pot life (about 40-45 minutes) and the hardener is red (turns light pink when mixed) so no need to add the dye like Brian does on the west system (great idea BTW). The negative is the hardener has about a year shelf life and it is a bit on the expensive side, but it definitely works! This is something I will have to investigate when I get there. Haven't had a failed glue joint on the race boat and it got abused pretty bad (no wood stringers just panels glued together).

I love this place!

-Paul

 

[IMAC FANATIC]

Monokote done !  On to hinging,  if anyone wants to see a boring robart hinge install, lemme know, if not, well... this stuff takes awhile to get it perfect, at least for me it does.

 

[Pistolera]

Nice....those white stripes make all the difference!!! 

 

[stangflyer]

Pistolera said
Nice....those white stripes make all the difference!!! 

Hooohoo man...ain't that the truth?! She's "purdy"!!!

 

[stangflyer]

IMAC-FANATIC said
Monokote done !  On to hinging,  if anyone wants to see a boring robart hinge install, lemme know, if not, well... this stuff takes awhile to get it perfect, at least for me it does.

Hey, as many as I've put in, it would be like doin' it in the dark. But would still love to see someone else's methods. Bring it on....

 

[IMAC FANATIC]

Thanks guys, the white does make the whole thing come together. Very happy. 

Method is hysol, syringe, vaseline and rubbing alcohol, nothing fancy nothing new.just wondering if there was someone whose never seen the process before.   Always get strange look going into house and asking for the vaseline LoL.

 

[stangflyer]

IMAC-FANATIC said
Thanks guys, the white does make the whole thing come together. Very happy. 

Method is hysol, syringe, vaseline and rubbing alcohol, nothing fancy nothing new.just wondering if there was someone whose never seen the process before.   Always get strange look going into house and asking for the vaseline LoL.

Lol...and if the vaseline isn't enough...add to that the syringe and alcohol. Hee hee

 

[Jetpainter]

Moving right along Brian!

 

[Alky6]

Ok, which hysol?

-paul