With the plague of Mini-Vapors infesting Waverley, people might be interested in this post on how to fix and balance a split/broken prop. This is about the only real design issue with the Mini-Vapor.
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showpost.php?p=24589086&postcount=1032
Some hints and tips from experienced builders
Laser cut kits
When building with laser cut kits, the balsa fuselage formers often link to the sides by tabs.
Due to the grain these can easily break off.
Before attempting to plug the two together, reinforce these tabs with a tiny drop of THIN CA.
Due to the grain these can easily break off.
Before attempting to plug the two together, reinforce these tabs with a tiny drop of THIN CA.
Wheel retainers
If you have problems with wheels falling off or the tiny "ferrule" holding the motor shaft in place being lost or not-put-backable due to its smallness and big fingers.
Here is a simple solution to both......strip down some electrical cable and use the outer as a keeper. There are many different sizes and white twin cable seems to work fine on 0.8mm music wire. It is pliable and will twist onto music wire without the need for cyano.
If you have problems with wheels falling off or the tiny "ferrule" holding the motor shaft in place being lost or not-put-backable due to its smallness and big fingers.
Here is a simple solution to both......strip down some electrical cable and use the outer as a keeper. There are many different sizes and white twin cable seems to work fine on 0.8mm music wire. It is pliable and will twist onto music wire without the need for cyano.
Tea bag tissue
Take a used tea bag cut off the top-string attachment. Open flat and wash out the tea leaves. This provides a piece of 'tissue-like' material about the size of a business card.
The tea bag tissue has significant wet strength. It can be used with any of the water-based adhesives to reinforce joints or wear surfaces when building with depron foam.
If the construction is the traditional balsa stick and tissue where CA is the adhesive, small patches of tea bag tissue can be used to reinforce the joints. This tissue and CA wets out easily and is almost clear when dry.
Alternatively, the tea bag tissue material can be pre-wet with thin CA and allowed to dry.
Then cut with sharp scissors to create patches and light weight hinges. These stiff little patches are far easier to hold and place in position with aid of tweezers or a pin than dry tissue.
Where the reinforcement is a compound curve surface use dry tissue, to enable the covering to be moulded to the shape
And if you drink Ronnefeldt tea it comes in tea bags called "Tea-Caddy" that are much larger. 10.5cm x 13cm opened out.
Take a used tea bag cut off the top-string attachment. Open flat and wash out the tea leaves. This provides a piece of 'tissue-like' material about the size of a business card.
The tea bag tissue has significant wet strength. It can be used with any of the water-based adhesives to reinforce joints or wear surfaces when building with depron foam.
If the construction is the traditional balsa stick and tissue where CA is the adhesive, small patches of tea bag tissue can be used to reinforce the joints. This tissue and CA wets out easily and is almost clear when dry.
Alternatively, the tea bag tissue material can be pre-wet with thin CA and allowed to dry.
Then cut with sharp scissors to create patches and light weight hinges. These stiff little patches are far easier to hold and place in position with aid of tweezers or a pin than dry tissue.
Where the reinforcement is a compound curve surface use dry tissue, to enable the covering to be moulded to the shape
And if you drink Ronnefeldt tea it comes in tea bags called "Tea-Caddy" that are much larger. 10.5cm x 13cm opened out.
Waterslide Decals
John Bird's tips for waterslide decals.
The stock I use is called 'Folex Inkjet stickyjet clear A4 sheet'. Available from Eckersley's Art and Craft Suppliers 97 Franklin Street Melbourne. I chased around for a long time before I was able to locate a local supplier.
A standard coloured ink jet printer is used to imprint the design onto the special stock.
After the ink has dried, the printed surface needs to be made water-resistant by spraying a couple of coats of
Crystal Clear quick dry lacquer available from Artist supply stores in spray pack ( the same material can be used as substitute for dope on balsa
When the lacquer is cured, the decal can be cut out and lowered in a shallow tray of water.
It will first curl up, then flatten out again indicating the design can be slid off the backing sheet onto the aircraft and smoothed down to squeeze out any trapped air bubbles.
NB. a water-slide decal is not suited to being applied to unsealed (dope) tissue covering. The moisture will cause the tissue paper to wrinkle and the design will be distorted.
The solution is to print direct on to the tissue prior to covering.
John Julian's tip.
You can print tissue directly in a colour laser printer as well if you attach it to a paper backing sheet. It has two advantages in my experience:
1) The result is sharper and the colours are more intense than from an inkjet since the toner does not bleed into the tissue like a liquid ink.
2) They are waterproof.
It is trickier to get a wrinkle free feed though in order to get a uniform print.
John Bird's tips for waterslide decals.
The stock I use is called 'Folex Inkjet stickyjet clear A4 sheet'. Available from Eckersley's Art and Craft Suppliers 97 Franklin Street Melbourne. I chased around for a long time before I was able to locate a local supplier.
A standard coloured ink jet printer is used to imprint the design onto the special stock.
After the ink has dried, the printed surface needs to be made water-resistant by spraying a couple of coats of
Crystal Clear quick dry lacquer available from Artist supply stores in spray pack ( the same material can be used as substitute for dope on balsa
When the lacquer is cured, the decal can be cut out and lowered in a shallow tray of water.
It will first curl up, then flatten out again indicating the design can be slid off the backing sheet onto the aircraft and smoothed down to squeeze out any trapped air bubbles.
NB. a water-slide decal is not suited to being applied to unsealed (dope) tissue covering. The moisture will cause the tissue paper to wrinkle and the design will be distorted.
The solution is to print direct on to the tissue prior to covering.
John Julian's tip.
You can print tissue directly in a colour laser printer as well if you attach it to a paper backing sheet. It has two advantages in my experience:
1) The result is sharper and the colours are more intense than from an inkjet since the toner does not bleed into the tissue like a liquid ink.
2) They are waterproof.
It is trickier to get a wrinkle free feed though in order to get a uniform print.
