Saturday, April 9, 2016

Estes Hi-Flier XL, #3226 Build, Part 10, Engine Mount Glue Position

First up - an apology to "Anonymous". He posted a comment about papering fins.
On my comments page, the buttons are close together and I inadvertently hit the delete button. His comment is gone! 
Anonymous, please add your comment back and I will post and respond to it. Thanks!

And back to the build, a general comment -  Most of the HiFlier XL posts are geared toward newer builders. Some of the more experienced might pick up an idea or two. My techniques might not agree with yours. That's fine, these posts are just food for thought.

I used a marked dowel to apply a line of glue inside the rear of the body tube.
I concentrate on the front centering ring location. The dowel is marked a little short, below the final resting point of the ring. That pencil mark is the depth gauge for the glue ring location.
A ring of glue is then applied inside the tube. Place a drop on the end of the rounded dowel, set the dowel in the body tube up to the marked line. Roll the glue around the inside of the tube.
After you have a visible ring of glue in the tube, slide the mount into place. Don't wait - the glue is already setting up!


When the engine mount is almost all the way in, the mount is turned so the interior glue line is evened out into a smooth fillet.

With the engine mount in the final position, the two tube ends are even.
The last "press" in is done with the flat side of my sanding block, making sure both tube ends are even.

Right now the only glue is above the upper centering ring.

A glue fillet was applied inside and below the lower ring with a Q-tip. A single drop is set into the joint and smoothed out with the swab.
It usually takes four or five drop applications to get the glue all the way around the ring/tube joint.

2 comments:

  1. I do the same thing Chris, but I use an old Testors paint brush for the application of glue. I find it holds glue better and more of it. If the engine mount is too long (HPR can be built with glue, too), I tape the brush to a sick and mark up the stick.

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  2. Another thing I do, when I am not too afraid of the mount seizing up, is pushing the mount in half way, then applying another ring of glue to the end of the tube. When the mount is pushed all the way in, this will create a fillet on top of the rear centering ring, as well.

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