MATERIALS & SUPPLIES
Fuselage:
The fuselage for most of the designs is made from 2.5inch square plastic rainwater down pipe. You can buy this at most DIY chains (Homebase, B&Q, Focus etc) for about £7 a length. This pipe is very easy to work with and can be cut easily with a hacksaw or Dremel type tool with a disc cutter, however be prepared for a bit of mess. For the more adventurers amongst you it is possible to make the fuselage from Correx (see plans) There is one plane where the fuselage is made from a plastic baseball bat but as yet I have been unable to source one of these to try it.
Wings, tailfins etc:
Wings, tailfins, vertical stabilizers and ailerons are made from Correx, This is a fluted plastic board that most of you will recognize as the material used by estate agents to make their "FOR SALE" signs. This is available in many colours and comes in 8ft x 4 ft sheets. The size's we need are 2mm & 4mm thick, as yet I have only been able to get 4mm & 3mm and have used 3mm where 2mm was required with out any problems. You may be able to get off cuts or full sheets from your local sign writer. I have found a company in South London near Tower bridge (Europiont display: 0207 231 8711) who can supply 4mm in various colours and 3 mm in white for about £7 a sheet. They have a minimum order of £35 and are willing to deliver. They also sell sign writing vinyl which is great for decorating wings etc. I am still looking for 2mm sheet and will update this site when I have found a supplier. In all the plans you will see that you require "yardsticks" for the spars, I have been unable to find these cheap enough in the UK so have used simple hardwood strips available from most DIY chains for about £2 per 8ft length.
Bulkhead/firewall
I have tried two methods of making firewalls and both have there pros & cons. The first method was using 1/2 inch ply with a piece of 1/8th ply glued to the front to make the lip, these are very easy to cut out and sand to fit. The only drawbacks are they will need fuel proofing and that in time or the event of a "woopsey" they tend to split around the self tapping screws. I now use the plastic type firewalls made from kitchen cutting boards. These have proved to be much stronger, do not need fuel proofing and I think they look neater. The only drawback is you really need a table saw to cut these out especially if you want to step them (recommended) I hope to be able to supply these soon at a cost of about £1 each plus p&p
Undercarriage:
Any 40 size undercarriage will fit. It is possible to make an undercarriage from flat aluminium bar or 5/32 steel rod which can be held on with elastic bands see this link
Adhesives
The biggest problem people have is gluing the wings. To glue Correx to Correx you need to burn out the oil in the board before attempting to glue, this is called flashing and although not hard to do there is a knack to it. It is important that you read the following link regarding the above if you do not want to have problems with wing joints parting etc. Flashing advice
Accessories etc
All the control horns can be made from the off cuts from the fuselage. You will need 1/4 hardwood dowel for the control rods and wing hold downs, Plastic cable ties and double sided servo tape for fixing radio gear, plus a handful of 1/2inch 6 self tapping screws.
As I gather more information regarding suppliers etc I will add it to this site.
