Tools and Adhesives
Tools etc:
This is a fairly quick and easy plane to build, for a jet model, not requiring difficult tech-
niques or special equipment, but even the building of Skymaster aircraft requires some
suitable tools! You will probably have all these tools in your workshop anyway, but if
not, they are available in all good hobby shops, or hardware stores like "Home Depot"
or similar.
1. Sharp knife (X-Acto or similar)
2. Allen key set
(metric)
2.5mm, 3mm & 5mm
3. Sharp scissors, curved type for canopy
4. Pliers (various types)
5. Wrenches
(metric)
6. Slotted and Phillips screwdrivers (various sizes)
7. Drills of various sizes
8. Battery drill and Dremel tool (or similar) with cutting discs, sanding tools and mills
9. Sandpaper (various grits), and/or Permagrit sanding tools.
10. Carpet, bubble wrap or soft cloth to cover your work bench (most important !)
11. Car wax polish (clear)
12. Paper masking tape
13. Denaturized alcohol, Acetone, or similar (for cleaning
)
Adhesives:
Not all types of glues are suited to working with composite
parts. Here is a selection of what we normally use, and what we can truly recommend.
Please don’t use inferior quality glues - you will end up with an inferior quality plane,
that is not so strong or safe. Jet models require good gluing techniques, due to the
higher flying speeds, and hence higher loads on many of the joints. We highly recom-
mend that you use a slow cured epoxy for gluing highly stressed joints, like the hinges
and control horns, into position and the most commonly used is ‘Aeropoxy’ (Bob Violett
Models, USA). The self-mixing nozzles make it easy to apply. It takes about 1 - 2 hours
to start to harden so it also gives plenty of time for accurate assembly. Finally it gives a
superb bond on all fibreglass and wood surfaces.
1. CA glue ‘Thin’ and ‘Thick’ types. We recommend ZAP, as this is a very high quality.
2. ZAP-O or Plasti-ZAP, odourless (for gluing the clear canopy)
3. 30 minute epoxy (stressed joints must be glued with 30 min and NOT 5 min epoxy).
4. Aeropoxy/Loctite Hysol 3462 or equivalent (optional, but highly recommended)
5. Epoxy laminating resin (12 - 24 hr cure) with hardener.
6. Milled glass fibre, for adding to slow epoxy for stronger joints
.
7. Micro-balloons, for adding to epoxy for lightweight filling.
8. Thread-locking compound (Loctite, or equivalent)
At Skymaster we try our best to offer you a high quality kit, with outstanding value-for money, and as complete as
possible. However, if you feel that some additional or different hardware should be included, please feel free to let
us know.
Assembly & Operation Manual
P-6
