Tools and Adhesives
Tools etc:
This is a fairly quick and easy plane to build, for a jet model, not requiring difficult techniques or special equip-
ment, 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 (high quality - recommended)
10. Carpet, bubble wrap or soft cloth to cover your work bench (most important !)
11. Car wax polish (clear)
12. Paper masking tape
13. Denaturised alcohol, Acetone, or similar (for cleaning joints before gluing)
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 recommend 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 exactly the required amount, in exactly the right place, and
it will not run or flow onto places where you don’t want it! It takes about 1
- 2 hours to start to harden so it also gives plenty of time for accurate as-
sembly. Finally it gives a superb bond on all fibreglass and wood surfaces. Of course there are many similar glues
available, and you can use you favorite type.
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
