On 7 Dec 2006 07:47:00 -0800, "jls" wrote:


wrote:
[...]
I still prefer resorcinol for props. And as shown above, it is still
locally available. However, given our weather, Weldwood 'Plastic
Resin' does just fine for most everything else.

Despite the recent FAA warnings, if you'll check the provenance of the
failures that prompted the warning against urea-formaldehyde glue (ie,
Miles 'Messenger' and deHavilland 'Mosquito,' both in tropical
Australia) and compare that to the conditions under which Fly Baby's
(and others) enjoy here in the States, I think you'll see why I
continue to use it, at least until I hear of a documented case of
Weldwood 'Plastic Resin' failure. (Hint: If you want it to last,
don't leave your plywood-skinned bird parked out in the open, on the
equator, for four years.)

I've worked on three Fly Babies, two from the eighties and one from the
seventies. Their glue joints were sturdy, and one of them had had some
awful rough landings which broke the 4130 landing gear and ruined some
of the welded steel fuselage attach fittings. Best I could tell the
glue in all three was resorcinol. Pete Bowers is an honored immortal
for designing such a great little wooden airplane that can flare 20
feet off the deck and still remain intact.

Somewhere in Ron Wanttaja's literature I read of a Fly Baby
cartwheeling and the wings did not collapse. Fuselage was damaged but
the pilot lived to tell the story.

http://www.bowersflybaby.com/safety/horsten.html

Last report I had is that the pilot and his adult son were building another Fly
Baby....

Ron Wanttaja