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How do I attach/glue wings/tailplanes without tabs?

Posted: February 6th, 2018, 4:49 pm
by CementNotGlue
I was comparing a new KP Mig-21 with a R.V.Aircraft Mig-21RF in 1/72 scale.

Neither have tabs for easy attachment. Butt joining is new to me. Any tips on creating a strong bond between fuselage and wings are welcome.

C.N.G.

Re: How do I attach/glue wings/tailplanes without tabs?

Posted: February 6th, 2018, 5:04 pm
by iggie
A lot of people would drill into the wings and insert brass rod or metal pins of some type. Then drill corresponding holes into the fuselage mounting point, thread pins through and glue as normal.
Me, as I'm lazy, I just sand the two sides until I'm as certain as possible that the butting surfaces are in as much contact as possible, and then flood with Tamiya Extra Thin, Extra Fast. Hold firmly together and Bob's yer Uncle :grin:
I haven't had any wings glued in this manner fall off yet, but the oldest build I can think of in the cabinets that had butt jointed wings/tailplanes is only about 5 years old :???:

Re: How do I attach/glue wings/tailplanes without tabs?

Posted: February 6th, 2018, 5:22 pm
by fredk
I'm one for drilling and using either metal rods or even just thick pieces of heat stretched sprue

Re: How do I attach/glue wings/tailplanes without tabs?

Posted: February 6th, 2018, 5:46 pm
by JohnRatzenberger
You can use either method above.

Another is to drill a couple holes in each wing root from inside the fuselage, before assembly. Then hold the wing against the root and stick a marker through to make a dot where corresponding hole should be drilled. That helps with alignment, using brass rod or plastic or whatever.

Regardless, make the holes in both wing & fuselage a tad big and use sprue/rod and a hot glue to melt that into the holes; you have a bit of wiggle time to ensure alignment. This is similar to what Fred suggests and also similar to iggie's method, adding just a bit of bracing to be sure.

If using brass rod, then "flood" the holes with CA but use a plastic glue at the wing-fuselage joint.

Re: How do I attach/glue wings/tailplanes without tabs?

Posted: February 8th, 2018, 1:52 am
by CementNotGlue
Thank you!

heat-stretched sprue 'plugs'; alignment via jRatz's method, so between all three of you I have a solution.