1940 Scientific Mercury

[coachman]

Hello,

I recently completed an electric Scientific Mercury kitted in 1940, six years before I was born Amazingly better than 80% of the wood in the kit was still in usable condition. It always surprises me how such a large model, with a 6 foot wing span, can come out of such a small box LOL

Frank

[kyleservicetech]

Originally Posted by coachman

Hello,

I recently completed an electric Scientific Mercury kitted in 1940, six years before I was born Amazingly better than 80% of the wood in the kit was still in usable condition. It always surprises me how such a large model, with a 6 foot wing span, can come out of such a small box LOL

Frank

That must have been a lot of little bitty pieces. Reminds me of a Piper Cub I built from scratch some 12 years ago. Way, way to many pieces

[coachman]

Originally Posted by kyleservicetech

That must have been a lot of little bitty pieces. Reminds me of a Piper Cub I built from scratch some 12 years ago. Way, way to many pieces

Beautiful model and yes I can see there were more than a few pieces of lumber involved The worst part on the Mercury was all the parts were printed on the wood and some were quite faded making cutting them out interesting, to say the least. I couldn't help but wonder how my father, an avid modeler before and after WWII, managed to build kits like this with only a razor blade and Ambroid cement.

Frank

[kyleservicetech]

Originally Posted by coachman

Beautiful model and yes I can see there were more than a few pieces of lumber involved The worst part on the Mercury was all the parts were printed on the wood and some were quite faded making cutting them out interesting, to say the least. I couldn't help but wonder how my father, an avid modeler before and after WWII, managed to build kits like this with only a razor blade and Ambroid cement.

Frank

That brings back memories, Ambroid cement. The stuff that for me, warped just about every balsa joint I made.

Nowdays you've got epoxy, CA, Titebond or that yellow carpenter glue, and a few other types of adhesives. A lot of my stuff is glued together with Titebond glue. Works well, is actually a bit lighter than CA (by actual test), and is nearly as strong as epoxy. Epoxy is generally the 30 minute stuff when used in high stress areas.

[coachman]

Originally Posted by kyleservicetech

That brings back memories, Ambroid cement. The stuff that for me, warped just about every balsa joint I made.

Nowdays you've got epoxy, CA, Titebond or that yellow carpenter glue, and a few other types of adhesives. A lot of my stuff is glued together with yellow carpenter glue. Works well, is actually a bit lighter than CA (by actual test), and is nearly as strong as epoxy.

Carpenters glue was the only glue, aside from epoxy, that worked on the mercury. I tried to use CA but the wood was so dry it just soaked up even the thick CA. Soooooo I went back to what worked in the good old days.....pre-glue every joint with carpenters glue, let 'em dry then glue the parts together. The only difference between Ambroid and carpenters glue...............carpenters glue doesn't smell up the whole house LOL