Freewing Supplied Glue for landing gear mounts

[seaviper]

How is the supplied glue in the Freewing kits for gluing the plastic landing gear mounts in to foam wings? I tried white Gorilla glue to no avail. Thinking about epoxy. But I am also thinking of using that no-name glue that comes with the Freewing kits. Has anyone tried it?

[TiredIronGRB]

Use Foam-Tac, it's the best...period.

[RRHandy]

FOAM-TAC FOAM-TAC FOAM-TAC, the best.

[Beeg]

The no name contact cement that comes with the model works really well. I try to save them though to put in my field box.
If you want a different "foam" contact cement you can either use Foam Tac or Bob Smith's Foam Cure. Both work equally well in my opinion. In my experiance Foam Tac will dissolve EPS foam if covered uncured but Freewing and FLRC models are made of EPO so you're good there or make sure you let it air dry for at least a couple minutes before joining. Bob Smith's Foam Cure is silicone based so it's even friendlier with foam. If you don't want to use either of those "foam" contact type cements you can use epoxy which it what I've used on four different FLRC/Freewing models with no problems so far. Use a 15 or 30 minute to minimize heat build up while curing.

[seaviper]

Roger that Beeg. I have been slinging the supplied cement in favor of my favorite glues. But I think I will start using it. It seems to bond really well to the EPO material. I will save them for the field box as well.

[xviper]

FoamTac is my favorite because it sets up quickly and holds like crazy. I find the glue that comes with models to take quite a bit longer to make things really hold together. All my retract mounts have been done with FT and when they break again, it's not where the glue was from the previous repair. I have a huge bag of suplied glue that I've collected. I don't know why I keep them. Maybe have a big glue sniffing party one day?

[putput]

Does anybody know if Foam Tac is safe with the HH foam they use? THey call it Z-foam and is what all of my e-flite planes are made with...

[TiredIronGRB]

Yes, I've used it on them.

[T-CAT]

Foam-Tac glued has really impressed me when used on EPO foam (which now all of my foam planes are made of), wood, plastic, and metal. It adheres well, remains flexible to some degree, and seems to be relatively versatile in regards to binding abilities of numerous surface types. I have found it to eat away at EPS foam as well, just as another person described. Just to be on the safe side, if I have a scrap piece of the same type of foam I'll be adhering the glue to, or a piece I won't be using of the plane, I test the glue on that piece to see its reaction to the surface type.

Thankfully, Foam-Tac has been showing up more often at local stores. For example, my local Hobby Lobby store now carries Foam-Tac, and many times I can use a Hobby Lobby coupon (find the appropriate one) to purchase the glue at a discount, sometimes 40-50% off.

I am also a fan of the supplied glue in the white tube that often comes with many EPO airplanes on the market. It remains flexible to some degree, takes a bit longer to cure (at least it seems that way) than Foam-Tac, is inexpensive (online vendors sell it), and doesn't take too much application to get the job done. I have also found this glue to eat away at EPS foam. Supposedly, like other glues, there's an expiration date. Some say it's a year, but I haven't done any research on that, so I'm unsure.

[Beeg]

T-CAT, I write the date on ALL my glue bottles when I buy them and when I open them. Especially epoxy. After a year of opening I pitch them out. Most of the time I use up the glue before the year is out but sometimes I buy too big a bottle.
I have no idea the shelf life of an unopened glue container is.

[T-CAT]

I do the same just to be on the safe side as I'll never remember when I bought it. Ha-ha :shy:

You also bring up an EXCELLENT point. I used to purchase glue in larger amounts in case I needed it for various projects, and many times I had it expire before even using it. So, I had to keep scaling down the amount I purchased until I made sure I would be using it well before it's purchase date. If I had any doubts, I purposely wouldn't purchase glue until I knew 100% that it was needed for a project. With the local availability of various glues, purchasing it on the spot when I need to get something completed is the safest bet for me.