Am I getting too technical

[Szyp]

Is there any sense to letting wood from a new kit ( B17G just arrived) sit overnight to acclimate (Good word, huh?) itself to the ambient (there I go again) humidity where I am going to build it?
I know with fancy veneers it is a good idea, but does it apply to balsa? This is my first try back, and I will go slow, interrupted only by my Spitfire-LC when it arrives ( to lower the learning curve), and I want to do it right.

[StefanJ]

I usually let models sit unbuilt for one to five years before I start in on construction.

Not to let the wood acclimate, but because I'm either too lazy, discouraged, or busy to get around to it!

But seriously: I've never heard of having to let balsa acclimate. But it couldn't hurt, right? Give yourself a day to organize the parts, pin out the plans, etc.

Unrelated:

I often let model rockets sit "in primer" for months or even years before I paint them. Again, it is out of procrastination, but it does help to let all of the solvents in the primer (and in fillers underneath the primer) to totally work themselves out. Rushed coats of paint sometimes bubble up because there's still solvent down there.

Not a problem that's ever likely to bother a model plane, except perhaps a heavily coated display model.

[Szyp]

That is true of primer- all kinds- the longer you let it sit and dry, the better the final finish.

[ADW 123]

i see no sense in this. just build it. that is what i do.

[Szyp]

I agree. Too tempting a target to stall....

[BillParker]

Okay, let's say just for fun that the plastic wrap on the outside of the kit box was so perfect that it actually preserved the fully factory airconditioned air from their fully factory airconditioned factory...

Then you might derive some benifit from allowing the kit parts to acclimate to your ambient conditions...

one pin hole in the wrap and you've now lost the fully factory airconditioned air from their fully factory airconditioned factory...

so...

[StefanJ]

one pin hole in the wrap and you've now lost the fully factory airconditioned air from their fully factory airconditioned factory...

Hey, you're a customer of Ralph Spoilsport's Hobby Store!

[Szyp]

Got it!

[BillParker]

Hey, you're a customer of Ralph Spoilsport's Hobby Store!

Ha ha! I wondered if anybuddy would catch that!

Very well done!

NICK: That tarnished piece of tin is worthless!
ROCKY: Worthless?! Ha! Ha! Ha! (cough cough) Not to Melanie Haber!
NICK: Melanie Haber?
ROCKY: You may remember her as... Audrey Farber?
NICK: Audrey Farber?
ROCKY: Susan Underhill?
NICK: Susan Underhill?
ROCKY: How about... Betty Jo Bialowski! (organ fwah)
NICK: (thinking) Betty Jo Bialowski! I hadn't heard that name since college.
Everyone knew her as Nancy. Then it all came rushing back to me like the
hot kiss at the end of a wet fist. It was Pig Night at the Oh Mony Padme
Sigma House. We had escaped from the crowd and stood trembling under the
dwarf maples.

[ADW 123]

um... i must be too young to understand the reference...

[jensheydel]

mmm ...if I may just share an experience. Having flown RC for a few years and having also ordered ARF or RTF stuff made in distant places (like China i.e.) I have come to see that after a few days out of the box these planes will develop a few wrinkles here and there (sometimes quite a few) or already have some, this requires some ironing of the model to get rid of them. Goes without saying that this is due to the various climates a model is exposed to. Now mind you I live in Germany and most of the suppliers here have these kits in their warehouses so one would think they are acclimated but the reality is actually a bit different. Some models were wrinkled up in the box others developed wrinkles after the box was opened.

So the idea of allowing a few days even for balsa to acclimate is really not that bad. Do not underestimate the plastic wrap on those neat kit boxes, though not fully airtight moisture will take a long time to go away if the kit has had exposure to moisture or the other way around.

jens