Lightening the 500 series

[joecrouse]

What do you guys use to do it? I now know a low speed regular wood drill bit doesn't work as well as I had hoped (now I have to make a new 4th fuselage former former for my Spitfire)

In hind sight maybe a smaller bit and working up to the larger would work but if there is a better shortcut I'd love to hear about it. The wood I have is plenty hard and about 10 - 11 lb cubic foot, with proper lightening it might make a decent flyer. If I lighten the back enough and keep the front heavy.

[ADW 123]

a lot of guys do something called scalloping the formers. this is simply taking different sized dowles with sandpaper around them (i like using files) and sanding the formers in between the stringers to get a U shaped dip inbetween the stringers. if you search the forum im sure you can find all sorts of stuff on it.

[joecrouse]

Was hoping to do lightening from the inside. drilling out holes in things like wing ribs and formers.

[winger]

I bought a 1/8th Makita drill bit and drill the holes by spinning the bit with my fingers. A little time consuming but it works well. Be sure to lay like parts together (wing, stabilizer, formers.) at least until you make a mark on the bottom one to maintain balance.

[scigs30]

I have built all the 500 series and other than the Stuka they all fly pretty good. Drilling holes in the structure is not going to save much weight, it is just a lot of work for a little benefit. If the wood is too heavy it is probably faster and better to just cut out new parts without modifying them or call Guillows for lighter wood. If you want to use the heavy wood and make it lighter, you can shave the wood with an X acto knife and that will save weight. Personally if the wood is between 8-14 lb/ft, I just use the wood as is. If the sheet is too heavy I just call Guillows for replacement wood. I think Guillows is doing better with the newer kits, but there is still a lot of old stock out there with crushed oak. I have stopped buying the old kits and now only buying the laser cut kits as they come out.

[joecrouse]

To bad I never get to see how the wood is before buying the kit. And I can only get what is available at the hobby shops. (Working in IT has made me paranoid about how loosely data is handled anymore to buy stuff online working in IT has made me a luddite)

[cliffm]

I got a Visa debit card at wal-mart that costs $3 a month and that solves all that personal data fear. It's about the cheapest plastic you will find and you can be practically anonymous. I like the idea of having a local hobby shop but the money you will save shopping on-line by far outways the sentiment.