Tape hinges

[Guest]

Howdy all. Can anyone provide some info on how to use/apply tape hinges on, for exhample, small balsa stabilisers please? I thought I had it sorted with the 'over and under' method but after a few hours it became floppy and saggy, (a bit like me I guess!). I had to strip out the tape and use small plastic hinges which work ok but I'm sure the tape method would be easier when working with a stabiliser that's only 1/8th of an inch thick if only I knew how.

TYA,

Steve.

[Guest]

Howdy Steve,

Ok, first off, let me say I am not an rc modeler and wouldnt know the first thing about them. However, I read your post and got to thinking (you may want to get behind something heavy at this point for your own protection).....anyway, I have a roll of thin aluminum foil tape which is used for sealing duct work in the air conditioning industry and wondered if maybe something like this might be used in your situation. I realize that weight is probably critical in rc models but I know that this particular tape is very strong (its reinforced with aluminum afterall) and wont "sag".

Anyway this was just a thought, dont know if its something that might be helpful or not.

Have a good day,

Greg aka GW

you can do a search in google for foil duct tape for different thicknesses and widths.

[wonwinglo]

Steve,many years ago as a Control line flyer ( yes remember them ? thats how I got to know about starting diesel engines !) we used to use stitching for hinges on small flatplate elevators etc,done carefully it works really well,basically what you do is mark a pencil line along the edge about quarter of an inch in from the hinge line,then load a needle with mums best button thread and start by locking the thread with a knot,then just crisss cross under and over,keep going until you get to the end and then lock with a dab of adhesive,a quick coat of clear dope will stiffen the thread and you have a very nice non mechanical hinge,great also because you get 'no noise' with sensitive radio systems.

The sequence is needle upwards,then under to the tailplane,then up again and down again coming up from the bottom,keep repeating....

I know this does not answer your question about tape hinges but Geedub's method looks fine.

[Guest]

Thanks to you both, some good ideas for me to try.

Steve.