RC Tool Kit: Glider Workshop Addition

You will need screwdrivers for a lot of purposes, i.e. installing a servo, taking apart a radio transmitter, fixing a servo arm in place, etc. 

And each task, usually, will require a dedicated screw bit to fit the proper screws. 

Since usually, these are small in size, a mini screwdriver set with 24 bits will cover most of your needs and will save some space for the other tools as well. 

A lot of RC glider pilots sometimes underestimate the importance of a quality cutting mat in their workbench. 

In reality, this is not only an extra layer that saves your desk but also a way to keep your knife blades sharp for longer. 

Usually, these cutting mats have multiple layers and the top one is relatively soft and doesn’t influence the sharp edge of the knife blade while cutting. Especially compared to the wood or laminating materials of the work desk. 

At the same time, it helps with rough measuring of masking tape, thread, etc, while building via the guidelines printed on the surface. This may quickly play a part of a ruler, or an angle ruler when you need it and it’s always at hand. 

Cutting mats come in different sizes, so you can easily pick the one that will fit your desk well. 

A wood plane is a tool used for shaping and smoothing wood surfaces and comes extremely useful while assembling balsa glider kits. Get one for yourself along with a set of spare blades in case you are planning to build a glider with solid control surfaces. 

It will make shaping of these parts very fast and accurate. 

The best application method is to get the basic shape done with a plane and then, finish the surface with fine sandpaper. 

The #1 recommendation here is a unit provided by Master Airscrew. 

To be honest, you won’t need to know how to solder building the most of RC gliders on the market. 

Especially if you buy Receiver-Ready models 😉 

Usually, you can use servo extensions, pre-pinned receivers, etc, but when you will need to switch the connector or repair a wire… 

As well as with the smaller DLGs, sometimes you will need to remove the pins from the receiver and solder your servos right on the Rx board to save space and weight and fit everything into a tiny fuselage. 

So you will need to know how to solder right. 

And with this task, get a practice board to train your soldering skills with something dumb, and not ruin your expensive electronics instead. 

A crimper or a crimp tool will help you make up connectors, just like JR-style, your servos usually have from the factory. 

It is extremely helpful for creating full-house glider wing harnesses, like the one used for Maverick Electric Glider.  

Make sure to get one that is capable of crimping 1.3mm wide connectors. 

In case you would like to create custom length and configuration servo extensions, you will need some cables. 

One of the easiest ways to source good quality servo cables or pigtails (cables with a connector on one end) is to get long servo extensions, say 500mm or 700mm long. And cut them according to your needs. 

On the other side, you can just have a roll of a single conductor silicon cable of various colors and use it instead. 

In the last case, you can play around with colors as you like as well 😉 

And to complete the kit for making your own RC glider wing harnesses you will definitely need some connectors, compatible with the ones your servos have. 

There are some various configurations of these connectors, check the pin count, male-female parts, etc., and get what you need. 

My common choice is a single conductor, and 3-, 4-, 6-pin single row, and 8-pin in two rows for various tasks. 

Nowadays some of the drone part offer so good quality for the money that a lot of them are used in RC gliders. 

Especially, drone motors and ESCs are often used in F5K gliders and other small models like Shaka Flying Wing. 

If the use of the motors is pretty straightforward, some drone ESCs are running advanced BLHeli_32 software and can have a lot of settings configured. 

While in drones there are Flight Controllers handling the connection to the ESC, in RC gliders we usually don’t have these. 

And this is where Arduino Nano Board steps into the scene. 

It can play a role of an FC creating an interface for accessing the ESC settings and programming. With its help you will be able to set up breaks, cut-off voltage, motor timing, configure ESC to work through SBus, and even set up a custom startup tone😉

Get yourself one in case you would like to explore the full capabilities of your RC glider ESC. 

Gluing the servos to the fuselage of a DLG can be challenging and there are a few approaches to it. 

Some people are scrubbing the casing and gluing it straight on, the rest are using some other techniques. 

My preference is wrapping the servo body with masking tape and adding a few lines of thin kevlar thread on top of it before gluing it in place.

This way it makes it way easier to replace the servo if needed by cutting the thread and the masking tape. After it, the servo just slips out of its place freeing up the space for a spare one. 

So it’s good to have at least some kevlar thread in the workshop as well. 

If you are flying RC gliders, you would definitely need a battery charger to top up your flight packs either at home or in the field. 

But since the recent technology developed, the market now is full of multifunctional devices, which ToolkitRC M7 is. 

This is a battery charger, servo tester, signal measuring device, ESC tester, configurable power supply, and the list can go on. 

Also, considering the reasonable price of this device, it’s hard to beat the features packed in it with separate items specified in all these.

There are also more and less powerful ones, depending on your needs, and some with a built-in AC power supply which will be great for the workbench. 

Also, will work great with a 1S Serial Charging Board of your choice.

So you can easily pick the one that suits your needs best. 

If you will get ToolkitRC M7 or other portable chargers that require a DC power input, then the SC100 USB-C to XT60 cable will be a great addition. 

With its help of it, you will turn any USB-C power supply in your house into a power source for your charger. 

Also, it can work backward and power up your USB-C devices from an M7 or other ToolkitRC charger where you would configure the exact Current and Voltage. 

To complement the above, get yourself a GaN wall charger. 

GaN chargers are power adapters that use Gallium Nitride (GaN) as the main component to convert AC power into DC power. 

GaN chargers are smaller, lighter, and more efficient than traditional silicon-based chargers, making them well-suited for use in a variety of applications, including mobile devices, laptops, and other portable electronics.

Some of the GaN chargers listed below feature a USB-C interface with Power Delivery (PD) protocol and are capable of providing 20V 3.2A. 

This will be enough to charge most of the LiPo batteries used in RC gliders as well as your other USB-C compatible devices like Pinecil Soldering Iron, or your laptop. 

A soldering iron is another must-have tool for soldering wires, servos, receivers, sensors, flight controllers, and any other RC electronics. 

There is a variety of choices here, but with the raise of portable soldering irons that can work from various power sources, I strongly recommend Pinecil by Pine64. 

It is powerful up to 88W and portable to work both at a workshop and at the field. 

For the last option, it can work out of the USB-C PD capable power bank or a 3-6S Lipo. Isn’t it great?

A digital scale is one of the things that you will only need to find out the weight of your complete model 😉 

Jokes aside, if you are planning to work with composite materials, carbon fiber, fiberglass, epoxy resin, etc, the fine digital scale will be the first tool you’ll ever use. Epoxy is very sensitive to the proportions you mix it with and scales will help you do it right. 

We recommend choosing some with a fine sensitivity for these tasks. 

On the other side, if you are trying to roughly understand how light your complete glider is, the kitchen scale will do the job just fine. And if you haven’t got them in your kitchen, it’s a good time to get them and make your wife a little happier 😉 

CA glue cures fast, however, sometimes it can be just a little not enough fast for glider building 😉

This is where the CA Kicker steps in. This is usually a splay that you can apply either on the CA you just applied or on the area that will contact the other with applied CA glue. 

CA Kicker makes CA glue cure immediately, leaving no strains, and securing your connection in seconds. 

Comes very handy for quick repairs or assembling the parts of your glider in the fastest way. 

Goop glue is more a universal glue, so it’s commonly used for cable management inside the fuse and other secondary purposes. 

Also can be great to support the torsion springs inserted into the control surfaces.

Masking tape is used for temporarily holding parts in place while the glue dries. It doesn’t leave the sticky glue strains on the surface and is easy to remove.

It is also useful for marking and labeling parts during construction without damaging the original details.

Great for hinges on foam and some balsa models and can also fix a hole in the wing on a field quickly and securely. Make sure to get a roll laying in an easy-to-reach place.