Elmer's Glue By James Goss     Elmer's all-purpose wood glue is familiar to all of us modelers in the R/C hobby. I have always used it as primary and secondary glue for all size models. When cured it will bond balsa and ply as good as any glue. Test it by bonding two pieces of half-inch balsa together, let it set over night and try to pull them apart. The wood will let go before the glue will. Some modelers will not use it because it is a water base and they think it might let go if it gets wet. Just the other day I saw where a modeler said he would not use white glue on large Robart hinges in his giant scale planes because he thought that the due on the grass might get on his hinges and they would pull out. To test his concept I glued two ½ inch pieces of balsa with a moderate amount of Elmer's. I let it cure for 24 hours and then placed it under water for three days. When I removed it from the water the balsa was really water logged, but you could not pull the two pieces apart. This was amazing to me because on two flat surfaces I thought it probably would pull apart. So when used on our models there is no chance that the glue joint will get as wet as the test balsa did. I feel just as confident when I use Elmer's on my planes as when I use epoxy. As a matter of fact, some of the giant scale kit manufacturers recommend using carpenters wood glue instead of epoxy.      For example, when building a fuselage you can tack glue all the formers with ca glue to hold then in place until you get them all set in place. Apply Elmer's to all joints and then wipe the joint with a paper towel. It is important to wipe the joints, not to just remove the excess glue, but to force the glue into the joint and under the formers. When you tack the joint with ca you just put a spot here and there so as to not block the joint access for the primary glue. If you were going to use epoxy you would follow the same procedure.      Elmer's glue is so much faster than epoxy and it cost less to use than does epoxy. Don't need any mixing cups and cleanup is with water, can't beat that!  I still use epoxy for all power gluing. I give the name power gluing to all the up front components that really need to be strong, such as the firewall, landing gear blocks, motor box, and so on. When using Elmer's glue the most common mistake is to use too much glue. This will actually weaken the joint and create a long curing time. You would be amazed at how little glue is actually requires to do the job. When bonding two flat pieces of balsa I spread the glue on both pieces of wood, I then wipe it with a paper towel and remove most of the glue, the wood is almost dry, this will make the best bond you can get.