Quoted from Bob Daly

It's my understanding that once properly dried and protected from direct, prolonged contact with liquid water, lumber in a tropical climate with average humidity near 90% reaches an equilibrium moisture content near 20%.  And 20% moisture content is the threshold for fungi growth according to the US Forest Products Wood Handbook.  My opinion is that two months at the threshold for fungi growth is not a concern.  Use of a preservative may very well degrade the epoxy bonds and using a varnish will require sanding off the varnish from mating surfaces before gluing. Of course, once an assembly is completed it should be varnished.

Quoted from Tom

Some kinds of anti-fungal treatments will definitely interfere with bonding.

Tom

Quoted from Phil

Hi Reto,
The project is looking good.. BTW, It was my concerned too especially in tropic country like Philippines..I did applied wood preservatives followed with polyurethane varnish after assemblies.
Phil

Quoted from Phil

Dear Phil
Only now I realize that we must have been neighbours in the Philippines (I am a bit slow at times.. ). Have you been member of ACFC? Thank you for your input, will do the same regarding the treatment.
If I may ask, what kind of Max did you build and where have you been living?
Reto

Quoted from Tom

Dear Reto,
Your local distributor/retailer for WEST System(tm) Products is:
East Marine Co. Ltd.
23/159 Moo 2
Tambon Koh Kae
Phuket 83200
info@eastmarineasia.com
http://www.eastmarineasia.com

The person in charge, I think, is Scott Bradley.  This is their central address but I think they have stores all over Thailand.  Don't be put off by the fact that this is a marine outfit, rather than an aircraft one.  Burt Rutan recommends WEST System epoxy products for building his amateur buildable designs and his company Scaled Composites uses the same company's Pro-Set line of post cure heat treated epoxy for their prototype aircraft and spacecraft.  WEST System and G/Flex are also sold by Aircraft Spruce.  I have used these products since 1977 and highly recommend them.  I am not affiliated in any way with the manufacturers or distributors of these products, though I have corresponded with them on many occasions and supplied technical literature to various people connected with the company and its products.

Tom

Quoted from Ricardo

Here we have over 90% humidity in winter, took me more than 6 years to finish my plane, I epoxy varnished every piece so moisture and fungus  will never enter the wood.

Quoted from Ricardo

Reto:
I used a local epoxy varnish that you should be able to find in your area. That kind of product will last you a life time. It is compatible with T-88.
For covering the plane,I used the Stewart syatem and I sanded off fhe epoxy surfaces on the areas where the Stewart glue had to be applied.
Here's some more shots of the "naked" plane.

Quoted from Bob Daly

It does not matter which way the grain is oriented.  Try to make the surfaces even so the gussets lie flat.  The epoxy will fill a gap so it is not at all critical.

Quoted from lake_harley

I second Bob's comment about the grain orientation not being critical. I had the same concerns and somehere, maybe here or possibly on another forum, someone linked what I recall to be a EAA tech article stating the grain can be oriented horizontally or vertically. So, per that, for what it's worth, is more reassurance for you.

Lynn

Quoted from TreeTopsTom

No apologies, They got off track looking at Ricardos beautiful plane in stick form and forgot
to answer your question. I am not a builder but I would agree with Bob above. Personally I
(if building) would rather see the gussets lying flat and know I got a good evenly distributed
bond. The slight width differences that now would cause a slight difference in the (height) of
each rib would seem to be insignificant in the (big picture). I guess you could clamp a bunch
of finished ribs together with the bottoms all lined up perfectly and carefully sand of some material
from the tops to make them all even by running past a belt sander, but I am not sure even
that matters. Would you really even notice on a covered wing that one or another rib is maybe
taller by a 1/16th of an inch from the one in the next bay? I doubt it. Plus it's not an F-14 fighter
either (LOL). Hopefully that's about the MAXIMUM differences in width (height)we are talking
about anyway. Seems obvious right from the start that you are very detail oriented. That's
going to be a good thing and I am sure in no time you will be posting some photos as
Ricardo has      Hopefully you will have time to look over this boards older threads and
find or decide what small modifications you might think you would like while you are in the
building process. Some things that I have written about & have been talked about and think
are worthy of thinking about might be.......
separate right & left brakes instead of the single brake lever.
Dis-connectable and even separate cables from your pedals to your rudder and tail wheel.
Elimination of the single side rod that controls the tail wheel in favor of springs and chains on two sides.
A SOLID non teleflex elevator control rod. (or there are some designs that have used control horns
and various pivot points and linkages.
These are just a few to think about if you have not already. You can find threads on all of these things
here on this board if you do some searching. Of course you might as well know right now, anytime
you bring up making any changes to the bird you will be getting a lot of posts that tell you to just
stick to the plans. And that's TRUE for the most part. But there is always room for improvement &
you can find many that have done these (improvements) and are very satisfied with the results.      TTT                              

Quoted from superswamper

Reto, I had the same problem. What I did was to try match up the pieces as I was building each rib. one rib might be a tiny bit wider than others. the main thing is that there pretty flat for the gussets. look at the bright side!! you don't have that problem on the other side!!! Its gets a lot easier as you go, and just when you get it figured out your on your number 24

Quoted from superswamper

One other thing you guys were talking about t-88 great stuff. The one problem that I have had is that once the hardener is opened and sits for a few months it turns darker in color, once this happens it takes a lot longer for it to cure. I have glued up pieces and three days later they still felt a little tacky. They eventually harden, but once this happens I always tossed it and bought some more. You got to be careful were you order it from because if it sits on the shelf for a long period of time it could come that way. The first sub kit I got the glue was that way because it was old, thought I was doing something wrong so I ordered a new batch from aircraft spruce big difference! rock hard the next day. If you guys read this and I'm wrong please correct me, this is just my experience here in Florida with very high humidity. Jim