::slopeflyer.com:: Silicone Hinges - A great way to hinge your control surfaces.

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Silicone Hinges - A great way to hinge your control surfaces.
By Greg Smith
Jul 26, 2002, 12:01

Silicone Hinges

This is a great way to hinge your control surfaces that is fast, strong and clean. Just a few tips to help make your first experience go well. These tips were gathered from various sources and reflect the experience of the individual modeler. Most tips were reported by more than one person.

The general steps are:

Finish off the front side of the control surface and back side of the wing where the control surface will reside. I have had good luck with micro baloons and epoxy.

Tape the control surface in place with regular masking tape over the entire length of the control surface you are hinging. Leave approximatly a 1/16” gap between the control surface and wing.

Make sure the tape is pressed down well so that no silicone will seep through.

Open the control surface and run a bead of RTV silicone 1/16” - 1/8” (depending on the size of the control surface). This is done on the inside of the control surface.

Use your finger or a small rounded piece of wood to spread the silicone uniformly.

Wipe any excess off now. It is a lot easier to remove before it cures.

Close the control surface to it’s neutral position and let it cure for 24 hours.

Check the tips below for some additional info we’ve collected.

What kind of tape should I use?
Standard masking tape will probably work the best. It seems best to use a tape that is a bit porous to help the silicone directly under the tape cure. One person said that using the blue painters masking tape affected curing of silicone (GE Silicone 2).

I did a test bead of silicone on the sticky surface of the blue tape and the side contacting the adhesive did seem to cure less than the side of the bead not touching adhesive. A control of regular masking tape and GE Silicone 2 did better with both sides curing about the same.

What silicone do I use?
A couple of reports note poor results with the GE Silicone 2, one in combination with blue painters tape (is it the tape, the silicone or the combination). The second try with GE Silicone and regular masking tape worked better.

Should I practice?
Yes, getting a feel for how the bead comes out of the tube or gun is important. It may be prudent to do a test hinge or two w/different tapes/silicones and use what works best for you.

How do I clean silicone off of surfaces when I screwed up first hinges?
What seems to work is first, a lot of old fashioned elbow grease, carefully scraping off most of the silicone. Then use Goo Gone on surfaces and finally clean w/warm soapy water. After cleaning this way you should be able to re-tape the surface (some said tape wouldn’t stick to surface due to silicone residue) for applying new silicone hinge. Make sure you check Goo Gone on an inconspicuous place to see how it affects the finish.