Hi. My name is Curtis Enlow. And on behalf of Expert Village I'm going to show you how to plan, setup and equip a work area for radio control models.
In addition to all of the mechanical tools, you're going to need some electrical tools as well. You'll find yourself soldering connections for batteries, possibly making your own wire harnesses for radios, that sort of thing. So, you're going to do a fair amount of soldering with RC Models.
This is a twenty-five watt soldering pencil. And, that's the minimum I would recommend. You really don't need a lot larger than that. With excessive heat, you'll actually wind up damaging components. And, since you'll only be soldering usually wires and small connectors. You really don't need more than this.
I highly recommend getting the kit with the stand, that way your soldering iron isn't just laying around, rolling around, burning things and possibly yourself. Plus, it has a well with a sponge. Which, is really handy and absolutely necessary for cleaning the tip of the solder iron when you're using it. So, I would recommend this. And, it's available for a pretty reasonable price.
Also, you'll need a variety of heat shrink tubing. This is great for insulating the ends of battery connectors, that sort of thing. You'll definitely need some of this. You really don't want to use electrical tape. Electrical tape is just not reliable.
Some desoldering wick is really handy when you need to take solder joints apart for whatever reason. Maybe, you've made a mistake or you're rewiring something. Desoldering wick is really important. It comes with instructions on how to use it. And, it's a nice thing to have.
As far as soldering, you need rosin core solder, never ever use acid core flux solder. It will damage the electrical components. Make sure you have rosin core solder.
Now, something I like to have on the side is rosin soldering paste. And, you can get this again is at most electronic supply outlets. This rosin allows for solder to flow easily through a joint. Helps you achieve a better solder joint. It's just a really handy thing to have. If you use a paste, be prepared to use some sort of solvent that will clean that up. And, the electronics outlet store will have some of that as well.
Of course, you'll need a pair of small wire snips to go along with all that. And, something I neglected to mention earlier is this small mensinger scale. These are great for a lot of purposes. Of course, it's at a perfect ninety degree angle. And, so this is really handy for aligning a lot of things on your models. And, if you can pick one of these up it's a great tool to have.
