The stab and wing tip outlines are cut from balsa strips (at left) and glued together over the plans. Fuselage components (above) cut, laminated, and ready for assembly. Use medium to light density balsa for the fuselage sides. Even soft balsa will be strong enough. Tom sewed the gear wire to the 1
⁄32 -inch
plywood former with soft copper wire. An alternate approach would be to laminate and mold basswood strips over balsa forms. Wing ribs and outlines cut out (below left). Wing and tips completed (below) and ready to assemble.
Off to the bench Fuselage: I cut the fuselage sides from
soft 1⁄16-inch sheet. The sides are a tad less than 41⁄4 inches wide. I butt-glued a pair of 4-inch wide 1⁄16-inch sheets together and got both sides out of the one 8-inch wide sheet. When I butt glue balsa sheets together, I first tape the edges tightly together on one side with masking tape. Then I open the seam on the other side and run a bead of thick CyA glue along the seam. I flatten out the sheets and use a rag to wipe away the excess glue before it kicks. Spritzing with CA Zip Kicker will hasten the process. The fuselage formers will stiffen the flexible sides. I used a bunch of pinpricks to transfer the fuselage side outlines and former locations to the 1⁄16-inch sheet side blanks. I added the locations of the 1⁄16 × ¼-inch wing saddle strips, 1⁄32-inch balsa sheet nose and landing gear doublers, all the formers F-1 through F-6, and the 1⁄32-inch ply motor peg doublers to the inside faces of the fuselage sides. Note: My model climbed under power and
glided well with the wing incidence set at +2 degrees and the stabilizer set at –1 degree. To ensure your wing and stabilizer replicate the incidence I used, make sure you cut the wing and stab mounting surface outlines per the fuselage plan. This may not be the opti- mal decalage configuration, but it worked for me. Next, I marked the rear peg holes, stacked the sides, and drilled 1⁄16-inch diameter holes
FLYING MODELS
through the laminated balsa-ply rear peg supports. The 1⁄16-inch holes serve as pilot holes for the ¼-inch diameter holes that will accept the ¼-inch diameter aluminum tub- ing to retain the rubber. The fuselage formers and forward wing support are a mix of balsa and plywood. The front wing support is cut from 1⁄16-inch sheet, as are two gussets that support it. F-1 is 1⁄16- inch plywood. F-2 is built up from 1⁄16 × ¼- inch hard balsa strips and 3⁄32-inch balsa
sheet. The F-3 instrument panel is cut from 3⁄32-inch balsa sheet. The F-4 landing gear former is built up from 1⁄16 × ¼-inch hard balsa strips and faced with 1⁄32-inch plywood. F-5 and F-6 are built up from 1⁄16 × ¼-inch hard balsa strips. I pinned the 1⁄16 × ¼-inch balsa strips over the plans onto a piece of ceiling tile. I used Elmer’s white glue to glue up these components. The landing gear wire is bent up from .040-
inch music wire. If you will not be doing any R.O.G. takeoffs, it can be shortened to save a
bit of weight. I laced my landing gear to the 1⁄32-inch plywood face of F-4 with soft wire. I drilled .045-inch diameter holes through the plywood and laced the music wire to the ply- wood using #28 gauge soft brass wire. There isn’t enough room to use nylon retainers. When I was done threading the 26-gauge wire through the plywood in four places, I soaked the wire and plywood with thin CyA. It’s time to erect the fuselage sides. I assembled the fuselage upside down on a ceiling tile. I pinned the two sides to the
plan view, making sure the sides were ver- tical and squared up. At this point, I added the 1⁄16-inch sheet front wing support. Note the grain orientation. I began by installing fuselage formers F-2, landing gear former F-4, and F-5. I pinned them into place, en- suring they were correctly oriented before I ran thin CyA along their vertical edges to glue them to the fuselage sides. I removed the partially built fuselage
from the plan and glued the aft ends of the sides together. F-6 went in next at the loca- tion I’d marked on the interior faces of the sides. I attached the 1⁄16-inch plywood nose former F-1 next. It should be installed with the down thrust shown on the plans and zero right thrust. In this configuration, my model climbed in a large essentially wing level left hand circle. To reinforce the backside of F-1, I added a
couple of 1⁄8-inch square back-up gussets. The 3⁄32-inch balsa sheet instrument panel F-3 goes in next. Note its forward angle. You can correctly align the angle of F-3 by tem- porarily installing a 3⁄32-inch square balsa strip from F-1 through F-2 to F-3. When you have F-3 angled to suit, glue it and the 3⁄32- inch square balsa strip in place. I sheeted in the top front of the fuselage
with very soft 1⁄16-inch balsa sheet. Most of it will be sanded away. I made tapered length- wise shallow cuts in the balsa sheet to facil- itate an easy wrap over formers F-1, F-2, and F-3. I did my wrap in two pieces. I block- sanded much of the balsa away to get a nice-
49
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68