Construction starts with a sheet of 1
⁄16
-inch medium balsa. Cut out the parts
key found on the plans and use spray adhesive to place the key onto the balsa sheet (above left) to aid in cutting the required parts. The major parts (above right) cut and ready for assembly. It’s best to leave the paper on the part until
assembly to aid in identification. Fuselage sides (below left) are lined top and bottom with 1
⁄8-inch square balsa. Marks are made on former F1 (below right)
for the mounting holes to be drilled. The motor mount is from a ParkZone Stryker model and can be ordered separately.
Construction Start with a sheet of 1
⁄16
-inch medium bal-
sa. Cut all the ribs and fuselage sides, as well as the formers and rear spars. The plans show you a reasonable layout. You don’t need a laser to do this; half an hour with a #11 blade and a sanding bar or two will be all the accuracy you’ll need for this model. Most the sanding can wait until after assembly. Fuselage: Line the perimeter of the sides
-inch square balsa. The formers are all the same width, so the box shape is very easy to assemble, and the strips in the cor- ners will help alignment. You may also use the wing joiner holes to help align the sides. Former F1 has two small holes at the top side. These will get toothpicks to act as hold- down pegs for the front of the hatch. Note the F2 goes down against the bottom of the fuselage because the cowl is on the top side. F1 needs to be square to set the motor to 0/0 thrust.
with 1⁄8 The bottom sheeting is 1 ⁄16 -inch light or
medium, cross grain. Be sure to leave a little extra at the trailing edge (TE) so you can bevel the edge with a sanding block for the top sheet to lay properly. Next sheet the top from F3 back, extending beyond the end of the bottom sheet. These will later be sanded to give a nice airfoiled end.
FLYING MODELS
The hatch is built on the fuselage. Use thin cellophane tape on the fuselage side and the top edge to mask so the glue doesn’t adhere. Insert the hatch sides and formers H1, H2 and H3, using friction to hold them in place. I prefer carpenter’s glue for these joints. Mask F1 and the sheeting at F3 so no glue holds there. Sheet the top of the cowl from F3/H3 all the way forward beyond F1. When the glue dries, sand the box fuselage square and trim the box snug to the firewall. Don’t round the corners yet; we need wings to show us where to stop sanding. Set the fuse aside for now.
Apply blue masking tape to both sides of the fuselage. Slide both ribs R1 on the joiner dowels. Use a pencil to outline the airfoil on the side of the fuselage. Remove the ribs. Now add lines to indicate the position of the stabilizers. Very carefully, with a very sharp
knife, carefully trim away the masking tape 1
⁄32
-inch on the inside of the lines, taking care not to cut into the balsa. Did I mention care- fully? You don’t want to cut into the balsa, but just deep enough to be able to separate the tape.
Carefully remove the tape from the out- side edges, leaving just the portion where you will be gluing the wings and tail on lat- er. This will accomplish two things for you: First, it shows you where not to sand the cor-
ners of the fuselage round, and next it will produce a mask for removing covering later revealing bare wood to adhere the wings to. Add the motor mount, motor and prop adapter to firewall F1. Make a prop back- plate disk and slip this over the adapter shaft. I have built mine using the ParkZone mount, but you can use just about any of the motor mounts from the Parkzone or E-flite UMX models.
The cowl is made from a block of wood 1 inch thick on the end grain. Mark the cen- ter, then drill a 1
⁄2
up the hole conically just enough to get the motor snugly fit and the bottom flush against F1. Tack-glue the cowl on. Slip a disk of wood over the end to serve as a sand- ing reference for a nose ring. At this point, you can now sand the fuselage corners round and blend the nose in. Make sure to do this with the hatch on! Wings: The wing surfaces are straightfor- ward as well. Pin down the bottom 1
⁄8 ⁄32 × 1⁄2 ⁄8 -inch hole through it. Open
-inch
square spar and add the ribs, taking care to make them vertical. Next, add the top spar, then attach the TE spar, followed by the lead- ing edge (LE). Attach the top 1
the TE. After the assembly dries, you can re- move the wing from the building board and add the lower TE strip. Insert the 1
-inch par-
tial rib beside R2 for the servo pocket. Lightly 19
strip at
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