A good look at the main landing gear (at right) with 1⁄4-inch balsa fairings and the large vertical wing strut. The braided wire leadouts (above) pass through the ply line guide that is glued into slots in the 1⁄2-inch balsa sheet wing tip. The large highly tapered wing with curved balsa wing tips is a unique feature of the model.
bottom fuselage with nylon gear clips. The two gear pieces are then attached to each other by wrapping the axles together with nylon thread and smearing with glue. The strut fairings are made from 1⁄4 × 1⁄2- inch balsa strips. Sand the struts to a streamlined shape, cut a 1⁄8-inch wide slot down the inside middle of the balsa strip and glue to the wire strut.
The main gear wing struts can be made at this time and are shown in detail on the plans. Start by cutting out the balsa portion of the struts from 1⁄4-inch balsa. Sand them to a streamlined shape. Take a piece of 3⁄32-inch metal tubing and
make a 1⁄4-inch long right angle bend at one end. Place the bent tubing on the lower por- tion of the balsa strut, mark around it. Cut a groove in the balsa and glue the tubing in place. Then cut the tubing to length as shown on the plans and slip a piece of black fuel tubing over the metal tubing, leaving 1⁄4 inch of the metal tubing exposed. Make a 1⁄4- inch right angle bend at the metal tubing end. Using a pair of pliers, flatten this 1⁄4- inch bend in the vertical direction. Note that the right angle bends at the top
and bottom of the metal tube are not aligned, but are at right angles to each other. Also make sure you make a left and right hand strut, which will be mirror images. It’s a good idea to paint the wing struts now and set them aside as they will not be installed until the rest of the model is painted and detailed. Bend the tail skid from 3⁄32-inch wire as shown, place on the ply support, wrap with nylon thread, smear with glue and glue in the bottom aft fuselage cutout. Glue the wing to the fuselage. Make the wing/fuse- lage fairing F8 and glue in place on aft top wing/fuselage intersection. Glue the hori- zontal stabilizer into the slots in the aft fuse- lage. Glue the rudder to the fin with the trailing edge offset 1⁄2 inch to the outside of the flying circle and glue the assembly in place in the slot in F3.
Finishing
Apply a coat of sanding sealer to all the balsa parts of the model and sand smooth.
FLYING MODELS
One advantage of a cardboard model is that no covering is required. The model was given two coats of clear dope followed by light sanding with #400 sandpaper to remove any paper fuzz, then finished with two coats of white dope.
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Give the cardboard sections two coats of clear dope, sanding lightly after each coat with #400 sandpaper. Then follow with two coats of color on the entire model. The color scheme I used for my model is light gray overall to simulate metal structure. The primary trim is black, except for the dark red fin stripe. Insignia and lettering were generated in ModelCAD3000 and printed on Avery large stick-on labels (#8165). Once detailing is complete, the windscreen can be glued in place. The gear wing strut is also installed at this time. Begin by inserting the top of the main gear wing balsa strut, shown on the wing drawing, into the wing cutout in the bottom of the wing. Do not glue in place yet!
Then place the flattened tubing piece on the bottom end of the strut on the main gear wires previously wrapped with nylon thread. Wrap with more thread and smear with glue.
Now apply glue to the balsa wing strut where it enters the wing.
Final assembly
Pass the leadout wires through the wing tip line guide and tie off. Attach the nylon control horn to the elevator and hook up the pushrod. Attach 33⁄4-inch diameter wheels to the main gear. Add a 9–6 prop and your ship will be complete. Be sure to balance the model at the point shown on the plans. If you have any comments, suggestions or questions concerning the cardboard Messer- schmitt M.20b, please write to me at 825 Lake Park Drive, Lakehills, TX 78063. Or e- mail me, maybe with a photo of your com- pleted cardboard model, at charlesfelton@
earthlink.net. You can also visit my website at
http://www.feltondesignanddata.com to see more cardboard designs and building techniques.
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