A-10 Thunderbolt II
drill press. Using shaped foam components covered with fiberglass cloth saves time in building the complex shaped parts. Study the plans and construction photos carefully before beginning construction, as only high- lights of the A-10 construction are presented below.
Fuselage The fuselage assembly is a basic box structure and goes together quickly. Begin assembly by cutting out the sides from lite ply, marking the former locations and glu- ing on the wing doublers and engine mounts. Then glue on the formers fore and aft of the wing saddle and ensure that they are at right angles to the sides. Glue on the other side. Now glue on the remaining formers using a combination of clamps, blocks, weights, and tape, ensuring proper alignment until the glue cures.
To sheet the top deck portions, simply sat- urate a large sheet of balsa with water, wrap it around the fuselage top and tape it down until dry. Then trim for an exact fit and glue in place. Glue the hatch formers to the top sheeting from the inside and cut out the hatches using a razor saw. The front hatch is curved both on the top and the sides and so is more difficult to sheet. You must first tack glue the hatch formers to the fuselage formers and then sheet it the old fashioned way using multiple narrow strips of balsa. Install the hatch latches and drill corre- sponding holes into fuselage formers. En- sure that the latch pins engage securely to hold the hatches in place. The canopy hatch uses two brass tubes in the front as a retain- er with a hatch latch in the rear. The turbine hatch uses four latches to lock it in place be- cause you have to be able to remove it verti- cally from the fuselage. Cover the rear latch-
es on the inside of the hatch with small balsa boxes and line the inside of the hatch with aluminum foil tape for heat protection. It is essential to cut out the NACA air in- let on the fuselage located below the turbine. Early on in the model’s development, I ran the turbine with the wing and hatches on and took temperature measurements all around the outsides of the engine compart- ment and thrust tube using an infrared thermometer. Results showed that there was a hot spot on the fuselage bottom, rear- ward of the turbine exhaust.
The addition of the NACA inlet allowed air to directly enter the bottom of the fuse- lage and it immediately showed a drop in temperature of the lower engine compart- ment. There is also a small piece of alu- minum flashing in the shape of a “U” in- stalled just prior to the exhaust pipe to help direct the airflow into the pipe.
Full-size plans available through Carstens Bookstore
www.carstensbookstore.com 28
Order Plan CD468 for $50.00 JUNE 2014
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