Top Flite Antares User Manual
RC-31 INSTRUCTION MANUAL
INTRODUCTION
TOP FLITE is proud to present the ANTARES, a multi task
capable, Standard Class sailplane that was designed
expressly to take a lot of the "mystery" out of flatwing,
aileron-equipped configurations and at the same time
offer you new levels of soaring capabilities There is no
denying that national and international competition has
made its' presence known at even the club-level of con-
test work The airfoil work alone has provided most of us
with capabilities in a wide variety of weather conditions
that just a few short years ago were unheard of Of course
there is a
U S and foreign R/C sailplane pilots long ago realized
that FAI - F3B competition was extremely hard on airframes, in particularthe speed portion of the three-event
format. This one aspect of the F3B competitions has
spurred a great deal of work in the areas of wing construction and spar engineering This to withstand the tremend
ous loads imposed on the wings during fully-ballasted
launches using extremely strong winches Work in this
area, particularly in Europe, has gone into the use of
exotic materials and methods that, for most of us, are
simply too costly and time consuming to even consider
All of this brings us to the reasons behind the design of
the ANTARES The design had to be efficient We were
looking for, and feel we have achieved, a tremendous
glide ratio with the ANTARES by use of a combination of
the top polars of the Eppler 193 "married" to the bottom
plots of the Eppler 205 and adding flaps to this combina
tion These flaps, as well as the rest of the controls, are
driven by a single servo in the fuselage with very simple
and straight-forward cable and tube connections This
airfoil was designed expressly for the use of flaps and we
think you will find that their use provides you with the
kind of control over the airplane that you have not ex
penenced before Our experience has been that these
flaps provide very tall, non critical launchesoneven the
weakest of launch devices, very precise speed control
during flight and remarkable glide path control during
the landing phase If you feel for any reason that you are
paying some kind of "penalty" in the use of flaps, con
sider the above If you feel that spoilers may be superior
to flaps, consider that the servo required is only of use
during one aspect of the total flight—landing, while the
servo required for the use of these flaps provides im
provement and modification of the total flight.
lot
more
going
on
than just airfoil work The top
The ANTARES uses both ailerons and rudder (coupled) to
provide extremely flat, precise turning capability. We
discovered early on with the prototypes that we were
comfortably working light I lift at much lower altitudes and
distances than we would have ever done with our polyhedral ships and still making it easily back to the spot
when the time came We also found that wind became
much less of a factor in our thinking when making the
ever present "continue to thermal or return" decision.
With the reflexing capability of the flaps, returning to the
spot at high speed, even from low altitudes, certainly
bought us more time to work lift
You will also notice on the plans that we have shown the
optional installation of four Estes BT 5 rockettube bodies,
two in each wing panel on each side of the spar structure.
These are used to introduce lead ballast into the airframe,
thus increasing your wing loading and therefore your
speed and or ability to penetrate This feature, relatively
easy to do, has been incorporated into all of our prototypes and used to good advantage on more than one
occasion
support this increase of weight and you will have yet
another tool to work with in your flying There is more on
this aspect of the design in the Ballasting section of this
manual
A word about the radios that may or may not be suitable
for this design In this day and age of specialization it
simply is not possible to set-up a design such as the
ANTARES to carry every radio system currently or historically on the market Most of the radios currently on the
market, with the use of standard small or micro servos
will fit and work with the ANTARES CHECK YOUR RADIO
SYSTEM FIRST FOR SIZE AND FIT BEFORE STARTING
CONSTRUCTION Secondly, radio systems which are
equipped with such features as electronic RUDDER/
AILERON mixing servo reversing and, of less importance but a nicety non the less, EPA or "end point adjustment , tend to be great for this design If your radio
does not have RUDDER AILERON mixing, you will have
to do one of three things, 1. Obtain and install an electronic mixer such as ACE R/C's Christy Mixer", 2.
mechanically (with linkage) connect the rudder to the
aileron servo using a modified servo output arm or 3.
learn to fly the airplane uncoupled, co-ordinating both
The wing
structure
when built to the plans,
will
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the left (rudder) and right (ailerons) sticks It is important
to remember that the ANTARES, like all "flat wing" configurations employs the use of coupled ailerons and
rudder to eliminate unwanted adverse yaw during turns
It is important to realize this now and make provisions for
it such as outlined above It should be noted that if you
choose option #2 above (mechanical inter connect of the
ailerons and rudder), the need for a separate rudder servo
is obviated and the airplane can then be flown using a
three channel system All of the above is certainly not
meant to scare you off but simply to inform you ahead of
time, what your options and limitations are in order for
you to plan ahead now instead of halfway into the project
We have launched this design using all available
methods, hi-starts, normal winches and super strong
winches The results have been quite uniform, with the
use of flaps at about 15 degrees down, the tows are
arrow straight, highly controllable and always high
Dropping the flaps a little on launch certainly helps the lift
situation and it also imparts a fully washed out condition
to the wings, drastically lowering the possibility of the
dreaded "tip stall at launch" Over the developmental
period of the design, we have come up with a very good
launch sequence, be sure to read the FLYING SECTION of
this manual
As good as we feel the ANTARES is, there are still some
fundamental requirements to get you from this stage to
the winner's circle This design, as well as all others,
requires careful, accurate attention to details during con
struction This is almost surely the single largest factor in
success or failure We have earnestly tried to give you all
of the tools with this kit to provide success What remains
isyourcraftsmanship and attention to detail to guarantee
it The other ingredient required is a pilot A flat wing
four-channel aileron and flap equipped sailplane is a
different kind of flying — we think superior — when
compared to polyhedral types Learn to fly the ANTARES
in the manner it was intended, we think you will be
delighted
IMPORTANT
NOTE-
TOP Flite does not necessarily recommend the ANTARES
as a first R/C sailplane unless you have access to and use
experienced assistance in its construction and flying If
you are a beginner to R/C model aircraft, consider this
Flying this or any other radio controlled model aircraft is
a PRIVILEGE and not a RIGHT and this privilege begins
with the utmost safety considerations to others and yourself as well An R/C model airplane in inexperienced
hands has the potential of doing serious personal or
property damage These safety considerations start at
the building board by following instructions, seeking
competent help when you are confused and avoiding
shortcuts These considerations have to be carried over
to the flying field where safety must come first and
limitations cannot be exceeded We urge you to
1. Send for and obtain your AMA (Academy of Model
Aeronautics) membership which will provide insur
ance for your R/C activities — DO NOT RELY ON
HOMEOWNERS INSURANCE
2. Join an AMA sanctioned R/C flying club in your area
where you can obtain competent, professional
instruction in trimming and learning how to fly this
model
Check with your favorite local hobby shop for the required AMA forms or the address where they can be
obtained
"WARNING"!
A radio controlled model is not a "toy" Care and
caution must be taken in properly building the
model, as well as in the installation and use of the
radio control devise It is important to follow all
directions as to the construction of this kit as well as
installation and use of the engine and radio gear
The advice and assistance of a well experienced
builder and pilot is highly recommended Don't take
chances! Improper building, operation or flying of
this model could result in serious bodily injury to
others, yourself, or property damage.
PRE-CONSTRUCTION NOTES
The ANTARES, like other Top Flite kits employs the use of
die cut wood to ease the task of construction, parts fit and
identification The dies used for this kit have been rigorously checked for absolute accuracy and should provide
you with excellent fit Die cut parts should be carefully
removed from their sheets by first lightly sanding the
back of each sheet of parts and then carefully removing
each part Use a light garnet paper for the sanding and
keep a sharp hobby knife with an X acto #11 blade or
equivalent handy for assistance in removing any parts
that might not have been completely cut through on the
dies Parts which oppose one another and must be precisely uniform—such as fuselage sides ribs, etc —
should be carefully matched after their removal from
the parts sheets Matching is the process of holding the
opposing pieces together with either pins, tape or spot
gluing and lightly sanding the edges of the parts until
they are identical A sand ing block with light garnet paper
is most useful for this and other phases of construction
Your building surface should be at least large enough to
accommodate the wing panels This surface should be as
absolutely flat as possible and yet be able to accept pins
easily We have found that a product such as Celotex fiber
board works quite well for this purpose Another good
surface can be found in most well stocked hardware
stores, this is a 2' x 4' fiber board ceiling tile—these are
quite inexpensive and can be used for several airplanes
before needing replacement
As with most R/C kits that are constructed from wood, a
selection of tools—most of which can be found in the
average workshop—are a must to do the job correctly
Hobby knife and sharp #11 blades
Single-edge razor blades
T pins
Sanding blocks in assorted
sizes
Sandpaper in various grits
Hand held hobby saw such as an X acto
Dremel tool or power drill and assorted drill
bits
Straight edge, preferably metal at least 36" long
90 triangle
Soldering iron, flux (silver) and solder
Carbide cut off wheel for wire cutting
Small power jig saw, such as a Moto Saw
Razor plane
Tapes such as masking and cellophane
2
Our ANTARES' were constructed using a variety of common hobby adhesives including 5-minute epoxy, Cyanoacrylates, aliphatic resin (such as Titebond) and 1-hour
epoxy was used to secure the main wing wire tubes in the
wing roots Since all of us have our own construction
techniques and favorite adhesives, stick with the ones
that you are familiar with and prefer However, in certain
areas there will bo callouts for certain types of adhesives
and we urge you to try not to substitute since doing so
could possibly cause problems structurally later on.
The last thing we should touch on before we begin actual
construction is the sequence in which the ANTARES is
assembled The sequence given to you in this booklet has
been proven to be the most straight forward and provides the finished components in the order that you will
need them to progress to the next assembly phase Try to
stick with the building order presented here to avoid
mistakes.
Spread the plans out on your work surface, cover them
with a clear plastic material, such as the backing from a
roll of Monokote or plastic food wrap and commence
construction
F3B MODIFICATION SUGGESTIONS
If your sole intention is to campaign the ANTARES in allout F3B competitions you may want to even further
"beef-up" its already tough structure We have already
flown the stock aircraft in such contests and came out
quite well In the speed portion of the event, we have had
the stock airframe loaded to an excess of 100 ounces
without breaking anything However, it is realized that not
everyone flies thesame.someofusare harder on aircraft
than others Based on our experience with the proto
types, the following are some ideas that you might want
to incorporate into your own bird In all1 of this, try to
remember that weight is always a factor and that we have
always felt that starting out with a relatively light strong,
well-built airframe and having the ability to add ballast to
increase wing loading was superior to having a heavy
airplane to begin with In F3B competition we have
observed that relatively "heavy dry (unballasted)
weights for the aircraft are somewhat the norm Your
ANTARES is still capable of operating well at heavier dry
weights but you will be giving up some of the light air
capabilities
FUSELAGE You may wish to fiberglass the fuselage fin
structure If so
we
would
suggest
two
(2)
layers
of3/4
or
ounce cloth The first layer should be applied 100%tothe
fuselage from about 4 behind the trailing edges of the
F-10 fuse ribs forward to the nose This layer should be
carefully sanded and cleaned off The second layer
should cover the entire fusel a ge and fin The entire st ruc
tu re should be lightly sanded filled as required and either
Monokoted or painted (yes, Monokote will work we ll with
th is com bi nation,j u st lower the heat a little and work with
it) Remember that in F3B work, anything that could
possibly present parasitic drag, will Carefully fillet all
joints and work toward a truly clean, drag free structure
WINGS As mentioned earlier, the stock wing structure
has been subjected to some rather drastic loads (in relationship to normal thermal flying activities) and survived
quite well However, it is realized that no structure is fully
"bullet proof especially in extremely hiqh stress situa
tions Therefore you may wish to further strenghten the
wings Suggestions that we might offer would be such
things as the addition of 5 or 6 carbon fiber reinforcing
strands glued to the bottom surface of the bottom Va" x
3/8" spruce spars and the same treatment to the top
surface of the top spars You may also consider moving
the forward W-21 ply full-depth spar facing pieces to
behind the spar structure, thus replacing the shorter
W 22 piece And replace W 21 with a full length 1/16" ply
facing all the way from the wing root rib to the tip Of
course this means that all of the wing ribs would have to
be two piece You might also consider internalizing all of
the cable drive links and aileron and flap horns and closing
the hinging gaps for these surfaces with Monokote.
Another suggestion might be to totally replace all of the
1/16" balsa wing sheeting with medium, straight-grained
3/32" sheeting and sanding down to a true 1/16" (a lot of
work, but possible) Yet an other suggestion that we've
heard is the possibility of totally fiberglassing the two
wing panels While this might be feasible, the potential is
there for a large weight gain
HORIZONTAL STABILATOR This structure is quite strong
as it is However, you may wish to substitute the 1/8" x 1/4"
upright balsa 'spars with the same size in spruce You
will also note that we have you making the stab root caps
from 3/8" wide 3/32" ply instead of 1/4" wide material This is
just in case some of you might wish to substitute the 1/16"
top and bottom stab sheeting with 1/8", thus thickening
the cross section of the stab to 3/8" (we have tried this and
could not discern any difference at all) Another "trick"
that we have tried and found to work isthe substitution of
the stock .090 dia M W stab joining wires with #41 drill
rod stock that is cut to the correct length This material is
an absolute, play free fit to the 092 I D brass tubes in the
stab halves and its use greatly minimizes the usual "rocking stab" phenomenon found on virtually all sailplanes
with full-flying stabs #41 drill rod stock can be found at
most industrial metal supply houses.
FIN/RUDDER You might consider totally fairing-in the
hinge
Iine
of
these
two
surfaces
and
may
be
even
far as to internalize the cable and horn system.
Note that in all of the above we have not shown sketches
of how to do these things Frankly, there has been a great
deal written in the magazines in the last few years cover-
ing everything (and more) that we have said here It is
assumed that these kinds of alterations and modifications are simply not for everyone and that those individu-
1
als who might be prone to doing them tend to have a lot
of prior experience and will know what it is that they want
to do in the first place
FUSELAGE ASSEMBLY
The following sequence of instruction assumes that you
addressed yourself to the questions posed in the Intro-
duction section of this manual concerning your radio, its
fit and the need to couple the ailerons with the rudder.
The following assumes that electronic (via radio) cou-
pling will be used
1 Remove die-cut fuselage parts, F-1, F 2 (ply)—do this
carefully and, as mentioned earlier, use an X-acto
knife to expedite this Start construction, by gluing
(we used contact cement) the F-2 fuselage doublers
to the F-1 fuselage sides Do this as accurately as
possible, lining up slots and holes for the wing mating points and making sure these doublers are flush
3
going
as
with the top edges of the fuselage sides—MAKE A
LEFT AND RIGHT FUSELAGE SIDE.
2. Using the
1/8" x 1/4" x 36"
balsa stock supplied, glue the
bottom fuselage longerons in place, starting at the
front of the F-2 doubler, pinning and gluing as you
work aft. Note that you will need to add an additional
6" of this longeron stock at the rear to complete to fulllength bottom longeron.
3. Cut and glue the top rear
1/8" x 1/4"
balsa longerons in
place. Note that this longeron extends from the back
of the F-9 former position to the leading edge of the
fin location where it is cut on an angle to match the
fin.
4. Using a sharp pencil and a straightedge, mark the
locations of all fuselage formers; F-3, F-4, F-5, F-7, F-8
and F-9, including the location of the rear
1/8"
x 1/4"
fuselage uprights, behind former F-9—mark these
locations on the right fuselage side. Holding the left
fuselage side to the right, so that they are accurately
matched, transfer the former locations to the left
fuselage side.
5. You will now need to drill an angled hole in the left
rear fuselage side for the outer plastic rudder cable
housing. Note its location on the plans and its distance from the rudder hinge line. Don't deviate from
this location because if it is too far forward, the rudder
cable may be prone to "bending" during'operation
and too far aft will mean that you can't get full rudder
throw. Repeat this process on the right fuselage side
for the internal antenna tube — first check the length
of your antenna to be sure that at least 1" of it will
protrude from the tube at the rear. A sharpened piece
of 1/8" dia. brass tubing works very well for drilling
these holes at the right angles and cleanly.
6. Pin, tape or lightly spot glue the two fuselage sides
together, with their outer surfaces touching — align
them to each other very carefully. Using a sanding
block, sand their outer edges to match them identically. While the sides are still together, carefully
match the main wing tube holes and access slots. We
have purposely made the main wing tube holes a
very tight fit, work carefully to open them up enough
to
accept a length of
11/32"
O.D.
brass
tubing
(3
pieces
supplied in the kit). The main wing tube holes must
line-up accurately.
7. Remove both W-1 ply wing root ribs and both F-10
fuselage root ribs carefully from their sheets.
Remove the main wing tube holes from each of the
ribs and access slots from the F-10 ribs—use a hobby
knife to assist you. Take one of the F-10 ribs and locate
the identification at the back. Drill a 1/8"dia. hole in this
rib,
at
90°
to
its
surface—this
rib
is
now
your
"drill
guide" for the rest of the ribs. Insert one of the main
wing wire tubes into the hole in the "drill guide" rib,
letting one end of it extend out from the rib about 1/16".
Now drill the 1/8" dia. hole needed in the remaining
F-10 and W-1's, by placing the rib onto the wing wire
tube, lining up the rib to be drilled with the "drill
guide" rib and drilling the hole—repeat this process
until all four ribs have accurately aligned and drilled
holes. Use the same procedure on the now matched
fuselage sides; insert one of the main wing wire
tubes into the hole in the fuselage side, slide an F-10
rib onto the tube and down flat against the outside of
the fuselage side, position as shown on the plans and
drill the 1/8" dia. hole. Repeat this process with the
other
fuselage side.
8. Remove ply tailskid from its sheet. Position the tailskid in place on one of the fuselage sides, as shown
on the plans. Mark its forward edge location on the
bottom, rear longeron in pencil. With a single edge
razor blade, remove approximately 1/32" of the thickness of the longeron, forward to the pencil mark —
this becomes half of the slot that the tailskid will fit
into. Repeat this process to the other fuselage side
to
create the 1/16" wide tailskid slot.
9. Lay the right fuselage side on your work
front
of
you with
the
inside
facing
you.
"Take
surface in
one of the
servos that you plan to use for either the stabilizator or
rudder and position it on the fuselage side between
the F-4 and F-5 former locations. Note the position of
the output arm. With a pencil, mark this location onto
the inner fuselage side. Note on the plans and crosssections that both the stab and rudder outer cable
housing tubes are positioned aft, through formers F-5
4
and F-9 Now remove formers F-4, F-5 and F-9 from
their sheets Usingarulerand pencil,line the ruler up
with the mark made earlier for the servo output arm
location and draw a light intersect line at the positions of F-5 and F 9 Hold F 5 in place on the fuselage
side and mark the location of the intersect line onto
the former Repeat this for F 9 Mark the other side of
the formers for the output arm location for the rudder
cable housing Sand or file a 1/8" slot on each side of
these two formers, thus creating positioning and
mounting locations for the rudder and stab cable
housing tubes after these formers are in place (see
F-5 and F 9 cross sections) Lastly, sand or file a
similar slot in the lower right corner of formers F-4,
F-5 and F-9 for clearance of the internal antenna tube
Note on the plans, at least with the radio installation
shown, that the rudder and stab tubes are in place
just over the top of both the aileron and flap servo
rails Check how your installation will fit in place and
be sure everything clears
10. In this step we are going to "pre-position" both the
aileron and flap servos Studying the plans you can
see how the operation of these two servos affects the
two control surf aces and a I so what the relationshipof
their locations within the fuselage needs to be in
relationship to the wing panels Note that the flap
servo is located as far aft as possible to allow plenty
of clearance for the spring wing retainerand hooks In
the case of the use of a releasable or captive towhook
system, such as that shown, clearance is available for
getting to and tightening screws as needed Access
to the flap servo is directly through the top, rear
hatch, as shown The flap servo, as you can see,
needs to be positioned so that its output arm is
roughly centered within the slots on each side of the
fuselage This assures easy, bind-free operation of
the flaps and quick, non critical assembly of the airplane at the flying field Mark the locations of the
required two lengths of1/32"x 3/8" ply servo rails for the
flap servo onto the sides of the fuselage A trick that
we have used is to now cut a short length of 1/16" x 1/4"
balsa and glue it in place on each fuselage side to
later act as a gluing shelf and locator for the servo
rails We have used this technique for all of the servos
and it really saves time and frustration later on Next,
we are going to do the same thing for the aileron
servo Looking at the Top View of the fuselage plans,
you can see that access to this servo is meant to be
provided by the heavy fuselage canopy angle at this
section You will also note that we did not provide
aileron linkage holes through the fuselage sides or
the ply root ribs The reason for this is simple, different radio systems and servos would not all work For
this reason, these holes will have to be made by you,
based on your servos and their shapes The first step
for positioning the aileron servo is to develop the
proper output wheel for driving the ailerons Note the
drawing at the bottom of the fuselage plans This is a
typical servo output wheel that is trimmed as shown.
The two arm s that are I eft arc a bout 3/8"apart( hole-tohole). As you can see from the Top View shown on the
left-hand side of the wing plan, the left aileron clevis
attaches to one arm and the right side uses the other
arm. This sim ple system of connecting the ailerons to
the servo also imparts a highly desirable feature to
the actual operation of them—this is called differential Simply put, differential is the unequal movement
of the ailerons, in our case about 2 1 Full throw in
one direction will move one aileron a total of 1/2" "up"
and at the same time only moves the other aileron 1/4"
"down " Almost all flat-wing, high aspect ratio air-
craft (such as sailplanes) use some differential to
correct adverse yaw conditions The set-up we show
on the ANTARES plans works extremely well and has
the virtue of simplicity Once you have made this
output arm and have it in place on the aileron servo.
place the servo directly onto the right fuselage side,
about where it is shown on the plans Note that it
must fit in place behind F-5 and high enough to
position the output arm within the outline of F-10.
However, it must not be so high as to interfere with
the seating of the canopy Once satisfied, mark the
locations of the servo rails to mount it and mark or
roughly sketch a 1/4" dia circle where the output arm
will pick-up the aileron cable and clevis Again, we
would suggest that you memorialize the locations of
the aileron servo rails with the short lengths of 1/16" x
1/4" balsa for ease of installation later
Now drill a 1/4" dia. hole directly through the fuselage
side at the point marked for the aileron output arm.
This then becomes your "drill guide" for the remaining fuselage side and both W-1's and F-10's As before, use a length of 11/32" tube and 1/8" tube to first
accurately locate each part
to
the
"drill
guide"
fuse
side, then drill the 1/4" dia hole
11. Remove three (3) 36" lengths of the white cable housing tubes from your kit box Rough-up their outer
surf aces with medium sandpaper Do this completely,
we want adhesive to adhere to them Set these aside
for
installation shortly,
12.
Next, make
the
fin
tailpost
You can see
from
the
plans
that this is made from 1/4" x 1/2" balsa stock, laminated
edge-to-edge and cut to the taper shown Now locate
the shaped and drilled 1/4" ply stab pivot block Accu-
rately note its location on the tailpost with a pencil.
Take care here to be as accurate as possible—this
block ultimately locates your stabilator to the fin Cut
the tailpost apart to accept the pivot block and glue
the block in place Allow to dry and remove from the
building board.
13 Locate the die cut sheet holding the two 1/8" balsa "fin
skins " Remove these from the sheet and while holding them accurately together, matching outer edges
and the oblong cut outs, use a sanding block and
light sandpaper to "match" their outer edges identically—we want them exactly the same Now take one
of these skins and lay it directly over the plans and
with a pencil mark the locations of the top and center
1/4" x 1/2" balsa horizontal braces and the lower 1/4" sq.
cross-brace and stab cable tubing support. Set aside
for use in Step 14
14. You have already removed and modified formers F-4,
F-5 and F-9 back in Step 9 Remove formers F-7 and
F-8 from their sheet as well Formers F 5, F-7, F-8 and
F-9 are all exactly the same width, 15/8 Hold them all
together and use a sanding block to make sure
they're all the same width Lay the right fuselage side
over the side view of the plans and pin accurately in
5
place Using a triangle, glue formers F 5, F-7, F 8 and
F-9 in place at 90 to the fuselage side, using the
pencil marks made earlier for location (please note
the "alternate F-7 location" note and the reason for it
on the plans) Moving to the rear of the fuselage side,
glue the previously marked (Step 13) fin skin to the
top, rear section Now glue the previously assembled
tailpost and stab pivot block assembly to the rear of
the fuselage side and fin skin Cut, fit and glue the 1/4"
x 1/2" balsa fin leading edge in place to the fuselage
side and fin skin (note that this piece terminates at the
bottom edge of the top, rear fuselage 1/8" x 1/4" longe-
ron) Cut, fit and glue the two top 1/4" x 1/2" balsa
horizontal braces whose locations were noted earlier
on the fin skin Cut, fit but do not glue the 1/4" sq.
brace Using the plans, note the location of the stab
cable housing tube and drill an 1/8 dia hole through
this brace at the point marked—now glue this brace
in place Cut, fit but do not glue the bottom 1/4" x 1/2"
balsa fuselage fin brace Again using the plans, note
the location of the stab tubing and the bend it takes at
this point Use an X acto knife or a Dremel tool with a
small router bit to carve a channel", at least 1/8" deep
into this brace to countersink and house the tubing,
once
satisfied, glue this
last
remaining brace in place,
half of its width on the fin skin and the other half on
the fuselage side Inspect your work carefully for
good glue joints, double glue if necessary Onceallof
this is sealed-up, you will not have access to it again
15.
Take one of the 36", roughed-up cable housing tubes
and install it (without glue yet) in place, through the
slots in formers F-5 and F 9, the channel cut in the
bottom fin fuselage brace and through the hole in the
1/4" sq brace on the fin skin Note that this stab drive
tube is meant to fit from just inside of the rudder stab
servo compartment, F 5, along the fuselage side,
through the slot in F-9, all the way along the bottom
edge of the top, rear longeron, through the channel
cut earlier in the bottom fin fuselage brace and finally
through the hole drilled in the 1/4"sq brace We used a
thick CA adhesive, such as Pacer's Zap-a-Gap or SloZap to now glue this tube in place along its entire
length Be sure that it is firmly glued in place—we
don't want it moving Using the marks made earlier,
glue the short 1/8" x 1/4" balsa upright in place between
the stab tube and the bottom fuse longeron
16.
Remove the right fuselage side assembly from the
building board. The left fuselage side is now pre-
pared for assembly to the right byfirstgluing in place
the two short lengths of 1/8" x 1/4" balsa that is the rear
upright — note the 1/8" wide channel that is left to
capture the rudder cable drive tube as it curves down
toward the rear, angled rudder tube exist hole, drilled
earlier. Trial-fit the left fuselage side to the right side
assembly Since all of the formers in place are the
same width, the left fuselage side should come in
firm,
square contact
with
their left edges Once
fied, carefully glue the left fuselage side in place
against F-5, F-7, F-8 and F 9, using the location marks
made earlier Take pains to be sure that the structure
is
truely square
17.
Install another 36" length of cable housing tubing
along the left fuselage side, from just forward of F-5,
through its slot, F-9, along the fuse side. through the
satis-
channel in the upright and out the angled exit hole at
the rear Leave some tubing exposed at the rear for
trimming (see plans) As with the stab tube, glue the
rudder tube in place completely along its entire
length.
18.
Cut, fit and glue the
1/8"x1/4"balsa
cross-brace
in
place
on the fuselage bottom, just behind the towhook
location, as shown Use CA adhesive to glue former
F-4 in place while gently and equally bending the two
fuselage sides together at the nose, when dry repeat
the process while installing former F 3 Now glue the
shaped hardwood noseblock in place Note that this
block fits between the two fuselage sides, flush with
the bottom edges of each and up against the edges of
the two F-2 ply fuselage doublers Tape and/or clamp
in position and allow to dry Cut, fit and glue the two
lengths of 1/4" triangular stock in place behind the
noseblock As you proceed through this step we
strongly suggest that you continually check for symmetry and squareness of the assembly
19. Locate and glue the shaped balsa forward canopy
mount in place against the top rear of the noseblock
and the fuselage sides Sand the edges flush with the
fuselage sides Carefully remove ply former F-6 from
its sheet Clean up the inside edges with sandpaper.
With a sanding block, bevel the two bottom edges of
this former to match the fuselage sides when it's in
place Note that when in place this former stands tall
of the fuselage sides, this is to pick up the top 1/8"
sheet Glue F 6 in place and when dry, sand its outer
edges flush with the fuselage sides
20 Using about an 8" length of one of the 1/16" x 3" x 36"
balsa sheets provided, cut and fit the canopy/hatch
base Use your sanding block to bevel each end of
this base to fit accurately to the forward canopy hatch
block and the angled F 6 rear former Lightly tack glue
this piece in place and sand its edges flush with the
fuselage sides Remove canopy formers C-2, C-3, C-4
and C-5 from their sheet Sand the required bevel into
the bottoms of C-2 and C-5 Carefully glue these two
formers in place on the canopy base being careful to
not glue them to the fuselage — their outside edges
should be flush with the fuselage sides Now center
and glue the C 3 and C 4 formers in place per the
plans (these fit directly over F-3 and F 4 respectively).
Remove the two C-1 canopy sides from their sheets.
Using a flat work surface, glue and pin the y4"tnangular stock piovided to the inside top edge of the C-1
canopy sides — be sure to make a right
and a left
When dry, carefully fit these sides in place, trim as
needed to get a good fit and glue them in place With
the canopy assembly still tack glued to the fuselage,
use your sanding block to bring the sides flush with
the fuselage sides
21. With ready access to both the inside of the canopy/
hatch and the fuselage, now is the time to build the
canopy hold-down system Note the views shown in
the upper left corner of the fuselage plans These
demonstrate how the canopy is secured to the fusel-
age, at the nose with a ply 'lip' that is glued to the
bottom of the canopy base and fits beneath the
canopy hatch block, in the middle it is held to the
fuselage by two wire hooks and a rubber band and at
6
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