BUILDING YOUR CREATION

BUILDING PAGE TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Getting set up to build
• Building the fuselage
• Building the wing and tail
• Final line-up and assembly

GETTING SET-UP FOR BUILDING

Your drawing should be on a flat surface that will accept T-pins to hold the balsa sticks in place. I use an old Luan hollow core door. The cheapest method is using corregated cardboard on a flat surface. Another building board idea submitted by Craig is the use of a 4ftx2ft ceiling tile for about $4.00 dollars at the Home Depot.Craig can be reached at Cacboat@aol.com.The latest and most expensive way are the laminated balsa building boards offered by the hobby shops and catalogs. Save the money you would spend on the fancy board and order a bulk order of balsa instead.

A nice order of balsa from Balsa USA or another company that will build a couple of planes is as follows;

(20) 1/16x4x36" balsa sheets
(10) 1/8x4x36" " "
(10) 3/16x4x36" " "
(10) 1/4x4x36" " "
(2) 2"x4"x12" balsa blocks
(1) 1/8"x12"x24" lite aircraft plywood

The most useful tools I use are the single edge razor blade, a small electric bandsaw like a Black and Decker or Craftsmen with a 56 1/8"combination blade and a Craftsmen,Dremel or Ryobi moto-tool with attachments.You will need the band saw to make the wing ribs in the matter covered later. The band saw needs a rip fence either store bought or made out of a hardwood strip and two appropriate sized c-clamps. I use the newer Quick Grip mini bar clamps from Home Depot.

List the quanity,size and use for all the balsa and plywood pieces you will need based on your drawing. Add 1/3rd more fuselage sticks in your quanity for the top and bottom of the fuselage and the reinforcements added during the build process. Cut some extra trailing edge pieces also for reinforcements later on. Don't concern yourself if you have a bunch left over. They are great for repairs and on the next project

Here is a guide to determine the width of the fuselage at the wing saddle area,inside dimension;

1/4 scale 5"
60 size 4"
40 size 3.5"
20 size 3"
smaller 2.5"

Cut the wood slow enough to minimize the sanding required later. Cut all the wood for a given size at one time so the different sizes are uniform.

Trace the rib shape from the rib drawing on the wing saddle. Trace all the cut-outs for the main spars,rear spar and turbulator sticks.Do not trace the leading adge or trailing edge on this master rib tracing.Cut out the tracing and paste it to the 2" side of a balsa block. Line-up the front of the rib to the front of the block. This will eliminate one cut and insures a nice 90 degree edge in the front of each rib. Here is a guide for the thickness of the ribs.Small to 20 size planes use 1/16" wide,40 to 60 use 1/8" wide and 1/4 scale 3/16" or thicker.

Set up the bandsaw blade to be at exactly 90 degrees to the base. This is important for cutting ribs. Open the throut of the saw to accept the block of balsa. allow a little more height so you can closely control all the cuts. You may have to cut the block length wise along the 4" surface so the block can fit into the throut of the bandsaw. First cut the shape of the rib and all notches in the rib block.While it is still in block form sand all the saw marks off the rib block,

Set up the bandsaw rip fence for the rib width you are going to cut. Make sure the rip fence is square to the table to eliminate any binding or irregular cuts.Have another block of scape wood handy to push the last couple of ribs thru the saw.

All the major parts are available to start the build sequence.

Start the fuselage build sequence by pinning down the sticks and gluing them in the following sequence;
1.Centerline stick
2.Bottom outline stick
3.Top outline sticks
4.Front vertical wing saddle sticks
5.Rear vertical wing saddle sticks
6.Top horizontal wing saddle stick
7.Nose vertical stick
8.Tail vertical stick
9.All vertical sticks in between
10.All cross braces on the fuselage plan
11.All gussets on the fuselage plan. 12.Remove all the T-pins from the fuselage side.

Lay a piece of saran wrap over the completed fuselage side on the plan. Tape the saran wrap so it retains the fuselage side to the plan temporarily.

Build the second fuselage half over the top of the completed one using the same sequence of assembly. Pin the sticks to the completed halve and glue.

Remove the two fuselage halves from the plan leaving the bottom saran wrap in place. Clean up any mismatch of the fuselage sides so they match exactly.

Cut the top front and rear wing saddle cross sticks to the correct length. Mark the center of each stick and pin to the plan at the center line and vertical wing saddle stick locations front and rear. Using a right angle triangle, line up the fuselage sides to the cross sticks and pin and glue the sides to the sticks. Maintaining the right angles cut and glue the bottom cross sticks to the fuselage. Reinforce the bottom of the wing saddle area by cut and gluing sticks to the bottom opening opposite the top wing saddle opening.

Line up the fuselage sides at the tail directly over the centerline and glue together.

Line up the cross sticks top and bottom at the nose and glue in place with the marks on the cross sticks lined up with the center line on the plan.

Cut and glue all the bottom cross sticks in place at the fuselage vertical stick locations the full length of the fuselage.

Cut and epoxy glue the plywood landing gear plate to the inside bottom fuselage doubled sticks. Cut and glue square plywood side reinforcement plates to the landing gear plate and the fuselage sides.

Cut and glue all the angle braces along the bottom of the fuselage.

Remove the pins holding the fuselage and turn the fuselage over. Pin the fuselage to the plan lined up to the center line and premarked centers on the bottom cross sticks opposite the wing saddle cross sticks.

Reinforce the wing saddle opening on the inside by adding another fuselage stick all the way around.

Reinforce the vertical wing saddle sticks inside at the four location with one piece sticks covering the centerline joint right and left side.

Reinforce the hatch and windshield opening with double sticks all the way around.

Cut and glue all the remaining fuselage top cross sticks.

Cut and glue all top angle braces behind the rear wing saddle cross stick to the rear.

Lay a piece of saran wrap over the hatch and windshield opening loose. Push the saran wrap into the opening slightly and tape along the outside to hold in place.

Cut,fit and pin fuselage sized sticks to the inside of the opening all the way around. Glue all the joints while held in place. Add 3 to 4 evenly spaced cross sticks inside the frame for reinforcement. Add one cross reinforcement stick at the joint of the windshield frame to the hatch cover frame.Cut a piece of 1/16 sheet balsa to fit over the frame and fuselage sides. Glue in place and sand to fit. If a rounded hatch is called for, add half moon supports to cross sticks on the frame before planking.

Remove the hatch and windshield assembly and taper the outside of the frame sticks for an easier fit.

Remove the hatch cover and set aside.

Cut a 1/8" thick plywood plates doubled up and epoxy glued.

Custom cut the motor mount doubler plate to fit into the front of the hatch opening with sides touching the fuselage sides.

Remove the motor mount plate and make a cutout slightly smaller then the motor being used. Fit the motor to the opening and mark the sides of the mount for a right and left side slot for a hose clamp.Drill out the slots and clamp the motor to the plate.

Position the motor,clamp and plate assembly to the fuselage.Line up the motor shaft with a very slight down thrust and right thrust so it is just noticable.

Epoxy glue the assembly in place and add reinforcement sticks at the fuselage and plate corners.

Cut a piece of balsa block the size to meet the design on the plans. Using a hole saw drill out the largest hole you can and still maintain some structual integrety. The larger the hole the better the airflow for the motor, speed control and batteries.

Line up the hole and the motor shaft and glue in place to the front fuselage frame.Add reinforcement sticks behind the front fuselage frame and glue in place.

Remove the motor and set aside.

Shape the nose of the model to match the drawing.

Remove the fuselage from the plan.

Turn fuselage over and frame out a rectangular hole aft of the vertical wing saddle sticks for air flow escape. Add plywood tailwheel plate to fuselage if it's a taildragger. Add a nose gear bulkhead for a tricycle landing gear set up.

Start the first wing half by pinning down the lower main spar to the drawing at the center line or over the wing drawing if you made one.

Position the end ribs in place a locate the rear bottom spar and pin in place.

Position the trailing edge in place using the end ribs as guides.

Position and glue all ribs to the main spar,rear spar and trailing edge.

Position and glue the top main spar into the ribs,

Position and glue the leading edge to the ribs.

position and glue the turbulator sticks into the rib cutouts.Glue the turbulator sticks so they are slightly higher then the ribs to be effective. There are some very good articles available on the advantages of turbulator strips.

Cut,fit and glue all angle braces to the wing.Refer to the design section or your drawing for their locations.

Glue gussets at the trailing edge to rear of ribs opposite the cross braces.>br>

Remove the pins and set the wing half aside.

Build the other half of the wing using the same sequence and method.