Page 6
www.oldschoolmodels.com
Construction Manual
British
Sunday Fighter
Bristol Spadport
Step 20 - Top Wing Assembly (1/8” dowel pins)
Locate the length of 1/8” dowel. Measure and cut this into
individual 1” lengths that will be used as pins in the
wing construction. You’ll need 24 of them in total.
Round the ends slightly to help aid when inserting
them into the holes in the following steps. They may
also need to be sanded as sometimes although claim
to be 1/8”, they are often oversized.
Step 21 - Top Wing Assembly (CM3 & CM4)
Locate three CM3’s and two CM4’s from
LP1 or LP2.
Glue the CM3’s together, stacked on
top of each other. Then glue the CM4’s
together, stacked on top of each other.
Make sure that these are perfectly
aligned before the glue cures.
Step 22 - Top Wing Assembly (CM3 & CM4 assemblies)
Insert two of the dowels
half-way into the CM3
assembly, and two more
half-way into the CM4
assembly. Glue these in place.
Step 23 - Top Wing Assembly (CM3 assembly)
Before you install the CM3 assembly in the wing, a few things to
do first.
First, locate one of the steel straps from the hardware bag.
Note that the steel strap has 3 holes, all 1/8”, or they
should be. Run a 1/8” drill bit through each of the
holes to make sure, as they sometimes close
up a little during the plating process.
Also note that shape of the CM3 assembly
and it’s pre-cut holes. As we’ll be working from
the underside of the wing, the more “curved”
surface will be oriented downward in this step. This allows the
holes in CM3 and in R3 to be lined up.
Carefully push the two dowels in the CM3 assembly into the pre-
cut holes in R3. Make sure this is on the proper side of the rib (the
side facing the root rib). Glue this to R3.
Step 24 - Top Wing Assembly (CM3 assembly)
Now slide the steel strap in place, gluing it to
the CM3 assembly.
Locate one more of the CM3’s from LP1 or LP2.
Slide the CM3’s on the rib side only and glue it
in place to “sandwich” and strengthen the rib.
(Ignore the extra CM3 shown in this photo.)
Step 25 - Top Wing Assembly (CM4 assembly)
The CM4 assembly is installed similarly to the CM3 you just
installed.
Install the CM4 assembly, paying attention to the
orientation and making sure it’s glued to the
same face of R5.
Locate another steel strap, and drill out the
holes to 1/8”.
Locate one CM4 from LP1 or LP2, and glue it on
the rib side to lock everything in place.
Step 18 - Top Wing Assembly (top, center sheeting)
Included in your kit are uncut 1/16” balsa sheets and extra sheeting
on the BP9 sheets. These are used when sheeting the center
section of the wings, as well as a
few points on the fuselage.
Carefully measure and cut a few
pieces of sheeting to cover the
R1, R3 and R5 ribs, as shown on
the plans.
When measuring, make sure that
the grain is crosswise (flowing
from R1 to R5).
When edge gluing the sheeting pieces together, first make sure
the edges are flat (give a quick, swipe or two with a sanding block).
Then tape the two pieces together as shown here with a piece of
tape. As you lift the sheeting from the board you’ll see that the tape
will act as a hinge allowing you to put a small amount of adhesive
in the joint. When the adhesive is
applied, place the sheeting back
down on the waxed paper, so that
it’s flat (as shown in the photo).
When cured, you’ll now have a
single, longer piece of sheeting.
You’ll need to join a few pieces
together to form a piece long
enough to reach from the leading
to the trailing edge.
Test fit the piece to the wing. If you’re having trouble getting the
leading edge portion of the sheet to bend, squirt it a few times
with original Windex® window/glass cleaner. The ammonia mixed
into the solution will relax the wood fibers and allow them to bend
much, much easier. The wood must be dry for it to properly glue,
so you can wait for it to dry, or dry it quickly with a blow-dryer or
even a covering heat-gun. Take care to keep your fingers out of
the line of fire!
It’s easier to join the shorter lengths of sheeting together on a flat
surface, then when the glue has cured, trim and glue the sheeting
in place on the wing. Start at the leading edge and gluing a little
at a time. Press the sheeting firmly against the ribs and wait for
the glue to cure before gluing the next section of sheeting - slowly
working your way back to the trailing edge, being careful not to
put a bend (warp) in the wing.
Step 19 - Top Wing Assembly (R11B/R5B)
Locate one R11B and one R5B from LP5. These pieces reinforce
the back portion of two ribs - R11 and R5. Fit and glue these in
place against their respective ribs as shown on the plan. Each
should be glued to the inside surface (the surface of the rib that
faces the root (R1) rib.
No photos are available for this step as this upgrade was made
after our photo shoot.
When finished, carefully remove the wing half from the building
board. Take some care as it will be a semi-flexible structure at this
moment. Don’t worry of any of the back tabs snap off as you’ll be
trimming those away in a few steps.
Turn the wing half over as we’ll start work on the underside of the
wing next.
