Construction Manual
www.oldschoolmodels.com
Page 11
Step 53 - Fuselage Assembly (rear pins)
Use a couple of t-pins (or tape) to bring the two
fuselage sheets together at the rear, as shown.
Don’t glue these together! This simply holds
them as shown to guarantee alignment for the
next few steps.
Step 54 - Fuselage Assembly (F5, F5A, F6, F6A)
Locate F5, F6, both F5A’s
and both F6A’s from BP8.
Lay F5 and F6 on your
building surface as shown,
then glue one F5A across
the top and one F5A
across the bottom of F5
to strengthen it.
Do the same for F6 and the F6A’s.
Step 55 - Fuselage Assembly (F5, F6)
Now it’s time to slip F5 and F6
into place, between the fuselage
sides. Both of these pieces must
be oriented the correct way, as
they are not symmetrical, top to
bottom. You’ll notice the tabs
are offset towards the bottom
when correctly installed in their
corresponding slots in the
fuselage side sheeting.
Glue these two formers in place,
making sure that the rear fuselage sides remain aligned. Refer
to the top view on the fuselage plans to see how the rear of the
fuselage should be curved - symmetrically straight and true - not
bowed to the left or right (banana shaped).
Step 56 - Fuselage Assembly (F7)
Locate F7 from BP4 and glue it
in position as shown. Again note
the orientation of the piece - with
the large opening for the vertical
fin towards the fuselage top. Also
keep that fuselage aligned as we
previously mentioned.
Step 57 - Fuselage Assembly (F8A, F8B)
Locate F8A and F8B from BP4.
Glue these in position as shown,
again paying attention to their
orientation.
You should remove the pins from
the back of the fuselage to install
these two pieces. No problem as
they aren’t needed anymore.
Step 58 - Fuselage Assembly (rear cap)
Back when you made the wings, the leading edge was created
from 5/16” square stock. Use a piece of this stock to form the rear
fuselage cap. This piece will fit between the
fuselage sides as shown here.
Measure and cut the piece, then slightly
taper the sides so it will contact the sheeting
along it’s length.
Glue this in position.
Step 59 - Fuselage Assembly (rear longerons)
Using the 3/16”
square stock, it’s
time to measure,
cut and install the
corner longerons
for the rear of the
fuselage. There
will be two longer
strips that run
along each side
of the bottom,
from the LG3
pieces to the rear fuselage cap.
There are also two slightly shorter top pieces that run along each
side of the top from F4 to the rear fuselage cap.
Take care that these are fully seated into each of the corner cutouts
in each of the formers when gluing them in.
You’ll also need to sand/cut a slight taper in the longerons where
they touch, back by the rear fuselage cap.
Step 60 - Fuselage Assembly (front longerons)
Using the scrap 3/16”
square balsa stock
from the previous step,
measure, cut and install
the front longerons.
These two bottom pieces
will run from the front of
LG3 to the cutouts in F2,
on each side of the fuse.
Step 61 - Sanding (Wing, stab, elevator, fin and rudder)
Set the fuselage aside and now is the time to get quite familiar with
the sanding tools of your choice to do a good sanding on the wing,
horizontal stab, elevator, vertical fin and rudder.
On the wing, take the time to preform a good sanding, rounding
the wing’s leading edge and blending it into the wingtips. Go
over the entire wing, making sure the sheeting is smooth and the
trailing edges are blended into the
ribs, continuing the curvature of the
wing.
Round the leading edge of the stab
as well as the trailing edges of the
elevator and rudder.
Sand bevels into the leading edge of
both elevator halves and the rudder.
