Construction Manual
www.oldschoolmodels.com
Page 3
• Hobby knife and #10 blades
• Sandpaper: coarse (80 or 100 grit) & medium (150-200 grit)
• Pencil or pen
• Ruler
• T-Pins
• Waxed paper
• Building board
• 2-part epoxy (6 or 15 minute)
• Epoxy brushes and mixing sticks
• Wood adhesives of your choice. We use medium CA
(cyanoacrylate) viscosities, but aliphatic resin and/or carpenter’s
glues will work just as well and give longer working time.
• Thin CA for attaching the included hinges
• Canopy glue
Before Starting Assembly
From the start, we’ve designed the Mambo to be easy to build
for the first time builder. We’ve kept the parts count low and
incorporated a wealth of interlocking parts which are self-aligning.
Closely inspect the supplied laser cut parts for damage. If you find
any damaged or missing parts, contact us immediately.
When removing the laser cut parts from their sheets, you’ll notice
the parts are held in place by several small “tabs”. These tabs
are uncut pieces of wood and can sometimes make it difficult to
remove a part. Rather than breaking and/or splintering the wood
by forcing out the part, we recommend removing any laser cut
parts from their sheets by using a hobby knife with a #10 blade.
A quick cut of the tab will allow the piece to be removed with no
damage. Sand any tab remainders flush with the part so there will
be no problem aligning them later.
It’s best to not remove parts from their sheets until they are needed.
Refer to Appendix A of this manual as a reference to what all the
laser cut parts look like and are called.
You’ll notice a check box next to each step. Check these off as
you go along so you don’t miss a step. Note that some steps (in
building the wing) have two boxes - this means that the step will be
done twice - once for each wing half.
There could be a step or two which leaves you a bit puzzled. If this
happens, step back and study the photo(s) for that step - both in
this manual and online.
All photos shown in this manual are of different prototype Mambos.
Several pieces may have changed slightly with improvements
we’ve made so parts may look a little different in some steps.
Online Supplementary Photos
We realize that the smaller black-and-
white photos in this manual might not
show some of the steps as clearly as
you might want. So we’ve anticipated
this and made these photos available
on our website. You can either scan the
QR code or type this address into your
browser:
www.oldschoolmodels.com/mpics/mambo
Let’s begin construction by working on the port (left) wing of
your Mambo.
Prepare your work area
You’ll need a flat building
surface that is a minimum of
24” long. Position the left
wing plan over the surface
and tape into position. Tear
off a length of waxed paper
long enough to cover the
right wing plan and tape that into position, over the plan.
Step 1 - Alignment triangles
Pre-cut into LP4 are two triangles,
one inside the other. These can be
used to vertically align any of the
parts in the construction of your
Mambo. LP4 also includes two foot
pieces that can be used with the
triangles to hold both triangles vertical hands-free.
We recommend using the smaller triangle in the wing construction
as it’s small enough to fit between the ribs.
Step 2 - Wing Assembly (position lower spar)
Using a length of 3/16 x 3/8” basswood,
measure and cut it to form the lower
spar. Note that it runs from R2 to the
last R5 rib at the wing’s tip - it does not
extend into R1.
Attach it over the plans, using a few
small drops of medium CA along
it’s length (or you could use t-pins).
Be sure it is aligned properly and is
straight over it’s entire length. The
alignment of this spar is critical as
the rest of the wing panel is based
off this single piece.
Step 3 - Wing Assembly (J1)
Locate one of the J1 jigs from
BP11. As this is cut from 1/16th
balsa, take care not to break it.
On one end you’ll see a small
engraved circle. This notes the
end that will be located towards
the wing’s root (R1).
Carefully align J1 so each cutout
perfectly aligns over the ribs on
the plans, then glue it to the front of the spar.
IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT YOU ASSEMBLE THIS MAMBO
KIT IN THE ORDER DESCRIBED. SKIPPING FORWARD IN
THE STEPS COULD LEAVE YOU WITHOUT THE PROPER
LENGTHS OF WOOD TO FINISH THE KIT.
WE’VE INCLUDED ENOUGH WOOD TO EASILY COMPLETE
THIS KIT, BUT YOU MUST TAKE CARE TO PROPERLY
MEASURE AND NOT WASTE WOOD WHEN CUTTING.
