Construction Manual
www.oldschoolmodels.com
Page 3
• Covering: If you're using single color scheme, one 2 meter roll
of covering will cover all of the flying surfaces, if measured and
cut carefully.
• Optional: Minuette Accessory kit - sold separately.
Additional Required Building Tools and Adhesives
• Drill & assorted drill bits
• 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 viscosity CA
(cyanoacrylate) , but aliphatic resin and/or carpenter’s glues (used
correctly) will work just as well and give longer working time.
• Thin CA for attaching the included hinges
Although an easy to build kit, our Minuette kit is not for the novice
builder. We are assuming the builder is used to constructing balsa
kits and has the techniques and skills necessary to do so.
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 Minuette prototypes.
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/minuette/
Let’s begin construction by working on the port (left) wing of
your Minuette.
n
Prepare your work area
You’ll need a flat building surface
that is a minimum of 36” long.
Position the port wing plan over
the surface and tape into position.
Tear off a length of waxed paper
long enough to cover the plan
and tape that into position, over the plan.
n
Alignment triangles
Pre-cut into LP4 are a 90° triangles. They can
be used to vertically align any of the parts in
the construction of your Minuette. LP4 also
includes foot pieces that can be used with the
triangles to hold them vertically (hands-free).
IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT YOU ASSEMBLE THE
MINUETTE 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.
IF YOU READ NOTHING ELSE
IN THIS MANUAL, PLEASE
READ THESE FOUR POINTS.
#1 - PLYWOOD HAS BOWS AND WARPS IN IT 95% OF
THE TIME. Because of this, we engineered the Minuette
to eliminate these warps whenever possible - we'll make
recommendations on how to overcome them as we go along.
#2 - THE MINUETTE IS NOT DESIGNED OR STRESSED
FOR AEROBATICS. It is meant to be flown smooth and
easy, just like any full-scale aircraft of the Edwardian era
would have been flown.
#3 - THE MINUETTE IS PRIMARILY DESIGNED FOR
ELECTRIC POWER. Glow can be used, but mounting a
2-stroke can present problems with the large firewall.
#4 - THE REMOVABLE FLYING WIRES & PYLONS IN
THE OPTIONAL ACCESSORY KIT ARE DECORATIVE,
AND NOT NEEDED TO FLY - Just as everything in the
Minuette's Accessory kit, they not are needed to fly - just
to look great in the air and on the ground.
