Construction Manual
www.oldschoolmodels.com
Page 11
build straight and true, take a few minutes to guarantee things are
straight before gluing on the tail surfaces.
To align the stab, slide it in place. Look at the fuselage straight on,
from the nose (or tail) and make sure that the stab is level with the
wings. If not, remove the stab and gently sand the stab supports a
little at time. Check the stab and re-sand the supports if needed.
Step 74 - Fuselage Assembly (Stab/Fin installation)
The vertical fin’s tab will
slide through F10 on
the fuselage and down
into the slot pre-cut into
the stab. Sand the fin if
necessary to get a firm,
slop-free fit.
Once properly in
position, it’s time to
glue the stab and fin in
position. Take a bit of
time to make sure these glue joints are sufficient, but don’t use too
much glue as it will make the Sky Ranger unnecessarily tail-heavy.
Step 75 - Bend tailwheel axle
Locate the length of 5/64” wire and the two
3/32” dia. wheel collars from the included
hardware.
Using a pair of pliers, carefully bend the wire to
form the tailwheel axle, and the bend around the
tailwheel itself as shown on the fuselage plans.
Adjust as needed for your size of tailwheel (1”
recommended, not included).
Attach your tailwheel to the axle using one of the
3/32” collars.
Next, bend the 40° angle into the
wire where it passes through the
hole in TF1. Slide the other 3/32”
dia. wheel collar on the unbent
portion of the wire and tighten
it where it rests against the 40°
bend. This makes a solid support
against TF1.
Finally, remove the tailwheel axle from the fuselage and make the
final 90° bend where the axle will slide into the rudder. Trim excess
wire so approximately 1” of wire will slide into the rudder.
Step 76 - Hinge the rudder and elevator
First, round the leading edge of the rudder and elevator with a bit
of sanding. Make the necessary slots needed to hinge the rudder
to the stab. We recommend 2 hinges for the rudder and 4 for the
elevator, as shown on the plans, but do not glue these yet.
Also take this time to drill the 5/64” hole into the rudder so the
tailwheel’s axle can slide in, as shown on the plans. Harden the
wood around this area with a bit of thin C/A. You’ll also need to cut
a small groove into the leading edge of the rudder. This will allow
the tailwheel wire to rest flush with the leading edge of the rudder.
Step 77 - Elevator relief
Using 4 of the C/A hinges, dry-fit the elevator to the stab. Mark and
trim the area where the leading edge of the elevator rubs against
the tailwheel’s axle. Test the elevator by moving it up and down
and make sure the elevator and tailwheel axle do not interfere with
each other. Trim/sand as needed.
Step 78 - Cut and hinge the ailerons
Measure and cut the correct length and shape for each 5/16” x
1-1/4” x 36” strips to make the ailerons.
When finished shaping, make the necessary slots/holes needed
to hinge the ailerons to each side of the wing. We recommend 4
hinges per aileron.
Step 79 - Fuselage Assembly (Optional headrest)
We’ve designed a headrest that can
easily be completed in just a few steps.
It’s optional as it only adds to the looks
of the plane, but we would urge you to
assemble the headrest now and install it
after the fuselage is covered.
The headrest is built from several parts -
HR1 through HR13, all located on BP1.
Assembly begins by gluing both HR1 pieces to HR3 as shown here.
Use this assembly to help line up the stacking of HR4-HR13. HR3
will act as the “spine” to
line up all the notches in
these pieces, and the HR1s
on either side make it easy
to line up the flat edges of
HR4-HR13.
When you have these
properly stacked, glue the
HR1 assembly in place.
Once the glue cures, you can then
run thin CA on the inside of this
assembly to securely glue all the
stacked pieces together.
After all the glue has cured, the
headrest can be sanded into shape,
using the HR1 pieces as a guide and
sanding just enough away from each
layer so it forms one continuous,
smooth piece.
Step 80 - Fuselage
Assembly (Optional side
supports)
If you’ve assembled
everything as described,
you should have one
complete length of 1/4”
square balsa strip. This strip
can be cut and used as
internal “doublers” for the
diagonals on each side of
the fuselage.
There’s just enough length to do this, so be careful with your
measuing and cuts.
Note this is an optional step, but it’s worth mentioning that the Sky
Ranger prototypes performed just fine without these braces.
This completes the airframe assembly of the Sky Ranger 40.
