.
6.
Landing Gear
Assembly of the landing gear requires the constructed fuselage.
a.
Place the 1/8" landing gear wires into the grooved hardwood blocks. Screw the retaining straps in place.
b.
Bind the legs of the 1/8" rear brace wire to the main landing gear legs with copper wire. Solder securely. Use sufficient
soldering paste to flow the solder completely around and through the bindings. Protect the fuselage during the soldering
operations with a cloth so that dripping solder or paste will not fall on the wood.
c.
The wheel pant halves are joined in the same manner as the cowl except that the joiner strips are not necessary. Cut out
the wheel openings before joining the halves. Squeeze the parts together snugly while flowing thinner into the seam.
d.
The prototype models used Fox 1/8"
Flanged Wheel Collars (#90343) to
secure the wheel pants to the landing
gear axles. Cut a small slot in the inside
half of each pant, wide and long enough
to allow it to slip down into position over
the axle. Assemble the wheels, collars,
and pants onto the landing gear. The
pants should be level when the fuselage
is level.
When they are positioned correctly, tighten the set screws in the collars against the axles. Carefully remove the wheel
pants and wheels without disturbing the position of the flanged collars. Solder the flanged collars to the axles.
(NOTE: We have found that the set screws alone cannot hold the pant securely in position after repeated takeoffs and
landings. A little solder has eliminated the problem on our test models.)
e.
Remove the landing gear assembly and clean it thoroughly with sandpaper and dope thinner.
f.
Epoxy the 1/8" sq. and 1/8"x1/4" balsa
fairing pieces to the wires. Carve and
sand to streamline shape. Fill in the
gaps over the 1/8" wire with Epoxolite
Putty.
g.
The tail wheel assembly should be installed after the fin and rudder have been attached to the fuselage, but before they
·are color painted. When that point is reached later on, come back to this section and proceed as follows:
Insert the tailwheel wire into the nylon bracket. Bend the top section of the wire parallel with the bottom of the rudder. Inset
the wire into the bottom of the rudder and screw the nylon bracket in place on F12. Reinforce the bottom of the rudder with
glass cloth and epoxy glue. The tail wheel (not included) can be retained on the axle wire with 1/16" wheel collars (not
included) or by soldering a flat metal washer onto the axle on each side of the wheel.
7.
Stabilizer And Elevators
Cover the plan with wax paper or plastic wrap. Pin the parts to the plan, gluing them to each other in the following order;
a.
1/4"x1/2" balsa stabilizer trailing edge.
b.
The 1/4"x1/2" elevator leading edge and the 1/4" diameter dowel elevator joiner. Be careful not to glue these parts to the
stabilizer T.