Next, prepare the fin for mounting to the stab by making
sure that all covering is removed from the bottom of it,
leaving exposed wood. Be sure that the covering on the
top of the stab is well-adhered to the center S-3's
because you will be removing some of it, at the center, to
accommodate the fin. Use your X-acto knife to remove
the covering from the fin slot location, exposing the
wood. Before glueing the fin to the stab, use a pin to
make lots of smal I holes in the exposed wood of both the
stab and fin bottom, these need not be deep. Use a
slower drying adhesive (Titebond, 1-hour epoxy, etc) to
now glue the fin in place on the stab. Use a length of light
tape over the top of the fin and on each tip of the stab to
hold the fin in place, at right angles, and allow to dry.
Check periodically while this structure is drying to be
sure that the fin has not shifted and is in place at right
angles to the stab and on the centerline of the fuselage;
we want everything "square". When this structure is dry,
remove the tape. Thread a length of 20# fishing line (us-
ed for rigging thru-out, if desired) through the hole at the
top of the fin and glue each of the line holes at each tip of
the stab—carefully applied "thick" CA adhesive will
work well. The fin should now be quite immobile on the
stab.
Use 1-hour epoxy to now glue the hinges required into
the trailing edges of the wings, stabilizer and rudder.
Next, mount the elevators to their hinges followed by the
rudder and ailerons. A little acetone orCA debonderon a
clean paper towel can be used to clean-off any glue that
has oozed out of the hinge slots.
Mount the landing gear assembly to the fusefage with
the screws and clips provided. Mount the clips securely
but do not over-tighten.
Now install the motor mount to the firewall. Use one or
two washers behind the top two motor mount bolts to
give about 2 to 3 degrees of down-thrust. Mount your
engine to the motor mount. Cut two lengths of fuel tub-
ing with sharp angles at one end. Insert the angled ends
through the firewall and use a pair of long-nosed pliers
to reach into the fuselage and pull them almost through
the tank compartment. Trim the ends of the tubing and
connect them to the appropriate tubes on your tank.
Now pull the tubes back through the firewall while mov-
ing the tank into the fuselage. Trim the tubing to length
and make the connections to your engine and pressure
tap.
The two 1-1/8" x 2-3/4" windscreens are now trimmed to
shape using the patterns provided on Plan Sheet 1. We
suggest that you then press these to the surface to
create a slight indention and use an X-acto knife to
create a "slot" into which they can be inserted. A small
amount of CA glue will hold them nicely. If you're using
pilot busts, these should be assembled, trimmed to fit in
the cockpit openings and painted. They can then be
epoxied in place.
At this point you might be considering detailing the
model with a few "goodies". We have used a few items
that were "off-the shelf" in most well-stocked hobby
shops. Williams Bros. makes some nice 2-1/2" scale
machine gun kits which would work well with this
model. These are available in WWI vintage, both British
and German. To mount these, you would only have to
epoxy a couple of dowels into the bottom of the gun(s)
and glue directly to the top of the fuselage, ahead of the
forward cockpit location. As shown on the plans, we
also used Williams Bros, vintage-style wheels. The true
spoked wheels, shown on the model depicted on your
label, were obtained from our local hobby shop. Supply
of these type of wheels varies greatly.
On a couple of our prototypes we detailed the cockpits
with veneer instrument panels, vintage instruments,
and black tubing which we slit and mounted around the
cockpit openings. Detailing your Elder Biplane is a lot of
fun and makes your model an individual.
With the exception of any additional detailing, painting,
etc. that you might want to do, your model is now essen-
tially finished, needing only the installation of the radio.
RADIO INSTALLATION
The method of installing yourradio in the Elder Biplane is
shown on the plans. Note that we have provided you with
a 1/8" x 2-7/8" x 4-7/8" ply servo tray. Use a pencil and
straight edge to lay-out the positions of your servos on
this tray. Note that we show the rudder and elevator
servos at the rear, mounted side-by-side with the throttle
servo just ahead, mounted sideways. Drill a 1/4 " dia. hole
into each of the servo pencil marks and use a Dremel saw
or jigsaw to remove the servo cut-outs required (3). Test-fit
the servos into the tray and the tray into the fuselage—it
is meant to rest atop the two 1/4" x 1/2" balsa bearers that
were built into the fuselage frame earlier. Note that the
tray can be slid fore and aft a little to provide some C.G.
change, if needed, later when it is permanently glued in
place.
The receiver and battery pack are meant to be installed
forward of the servo tray, as shown. These components
should be installed using foam rubber. The receiver
antenna on our prototypes was simply routed out through
the fuselage, internally, and tied-off at the tailpost of the
rear fuselage framework. The switch harness may be at-
tached directly to the fuselage side, away from engine ex-
haust.
Next, make the rudder and elevator pushrods using the re-
maining lengths of the VA" dia. dowel provided. These will
be cut to about 22" lengths. Locate the two 12", threaded
on one-end, wire pushrods supplied in your kit. Cut 5" off
each of these pushrods; leaving two 7", threaded one-end
pieces. Save the 5" pieces and, as shown on the plans, at-
tach the non-threaded ends of the 7" pieces to the ends of
each dowel with epoxy and tightly-wrapped thread. Now
attach the two remaining 5" wire lengths to the opposite
ends of the dowels. From the inside of the fuselage, slip
the pushrods in place through the rear of the frame and
out the pushrod exit guides. Some small amount of ben-
ding of these control wires may be needed to provide free,
unbinding movement. Avoid hard or abrupt bends.
17
Summary of Contents for Elder Biplane RC-37
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