❍
8. Locate the two holes under the covering at the trailing
edge of the wing. Cut the covering away on both the top and
the bottom of the wing.
❍
9. Locate the plywood
wing bolt plate
. Position it on the
bottom of the wing over the wing bolt holes. Using a felt tip
marker, trace around the wing bolt plate. Using your modeling
knife with a sharp blade, cut the covering away, being careful
not to cut
into the surface of the wing skin. Cutting into the
wing skin
will
weaken the structure. The following tip is an
alternative method for safely cutting the covering.
❍
10. Glue the plywood wing bolt plate onto the bottom of
the wing over the area where you removed the covering. When
gluing it in position, be sure that the plate is set back 1/8"
[3mm] from the trailing edge of the wing. Once the glue has
cured use a 5/32" [4mm] drill bit to drill through the wing bolt
holes from the top of the wing through the wing bolt plates.
❍
11. Temporarily bolt the wing to the fuselage with two 4 x
40mm bolts and two 4mm washers.
❍
12. Locate the
wing belly pan
. Cut the covering away from
the holes at the rear of the belly pan.
How to cut covering from balsa.
To avoid cutting into the balsa, use a soldering iron instead
of a hobby knife to cut the covering from the stab. The tip of
the soldering iron doesn’t have to be sharp, but a fine tip
does work best. Allow the iron to heat fully. Use a
straightedge to guide the soldering iron at a rate that will just
melt the covering and not burn into the wood. The hotter the
soldering iron, the faster it must travel to melt a fine cut. Peel
off the covering.
7