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Almost Done!
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Prepping the Tail Pieces
You have to cut out the hinge area on the tail (elevator, rudder or both). Be careful not to cut all the way through. I may end up putting hinge tape on the surface of the elevator just to be safe. Next you have to bend wire for the elevator so that both surfaces move together. This is a huge pain. DAW should re-work how they do this to make it simpler. Just bend a piece of wire into a U and insert it into the two elevator surfaces. You actually have to poke the wire through the corrugations. Now, you can either paint them (as I did) or cover them with Ultracote. You have to wash them for covering, and then apply the 3M77 with the Ultracote on wet. No heat!
Final Assembly
Another Whew! Now we are in the final leg of the event. Its time to glue on the wing. This was a real problem for me. I had heard you could introduce washout into the wing trying to get it seated firmly into the saddle. Here's what I did:
First, I sanded the strapping tape in the saddle to get good adhesion. Then I measured and drew a center line at the leading and trailing edges of the wing and at the edges of the saddle so I could line the wing properly. Then, I globbed PFM all over the saddle area, ran the aileron servo wires up through the saddle hole to the receiver, and pressed the wing into the saddle by hand.
I lined the entire wing up to the marks I drew, and took some strapping tape (previously cut and sticking to the table) and taped the wing to the fuse tightly. This kept it in line and reduced movement. Now, here comes my own invention for this. The wing wouldnt seat properly in the saddle, so I took some lite ply cut into small squares, and drilled two inch wood screws into the squares. I put the wood/screw thingy on the bottom of the wing and then screwed the screw through the wing and into the fuse. I did this at four points on the bottom of the wing.
I left this to sit for 24 hours to let it cure completely. I also took PFM and squeezed it into any gaps between the fuse and the wing, then wiped it off with a paper towel. It left some fog on the covering, but thats all part of the learning curve! When the 24 hours elapsed, I simply removed the screws and put small pieces of ultracote over the tiny holes in the covering and its all done.
The other pain in the rear is installing the tail pieces. I first PFMed the horizontal onto the fuse (first sanding the strapping tape on the rear saddle) and pressed it on. I let that sit for 24 hours as well (this takes forever!). Next you have to cut grooves in the top and bottom of the rear fuse area for the vertical stab. YOu have to cut pretty deep, so BE SURE YOU DON'T HIT YOUR ANTENNA. I PFMed this as well, put some strapping tape on to hold it tightly together, and let it sit for 24 hours. Patch up the rear area where you had to cut and your ready for the control hookup.
Time to Decorate Your New Warbird!>
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