Place the skin into the bottom cradle of the wing you are working on, and then place
the foam wing onto the skin in the approximate position. We want the extreme tip of
the skin to be exactly three inches from the center of the ½ inch cutout in the wing.
This should be close to ½ an inch. Make the rest of the trailing edge parallel.
Place the top cradle onto the wing and line up the cradles with respect to the core
while maintaining the relative position of the skin to the core.
When all is set, weight the entire structure down firmly and evenly. We use a large
flat board to place onto the cradle and then use plenty of weight across the entire
board to distribute the weight evenly. Don’t be afraid to put weight on there – we use
up to 75 pounds for a wing of this size!
After cure, remove the weight and square up the overhanging balsa at the tip and
leading edge with a sanding block. Cut away the bottom sheeting to expose the gear
bay. It will be covered by the supplied ABS.
You can now remove the ½ inch spacers and the tape.
Repeat the above steps for the bottom of the other wing.
When finished with both bottoms, the top skins are completed in a similar manner,
but do not apply any epoxy to the beveled portion of the trailing edges, they will be
glued together after all four skins are applied.
Before final sanding you will need to join the trailing edges of the wing. We use
medium CA in between the beveled edges and a long straight edge to press them
together until cured.
When all skins are applied sand the surface and edges of the entire wing.
Making the Ailerons and Flaps
Overview of Construction
Simply put, you are going to cut away the sheeting over the ½ inch cutout in the wing,
then fill in the space between with ¼ inch TE and ¼ LE (leading edge) on the front of
each aileron and flap. First the whole back piece that forms the flight surfaces of the wing
will be cut away in one piece. Then the back of the wing will be “cleaned up” and a ¼
piece of balsa installed. Next you will install a solid piece of ¼ balsa stock onto the front
of the cut away piece and the whole unit sanded. Then the aileron and flap will be
separated and finally, each flight surface will be hinged and fittings for servo control and
horns added.
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