When your ready to start building this fun little model, check out the picture gallery below by clicking on the first picture.
I’m sure you’ll find them very helpful
1 Begin by cutting along the right hand and bottom edges of the plans that you've print off.
2. Line sheets 1 and 2 up and stick them together with Cello-tape
3. Do the same for sheets 3 and 4.
4. You should now have a complete plan and are ready to get started!
5. You can add a bit of extra tape on the back if you prefer.
6. Here is the completed plan all taped together, ready for building!
7. First thing to do is start cutting out the fuselage (body) of the plane. Cut slightly above it's thick black outline .
8. Do the same for the wings. See the slight cut line away from the wings?
9. Here are the two main shapes cut out
10. Once the two main shapes are cut out, spray mount them onto a sheet of 1/4 inch thick medium hard balsa sheet.
11. Using a sharp scalpel craft knife, roughly cut out the fuselage and wings from the sheet balsa.
12. Cut out the slot for the wing and stiffener
13. The wing is wider that a standard width balsa sheet, so glue a scrap piece to the back edge. Use PVA glue, tape together and leave to dry
14. Accurately cut out the shape of the wing
15. Here's another shot of the wings and fuselage cut from the balsa sheet
16 after gluing in the spruce strip stiffeners, cut out the slot for the tailplane.
17. Here's the wing and tailplane slots cut out and spruce strip glued in.
18. Once everything is dry, gently sand the fuselage to shape.
19. Drill a 2mm hole in the wing for the belcrank .
20. Remove the paper and sand the sides of the fuselage.
21. Here's a pic of the nicely sanded wing. Note the spruce wood strengthening strip glued inside.
22. Here are the wing and fuselage pieces ready to be glued together
23. Mark the position of the fuselage on the wing with a pen,
24. Now mark out the tail plane. Pin prick through the paper onto the balsa sheet or cut out and stick down as before.
25. now mark out the other side.
26. Here's the finished shape.
27. All the parts together.
28. Using a pen, mark the position of the elevator. This will be the moving part of the tail, so it will be cut out later.
29. Mark the centre line of the tail plane and cut thru.
30. Don't worry! They'll be glued back together in a V shape.
31. Cut out the V template from the plan and stick to some scrap balsa sheet.
32. Cut out the template.
33. Pin down half of the tail plane, spread PVA glue along the edge and offer up the other side, pin in place with the V piece.
34, Here's the finished tail plane after the glue has set
35 Slide the wing into the front slot ready for gluing,
36. Here's the wing positioned and ready for gluing. Use Epoxy resin glue available from your local hardware store
37. Next slide the tail plane in place. Line it up perfectly and use Epoxy to glue in place
38. Here's the finished tail plane.
39. Another shot
40. The completed air frame
41. Another angle shot.
42. Mark out 2 ply pieces from 1/16 inch ply sheet - copy from the plan. Mark 2 drill holes, This is for the belcrank mount.
43. First drill the holes for the bolt and nut, then cut the pieces out. Shape them with rough sandpaper
44 Next glue them in place with either PVA or epoxy glue. Make sure that the holes line up.
45 Cut out the leadout guide from the plan.
46 Spray glue to a piece of 1/16 inch ply. Then drill out the 4 holes with a 2 or 3mm drill.
47 Here's the piece before shaping.
48 The guide now shaped. Drill your holes straighter than mine!
49 Next cut a piece of the wing template where the guide is and stick to the underside of the wing
50 Here it is stuck in place
51 Using a ball point pen mark the guide line on the plan to indent the balsa. Then go over it with the pen
52 carefully cut a slot into the wing, but only half way - just enough to glue the ply guide in.
53 Here's the leadout guide glued in place
54 Next start adding the nose strengthening plywood pieces. Cut these out and glue them each side of the nose. use PVA glue
55 Glue the ply pieces to each side like I've done, with PVA glue.
56 When glued, secure with clamps. You can use clothes pegs or large paper clips, if you don't have plastic ones
57 Now to make the super-strong engine mounts! Buy a length of aluminium angle 25x19mm. Available from a good home improvement store
58 This is the engine mount shown on the plan
59 Mark out the length with a pencil from the plan. You need 2 pieces.
60 Use a straight-edge to form a straight line for cutting
61 Using a small junior hacksaw cut the pieces off the metal strip. These will be shaped further.
62 Again with the hacksaw, cut metal from the mounts to form the shapes shown
63 Finally using a large file, file radius's to the corners , then file them smooth with a smaller file.
64 Mark the three holes on each mount with a felt pen or sharpie. Copy the holes from the plan
65 Next drill the holes to take 2 or 3mm nuts, bolts and washers
66 This is how the mounts will look once mounted on the nose. Holes will be drilled in front to mount the engine.
67 Here is the engine mount fixed to the front with 3 bolts and nuts. Drill the front face to mount the engine.
68 Here's a view showing the belcrank, push rod (going to the tail) and the 2 thin leadout wires exiting the wingtips
69 And here's a close-up of the 1/2A nylon bellcrank. This is available from P S Aeroproducts or Brodak.com
70 Once you've sanded the airframe, apply 2 coats of thinned clear Shrinking Dope, which will be available from a good model shop
71 Sand smooth ready for paint finish!! I really love the pylon racing designs. That's what inspired me to paint the plane like this. Use colour enamel model spray paint
72 After painting the airframe, mask out the cockpit and the number 5 on the side. Chrome spray paint looks wicked!