Great Planes Spirit of St. Louis ARF - GPMA1151 - Manual (Page 9)

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6. Temporarily fit the 1/8” balsa front former (M) into the
fuselage. Be certain it is centered on the four forward holes
you punched in the fuselage sides. Use a fine-point felt-tip
pen to mark the inside of the fuselage on both sides of the
slot in the former for the landing gear wires.
Note: The molding process for the type of foam used in the
fuselage allows some variation in thickness. If former M
protrudes above the top of the fuselage, sand the BOTTOM of
the former until the top of the former aligns with the top of the
fuselage. Be careful not to change the curvature of the former.
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7. Remove the landing gear former. Cut a slot in the
fuselage from the inside, centered in the groove, from one
mark to the other. Use one of the forward landing gear wires
as a guide for cutting the width and height of the slot.
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8. Use medium CA to glue both 1/32” plywood doublers
(1,2) to the front and back of former M. Mark the ply
doublers at the location of the slots in former M. Mark the
side of the former shown in the above photo “REAR”.
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9. Glue front former M and rear former J into position using
6-minute epoxy. Make sure the formers are aligned with the
marks you made earlier. Use the landing gear wires to insure
that the formers are aligned over the slots in the sides of the
fuselage. Remove the wires before the epoxy hardens.
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10. Test fit the 1/8” ply rear nose former (L) into the nose
of the fuselage. The former should be a slightly firm fit in the
fuselage. The large hole in the former is closest to the
bottom of the fuselage. Former L is the smaller of the two
ply nose formers.
Note: If the former is too large, do not sand it as the former
is the proper size for mounting the cowl. Instead, use a
dowel or pencil to compress the foam on the inside of the
nose until the former fits properly.
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