Top Flite TOPA0410 - Manual (Page 2)

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
PRECAUTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
DECISIONS YOU MUST MAKE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
ENGINE
SELECTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
RADIO SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . 3
LANDING GEAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
SCALE COCKPIT INTERIOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
COMPETITION MINDED MODELERS . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
DOCUMENTATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
OTHER ITEMS REQUIRED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
BUILDING SUPPLIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
IMPORTANT BUILDING NOTES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
COMMON ABBREVIATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
TYPES OF WOOD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
METRIC CONVERSIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
INCH-TO-MILLIMETER WOOD CHART . . . . . . . . . . . 5
DIE-CUT PATTERNS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
GET READY TO BUILD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
BUILD THE TAIL SURFACES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
BUILD THE STABILIZER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
BUILD THE FIN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
BUILD THE ELEVATORS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
BUILD THE RUDDER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
BUILD THE WING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
BUILD THE WING CENTER SECTION. . . . . . . . 14
BUILD THE WING TIP PANELS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
JOIN THE WING PANELS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
SHEET THE WING PANELS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
SHEET THE BOTTOM CENTER SECTION . . . . 21
BUILD THE FUSELAGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
BUILD THE UPPER FUSE SIDES . . . . . . . . . . . 22
SHEET THE FUSE TOP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
BUILD THE FUSE BOTTOM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
INSTALL THE FIREWALL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
SHEET THE BOTTOM OF THE FUSE . . . . . . . . 33
MOUNT THE WING ON THE FUSE . . . . . . . . . . 34
FINISH THE WING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
INSTALL THE OIL COOLERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
RETRACT INSTALLATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
BUILD THE AILERONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
BUILD THE OUTBOARD FLAPS . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
BUILD THE INBOARD FLAPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
BUILD THE MIDDLE FLAPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
INSTALL THE FLAP CONTROLS . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
FINISH THE FUSELAGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
MOUNT THE STABILIZER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
FINISH THE FUSE AFT END . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
FIT THE RETRACTABLE TAILGEAR. . . . . . . . . . 47
INSTALL THE ENGINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
ASSEMBLE THE COWL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
FINISHING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
BALANCE THE MODEL LATERALLY . . . . . . . . . 50
SURFACE PREPARATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
COVERING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
PAINTING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
APPLY DECALS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
FINAL HOOKUPS AND CHECKS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
INSTALL THE HINGES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
INSTALL THE HARDWARE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
INSTALL THE RETRACTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
ATTACH THE CANOPY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
COOLING NOTES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
NON-FUNCTIONAL LANDING GEAR DOORS . 53
SET THE CONTROL THROWS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
BALANCE YOUR MODEL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
PREFLIGHT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
CHARGE THE BATTERIES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
BALANCE THE PROPELLER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
FIND A SAFE PLACE TO FLY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
GROUND CHECK THE MODEL . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
RANGE CHECK YOUR RADIO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
ENGINE SAFETY PRECAUTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . 55
AMA SAFETY CODE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
IMAA SAFETY CODE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
FLYING. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
FUEL MIXTURE ADJUSTMENTS. . . . . . . . . . . . 56
TAKE OFF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
FLIGHT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
LANDING. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
3-VIEW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Back Cover
PROTECT YOUR MODEL,
YOURSELF & OTHERS
FOLLOW THIS IMPORTANT
SAFETY PRECAUTION
Your Giant F4U Corsair is not a toy, but a sophisticated
working model that functions very much like a full scale
airplane. Because of its realistic performance and size, if
you do not assemble and operate your Corsair correctly,
you could possibly injure yourself or spectators and
damage property.
To make your R/C modeling experience totally
enjoyable, get assistance with assembly and your first
flights from an experienced, knowledgeable modeler.
You’ll learn faster and avoid risking your model before
you’re truly ready to solo. Your local hobby shop has
information about flying clubs in your area whose
membership includes qualified instructors.
You can also contact the Academy of Model Aeronautics
(AMA), which has more than 2,500 chartered clubs across
the country. We recommend you join the AMA which will
insure you at AMA club sites and events. AMA
Membership is required at chartered club fields where
qualified flight instructors are available.
Contact the AMA at the address or toll-free phone number
below.
Academy of Model Aeronautics
5151 East Memorial Drive
Muncie, IN 47302
(800) 435-9262
Fax (765) 741-0057
or via the Internet at: modelaircraft.org
Your Top Flite Gold Edition Giant F4U Corsair is intended
for scale and general sport flying including mild
aerobatics such as loops, stall turns, rolls, etc. Its
structure is designed to withstand such stresses. If you
intend to use your Corsair for more abusive types of flying
such as racing or aggressive aerobatics it is your
responsibility to reinforce areas of the model that will be
subjected to the resulting unusually high stresses.