Top Flite TOPA0415 - Manual (Page 14)

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35. Glue the stab and elevator tips to the stab and
elevator. Don’t accidentally glue the stab tip to the
elevator LE.
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36. Use a razor plane and a sanding block to
shape and round the tips. Refer to the cross section
on the plans frequently during this process.
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37. The same way you did for the stab and
elevator tips, make the elevator root blocks from
two 1" x 2-1/2" x 3/4" balsa blocks and glue them to
the root of both elevators.
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38. Break both elevators free from the stab. Round
the elevator root blocks by sanding.
That was fun, wasn’t it! Clean off your workbench,
set the stab aside (but not too far away, so your
friends can give you compliments when they see it)
and move on to the fin and rudder.
Build the fin and rudder
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1. Place the fin and rudder plan over your building
board. You may cut them from the fuse plan if
you prefer.
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2. Glue together both die-cut 1/8" balsa fin TE’s
with the notches in alignment.
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3. Fit the die-cut 3/32" balsa fin ribs V1 through
V4 on the fin TE. Hold the ribs over the plan using the
1/4" x 1/4" jig sticks left over from building the stab.
Add rib V5 to the assembly and hold it in place with
jig sticks.
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4. Use a small builder’s square to align the fin TE
over the plan. Make sure the jig tabs of the ribs are
contacting the plan, then glue the ribs to the TE.
Refer to this photo for the following two steps.
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5. Bevel the front of the ribs to match the angle of
the LE. Cut the 3/8" x 1/2" x 18" balsa fin LE to the
length shown on the plan, then glue it into position on
the front of the ribs.
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6. Join the die-cut 1/8" balsa rudder LE spar to the
assembly and glue it into position. Fit the die-cut 3/32"
balsa fin rib R1 to the rudder LE spar. Make sure the tip
of R1 is in horizontal alignment with the tips of the other
ribs, then glue R1 to the rudder LE spar.
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7. Bevel the upward facing edge of the fin LE to
match the ribs. Sand the upward facing surfaces of
all the parts, blending them together.
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8. Make the fin skins for both sides of the fin from
two 3/32" x 4" x 30" balsa sheets. Be certain the skins
extend below rib V1 by at least 5/8" for trimming later
to fit the stab.
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9. Use the rudder skin template on the plan to
make two rudder skins from two 3/32" x 3" x 24"
balsa sheets.
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10. Glue one of the fin skins to the right side of the fin.
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11. The same as you did for the elevator skins, use
the bevel gauge to mark the bevel line on the inside
of the rudder skins. Sand the bevel, then glue the
right rudder skin into position.
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12. Remove the fin and rudder assembly from the
plan. Use a hobby knife to trim the jig tabs from the left
side of the fin, finishing with a bar sander and 80-grit
sandpaper. Trim the left side of the LE so it matches
the ribs.
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