Top Flite TOPA0415 - Manual (Page 29)

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15. Mount the rudder servo in the servo tray.
Connect the rudder pushrod to the rudder servo with
a split coupler, an additional piece of wire cut from a
.095” x 12” pushrod and a solder-on metal clevis. The
leftover piece of the wire you just cut from the 12”
pushrod (that has a threaded end) will be used for an
aileron pushrod.
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16. Connect one end of the pull/pull cables to the
tail gear steering arm (we used a Sullivan #520 Pull-
Pull Cable kit, not included with this kit). While you
have the tail gear apart, file a flat spot near the top of
the shaft as indicated in the photo. Be certain the flat
spot is positioned so that the steering arm is
perpendicular to the wheel when the set screw is
tightened. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to file a flat spot
near the bottom of the shaft for one of the other set
screws too.
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17. Reassemble the tail gear and thread the
cables through the guide tubes. Mount the tail wheel
steering servo in the servo tray, then connect the
other end of the cables to the servo arm.
Finish the cockpit
Skip the first two steps if you are not going to install
the optional scale cockpit kit.
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1. Finish cutting the rest of the way through the
partially die-cut lines on the 1/8" balsa cockpit deck.
Remove that section of balsa to accommodate the
cockpit kit. Cut through former 4 and remove the
cross-member portion.
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2. Cut out the cockpit kit according to its
instructions, then test fit the parts into the fuse.
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3. Use curved-tip scissors to cut out the molded
canopy along the framing. True the edges with a bar
sander and 150-grit sandpaper.
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4. Use leftover 3/32" balsa to sheet the open
space on both sides of the fuse between the cockpit
deck and the canopy.
The rest of the steps in this section are for the
razorback version only.
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R5. Finish shaping the top of the turtle deck to fit the
canopy and to match the cross section on the plan.
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R6. Use the templates on the fuse plan to make
the canopy fairing supports from 1/8" balsa and
the canopy fairings from leftover 3/32" balsa.
Early production Thunderbolts were not without
teething pains typical of any new aircraft. Takeoff
runs were long (nearly a half-mile to clear a fifty
foot obstacle) and there were several electrical and
hydraulic glitches, not to mention the unfamiliarity
of a totally new design. One fighter group damaged
or wrecked half of the P-47s received.
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