Top Flite TOPA0140 - Manual (Page 25)

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12. Cut the bottom skin to accommodate the
landing gear. First, cut a small hole under the retract
rails for just the retract (not the wheel and strut).
Enlarge the hole little by little, test fitting the retract
as you proceed, until you can install the retract.
Note: The hole will be slightly offset due to the
angle at which the rails rest in the wing and the
extra clearance required to install the retracts.
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13. Cut the bottom sheeting until you can
retract the strut and the wheel into the wing. The
hole in the wing sheeting for the wheel will not be a
circle but will be more of an ellipse because of the
angle at which the wheel retracts into the wing.
Allow at least 1/8" [4mm] clearance between the
wheel and the rear of the opening in the wing in
case you bend your landing gear on one of those
bumpy landings.
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14. Return to step 3 and construct the right
wing panel.
PREPARE THE TOP OF THE WING
FOR SHEETING
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1. Cut an opening in the bottom of the left
wing panel for the die-cut 1/16" [1.6mm] plywood
aileron servo hatch. Start by cutting the
approximate size of the hatch and carefully
enlarge the opening using a fresh #11 blade and a
straightedge until the hatch fits (you can see the
hatch in the photo at step 3).
Hint: As you
zero-in on the final shape of the
hatch opening, use the hatch itself as a template
to cut the hatch.
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2. Place the hatch on the rails, making sure
it is in the correct orientation as shown on the plan.
Drill 1/16" [1.60mm] holes through the punch
marks in the hatch into the rails.
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3. Enlarge the holes in the hatch only with
a 3/32" [2.40mm] drill bit. Countersink the holes for
the #2 x 3/8" [9.5mm] flat head screws with a
countersink or other pointed tool. Test fit the hatch
to the rails with the screws. If necessary, sand the
edges of the hatch so it aligns with the edges of
the hatch opening.
Note: If you find it difficult to countersink the holes
in the hatch for the flat head screws, you could use
regular #2 x 3/8" [9.5mm] screws (not supplied)
without countersinking the holes.
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4. Mount your servos to two 5/16" x 3/4" x
7/8" [7.9 x 19.1 x 22.2mm] servo mount blocks
with the screws included with your servo.
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5. Mark the edge of the hatch rails on the
inside of the hatch.
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6. Remove the hatch and use 30-minute
epoxy to glue the servo mount blocks to the servo
Note: If you wish to install the 1/8" [3.2mm]
plywood wheel covers, now is the time to fit those
parts. A template is provided on the plan sheet and
a close-up photo and instructions on how to install
the wheel covers are on page 55. If you wish to
install fully scale, operational gear doors, it is up to
you to build and fit the doors yourself. Study
sketches and photos in the scale documentation
data you have collected to find out how the doors
should look and operate. In either case, you should
have the radiators handy in case you have to
slightly decrease their size or change their location
to accommodate the wheel covers or scale doors.
Skip ahead to page 32 to build the radiators.
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