Top Flite TOPA0150 - Manual (Page 32)

Refer to this sketch for the following seven steps.
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20. Cut the 1/32" x 1" x 16" plywood sheet into
two 1/2" strips.
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21. Cut a 1/2" x 16" strip and a 2-1/4" x 16" strip
from a 1/16" x 3" x 30" balsa sheet.
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22. Laminate the 1/2" balsa strip to one of the
1/2" ply strips over a flat surface. You now have a
3/32" x 1/2" x 16" ply/balsa strip.
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23. With the ply side down, glue one edge of the
ply/balsa strip to the edge of the 2-1/4" balsa strip.
This is now the
top flap skin.
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24. Sand the balsa side of the 1/2" x 3/32" portion
of the top flap skin to the same thickness as the rest of
of the top flap skin (which is 1/16" thick).
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25. Trim the top flap skin to fit the wing from the
middle of W-2 to W-6B. The ply side goes down. Make
certain that the TE of the skin (the end with the 1/32"
ply strip) aligns with the TE of the flap on the plan.
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26. Cut a 1/8" x 3/16" x 30" balsa stick to the same
length as the top flap skin, then glue it to the ply side
along the TE as shown in the sketch. Later, this will be
sanded to match the tapering angle of the wing.
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27. Glue the top flap skin to the top of the wing.
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28. Remove the wing panel from the building
board. Use leftover 1/16" balsa sheeting to fill in the
space between the forward skin and the LE. Look for
glue joints you’ve missed, or ones that could use a
little extra glue and reinforce them with CA. Apply a
bead of medium or thick CA where the sheeting
meets the LE inside the wing.
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29. Trim the ends of the main spars close to the
ribs on both ends of the wing. Follow-up with a bar
sander with 80-grit sandpaper to sand the spars and
sheeting even with the ends of the wing. If you would
like to trim the top of the LE even with the sheeting,
you may do so at this time, but do not final shape the
LE until instructed to do so after the wing is sheeted
and both panels are joined. Trim the tabs off the
bottom of the outer and inner TE spars. Sand the
bottoms of the ribs even with the bottoms of the
spars to prepare the wing for the bottom sheeting.
When sanding the bottom of the wing, use the ends
of the ribs to guide your bar sander as you bevel the
top aileron skins down to 1/32" at the TE as shown in
the sketch.
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