Top Flite TOPA0150 - Manual (Page 52)

Balance the airplane laterally
IMPORTANT: Do not confuse this procedure with
“checking the C.G.” or “balancing the airplane
fore and aft.”...That very important step will be
covered later in the manual.
Now that the basic airframe is completed, it’s time to
balance the airplane laterally (side-to-side).
❏
1. Make sure all the main components are installed
in the model (landing gear, servos, engine, exhaust
system, etc.). Mount the wing to the fuse.
❏
2. With the wing level, have an assistant help you
lift the model by the engine propeller shaft and the
bottom of the fuse under the TE of the fin. Do this
several times.
❏
3. If one wing always drops when you lift the
model, it means that side is heavy. Balance the
airplane by gluing weight inside the other wing tip.
An airplane that has been laterally balanced will
track better in loops and other maneuvers.
FINISHING
Final Preparations
❏
1. If you haven’t already done so, remove all
components including the engine, servos, pushrods,
landing gear, etc.
❏
2. Use fuelproof model paint, finishing resin or
epoxy thinned with alcohol to fuelproof areas that
may be exposed to fuel or engine exhaust. These
include the wheel wells, the underside of the wing
sheeting in the flap area, the firewall and the engine
and muffler compartment, the fuel tank area, the
wing saddle in the fuse, belly pan formers BP-1 and
BP-3 and the paper wing bolt tubes.
❏
3. Inspect all surfaces for uneven glue joints and
seams that require filler. Apply filler where needed.
Many small dents or scratches in the balsa can be
repaired by applying a few drops of water to the area
and allowing to dry. This will cause the wood to swell,
so you can sand it back to shape.
❏
4. Final sand the entire model with progressively
finer grits of sandpaper, finishing with 320 or 400-grit.
Don’t press down too hard while sanding over sheeted
areas (
which is pretty much the whole model!). This
can cause thin spots in the sheeting over ribs or
formers. It’s also helpful to use fresh, new sandpaper.
Trim scheme
The Focke-Wulf features a spray painted camouflage
“patchwork” trim scheme where the transition from
one color to the next is “feathered” with no defined
lines. This means that, for the most accurate
representation, the finish on the model should be
spray painted. However, the balsa sheeting must first
be prepped and sealed. This is typically done with
the traditional “glass cloth and resin” method, where
the entire model is covered with light-weight glass
cloth bonded to the skin with polyester or epoxy
resin. There are many products in the hobby industry,
specially developed for this purpose, that have the
correct viscosity and working time and that are
sandable. Glass cloth and resin is unquestionably
the most durable and long-lasting way to finish a
balsa model, though it is probably also the most time
consuming and has the potential to add much weight
if not done correctly.
An alternate method to glass cloth for prepping the
balsa for painting, and the method we have selected
for the model on the kit box cover, is to cover it with
dove gray MonoKote film. We have painted over
some of our MonoKote-covered models with Top
Flite LustreKote, and painted over others with
Testors Model Master Acrylic paint. The colors used
for the Focke-Wulf on the cover are Testors Dunkel
Grun (dark green) RLM #82, Lichtblau (light blue)
RLM #76, and Grauviolette (gray violet) RLM # 75.
The cockpit interior was painted Gray RLM #02. RLM
numbers are Germany’s official, standardized
military colors. After the Testors paint was applied,
the finish was sealed with a light coat of LustreKote
crystal clear (TOPR7200) to provide a fuelproof
coating and to provide a smooth surface for the
decals to adhere. After the clear sealer coat, the
decals and panel lines were applied, then the entire
model was once again painted with a coat of
LustreKote flat clear. The trim scheme selected was
taken from the Tamiya 1/48 scale Fw 190D, kit
number 61041.
If you prefer not to go through all the work of a
painted trim scheme, you may be able to find a
simpler scale trim scheme, or make up your own,
scale-appearing trim scheme by simply covering
your Focke-Wulf with a few of the flat military
MonoKote colors such as flat dove gray, flat olive
drab, flat tan, and flat black.
The following instructions provide details on how to
finish your model like the model on the kit box cover
using a MonoKote-covered and painted trim scheme.
Cover the model
Warning: Never cut the covering on critical
structural areas of the model. These areas include
the stab sheeting, fin sheeting and wing sheeting—
especially near the fuse where the stresses can be
high. Modelers who cut the covering on the model
tend to cut into the sheeting, weakening it.
Occasionally it may be necessary to make a small
cut in the covering here and there. This is
acceptable as long as the cut is
small and is not
over sheeting on a critical area. Cuts that go
across the grain weaken the balsa more than cuts
that go with the grain.
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