Top Flite Wristcrat - Manual (Page 10)

Use your sanding block to sand the trailing edge of
the fin flat and straight.
The last step in preparing the fuselage for covering
is to sand the fin/rudder combination together, as
a single unit Start by using masking tape to ac-
curately position the rudder to the fin — tape on
the sides only Now use your sanding block to ac-
curately match the side view shape of the rudder to
the fin/fuselage Once that's done, remove one of
the pieces of tape from one side only and lay the
structure down on a flat surface — taped side
down Use your sanding block to now sand the rud-
der's cross-section shape into the fin/fuselage,
but only about halfway Add another piece of tape
to the now sanded side, flip the structure over,
remove the tape and repeat the sanding operation
After a couple of passes on each side, you should
be about where you want to be, a fin with a true
leading edge and a rudderwith a true trailing edge
and everything inbetween accurately matched
The leading edge of the rudder can now be beveled
as shown on the plans, thus facilitating left and
right movement when hinged with Monokote
Once this is done, locate and remove the 1/32" ply
rudder horn from its die-cut sheet Onceagaintape
the rudder to the fin, right side only Use a sharp
#11 blade to now cut a 1 / 3 2 " wide slot in the rudder's
leading edge, at the bottom, on a plane correspon-
ding to the rudder tube's exit point on the fuselage
Once the slot is made to your satisfaction, trial-fit
the horn in place and trim as needed to get a proper
fit Do not glue the horn in place until after model is
covered
D 2. Assemble the wing to the fuselage and cinch it
down with the wing bolt In this step we want to
rough cut and fit the forward and rear
wing/fuselage fairings to the wings center sec-
tion The remaining length of radio hatch block
balsa will be used for this First either carve or use
a Dremel tool to route out the bottom mating sur-
face of each of these blocks, cut and fit, cut and fit,
etc , until you have an acceptable fit Bevel the rear
block to match the fuselage (viewed from the side)
and then use your #11 blade to carve out a space
for F12 when the block is held in place Also, the
head of the bolt will indent the bottom of this block
and therefore give you the location to drill a 1 / 4 " dia
hole to allow the bolt head to seat against F12
Once you're satisfied with how the two blocks fit
to the wing and to the fuselage, concentrate on the
top view The forward block should be sanded to a
sort of half-round shape, carrying through the
shape of the hatch block The rear block gently
curves in to the center line of the wing to a point
about 2" to 2-1/2" from the trailing edge Glue the
blocks in place to the top of the wing while the
wing is still attached to the fuselage Protect the
wing sheeting around the edges of these blocks
with strips of masking tape and sand the blocks to
a final shape Use filler to fillet the blocks to the
wing, lightly sand and you're finished Remove the
wing from the fuselage
D 3. Use a sharp razor blade to now remove the finish-
ed radio hatch block With the battery/servo com-
partment now open, this isthetime to install your
servo mounting rails Note on the plans that
we've used the remainder of the 1/8" x 3/16" spruce
spar stock for these You may wish to use ply In
stall these rails in the approximate positions
shown on the plans, with the servo's output arms
lined-up with the rudder and elevator tube ends
protruding through F3 Once satisfied, remove
your servos
D 4. The last suggestion that we'll make to you before
you start covering is that you take a few minutes
to "ventilate" the various structures, wing, tin
(above T-1's), stab halves and the rudder Ven
tilatmg these components allows the heated air
(formed when covering) to escape the various
sealed compartments (between rib bays, etc )
rather than expanding and "ballooning" the
covering
For the wing, we use a 3/32" dia drill bit, hand-held,
to drill one hole through each rib, in the center,
just behind the spar location D o t h i s f r o m W 7, at
the tip, all the way through the inner most W2 rib,
beneath the center section sheeting Using the
same bit, drill a hole through the bottom
sheeting, just behind the spars on each side of
the W-1's.
Use a 1/16" dia drill bit, again hand-held, to now do
the same thing to the f i n ( and also through the 3/16"
sq brace between the tops of the T1's), rudder
and stab halves On the rudder drill a small exit
holeon the very bottom, behind the horn location
On the stab halves, drill the exit holes through the
rear diagonal 3/16" sq piece
D 5. Final check entire airplane for any flaws or pro-
blems If you find any, fix them now
D 6. Since the stabilizer halves slip in place using two
1/16" dia steel pins, there is a need to be able to re-
tain them This can be done a couple of ways The
first is to simply allow the pins to rust by leaving
them outdoors for a night or two This makes
them a press-fit into the stab half tubes Another
way is to use a low-tack adhesive to coat the
wires (something like 3-M #77 spray cement is
good), thus making them a bit "sticky" In any
event, don't permanently glue these in place
since eventually the need will arise for
disassembling the stab halves from the fin
COVERING
Realistically, your Wristocrat can be covered with a
single six foot roll of Monokote™ You may wish to use a
contrasting color for the radio hatch block, as we did, to
create a "canopy".
The only area of possible concern is that of covering the
stab halves and rudder These, by necessity, are thin
structures and it's conceivable that in shrinking the
Monokote, some warpage could occur To prevent this,
we've come up with a nifty little method that you might
want to try.
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