Top Flite KittiWake - Manual (Page 10)

5. Pull the fuselage sides together at the rear to
make sure that the two sides bend equally. Once
satisfied, apply glue to the inside rear of the
fuselage sides and glue them together. Use
clamps to hold the sides together until dry. Cut, fit
and glue the top and bottom 1/4" sq. balsa cross
braces in place at D-D.
6. From your kit contents, locate the 1/4" x 1" x 7-1/4 "
plywood piece which will be used for the main
float and wing mounting blocks. Measure, cut
and fit the rear main float mounting block which
fits directly behind F-6 and between the fuselage
sides at the bottom. It will be necessary to bevel
each end of this block to fit snuggly between the
1/4" triangle longerons and flush with the
fuselage sides. Epoxy this block in place. The
wing bolt mounting block is now cut to fit bet-
ween the F-2 doublers and against the forward,
bottom face of F-6, flush with the wing saddle.
Save the remaining length of 1/4" x 1" ply, you'll
need it shortly.
7. Remove one of the two die-cut F-7 parts from its
die-cut sheet. This part is epoxied directly over
the rear main float block just installed. Measure,
cut and glue in place the bottom rear 1/16" balsa
sheet, applied cross-grain, from the rear edge of
F-7 back to the tailpost. Use a sanding block to
sand the edges flush with the fuselage sides.
8. In this step you are going to make the necessary
provisions for mounting the completed wing to
the fuselage. Cut a 3" length of 1/4" dowel from
the stock provided. Locate the two #8-32 x 1-1/2"
nylon bolts from your kit contents. Placethewing
into the fuselage wing saddle, making sure it is
square and that the fit is good. Now is the time to
make any adjustments needed. Once satisfied,
place the fuselage/wing structure upside down
on your bench. Use weights to hold the wing firm-
ly to the fuselage. The first step is to drill the re-
quired 1/4" dia. hole through F-5 (at the mark pro-
vided), the wing's leading edge, W-10 and W-9.
Remove the wing, fit the 3" length of 1/4 "dowel in-
to the hole you've just drilled (DON'T glue yet) and
re-install the wing to the fuselage, using the end
of the dowel protruding from the wing's leading
edge (about 1/4") to key into the hole in F-5. Again,
use weights to hold the wing firmly to the
fuselage. Using the plans for reference, you now
must drill the two required guide holes for the rear
wing bolts. Use a 1/8 "dia. bit, at right angles to the
bottom wing surface, to drill these two holes
through the wing and wing bolt ply plate in the
fuselage. Remove the wing. Change drill bits to
3/16" dia. and redrill the two holes in the wing, thus
allowing bolt clearance. The two holes in the wing
bolt plate must now be tapped for #8-32 threads.
This can either be done with a #8-32 tap or by us-
ing a #8-32 metal bolt. Be sure the cut threads are
clean and that the nylon bolts fit smoothly. Once
satisfied, apply a couple of drops of instant CA
glue to these threads to harden them. You can
now epoxy the 1/4" dia. dowel permanently into
the wing's center section. Test fit the wing to the
fuselage and bolt in place. Once satisfied,
remove the wing from the fuselage.
9. In this step you must decide on what position you
want your engine; upright, side-mount, etc. Using
the plans, mark the center lines directly on the for-
ward face of the 1/4" ply firewall. Take care to be
accurate here. Assuming that you now know
which position you want your engine, carefully
mark the four holes required to install your mount
to the firewall. We suggest that you use #4-40 x
3/4" socket head bolts and blind nuts to attach
your mount. Drill the required holes, epoxy the
blind nuts in place and removethemountfromthe
firewall. The firewall can now be epoxied in place
between the two fuselage sides, Clamp in place
until cured.
10. From the remaining length of 1/4" x 1" plywood,
measure, cut and fit the forward main float moun-
ting block in place to the forward face of F-5, flush
with the bottom fuselage sides. Note that this
block must be slightly routed out at the center to
allow clearance for the wing's mounting dowel;
dothisnow. Epoxy this block in place and allow to
cure. Epoxy the remaining F-7 plywood part
directly over the main float mounting block just
installed.
11. Remove spinner ring former F-4 from its die-cut
sheet. As shown, this part fits directly to the front
of the two fuselage sides. Trial-fit F-4 in place by
bending the fuselage sides together, at the nose,
until the outer diameter of F-4 matches the outer
edges of the fuselage sides. This necessary ben-
ding can be made easier by wiping some am-
monia on the fuselage sides in the area of the ben-
ding stress. F-4 must be accurately located.
Epoxy F-4 in place and clamp securely until
cured.
12. Sheet the bottom of the forward fuselage, from
the leading edge of the firewall back to the for-
ward edge of the F-7 part, use your sanding block
to smooth the sheeting to the fuselage sides.
From your kit, locate the two 3/8"x3"x3-1/2" balsa
nose blocks. As shown on the plans, these are
now trimmed and fitted into place from the rear of
F-4 back to the front face of the firewall, top and
bottom. Usethe sanding blockto sand them flush
with the fuselage sides after gluing in place.
13. While we still have access to the inside of the
fuselage through the top, there are a couple of
things we can take care of at this time. First,
locate four (4) #4-40 blind mounting nuts from
your hardware package along with one #4-40 bolt.
Using the plans as a guide, you now need to mark
the positions of the four required holes to mount
the aluminum float legs to the fuselage. As
shown, these holes are positioned 7/8" on each
side of the fuselage/float leg centerline (see
cross-section). From your kit box, locate the two
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