Top Flite KittiWake - Manual (Page 12)

the back of the spinner 1/32" from the front of F-4.
This is the position that your engine should be for
drilling the holes in the motor mount. Mark these
engine lug holes now, on the motor mount with a
pencil or scribe. Remove the engine, spinner and
motor mount. Accurately drill the four required
holes in your motor mount (Note: For .25-sized
engines, we suggest using #4-40 socket head
bolts and tapping the motor mount for #4-40
threads.). Reassemble the mount, engine and
spinner to check for accuracy of fit. With
everything still in place, positioning of the two
fuel line holes (fuel feed and muffler
pressure/overflow venting) and the throttle
linkage should be noted on the firewall for drill-
ing. The last thing to make provision for is the fit-
ting of your engine's muffler with sufficient
clearance. Do this now.
Remove all of the above components from the
front of your fuselage. Using a longer drill bit of
the correct (never oversize) diameter to the fuel
tubing and throttle linkage housing, drill the
holes marked earlier through the firewall. It is at
this point that we suggest a coat of polyester
resin be given to the inside of the engine compart-
ment and firewall (don't get any in the holes for
the motor mount). We also like to use resin inside
of the tank compartment and on the rear face of
F-5.
19. Use the same method described in the TIP FLOAT
ASSEMBLY section to accurately cut the molding
base off of the canopy. Next, securely tape a
sheet of #220 sandpaper over the area that the
canopy is to be mounted on the fuselage. Careful-
ly sand the base of the canopy to conform to the
top of the fuselage (it won't take much since the
fuselage, at this point, is only slightly rounded).
Once the canopy fits, hold it in place exactly
where you want it to be, and use a soft pencil to
draw its outline on the fuselage. If you wish, as we
did, to add cockpit detail, now is the time. We us-
ed a Wm. Brothers pilot head, suitably cut-down
to fit, scraps of black construction paper and a
few instrument decals we had laying around to
make a reasonable-looking cockpit. Once
satisfied, the canopy can be glued in place to the
fuselage with a slow-setting CA glue—tape or
hold and allow to set.
20. There are some good fillet materials currently on
the market which we have used and recommend;
Penn's "Pie N' Patch" and Model Magic Filler.
Use the one that you're most comfortable with to
now apply a small fillet around the canopy (tape it
off with electrical tape) and around the
fin/fuselage, stabilizer/fuselage and sub-
fin/fuselage joints. You should also lookoveryour
fuselage carefully for any nicks, dings or voids
and fill these at this time. Once the filler has set,
use a light grade of sandpaper to smooth these
out. You should now cut the last required hinge
slot in the rear edge of R-3 for rudder attachment.
FINAL ASSEMBLY
I. MAIN FLOAT ASSEMBLY
Back in the construction of the fuselage (Step 13), you
drilled the two required mounting holes in each of the
two unbent aluminum float legs. The float legs must
now be accurately bent to provide fit and attachment to
the main float and the plywood "hardpoints" built into it.
Take a look at the cross section shown on the plans of
this fuselage/float leg/main float relationship. You can
see that the float legs must be bent equally on each side
and that, at the bottom, they are bent slightly once again
to pick-up the vertical float sides. In all of this, the
fuselage/float relationship must provide for a.) proper
propeller clearance (9" dia. max prop size) and b.) the
correct angle of attack for the wing/fuselage/engine
combination.
1. Hold the float leg, straight edge down, vertically
in place on your flat bench. With a triangle and
scribe (sharpened nail will do) mark two vertical
lines on the float leg, each 1 -1/4" on either side of
the centerline that you marked earlier. This pro-
vides you with an accurate 2-1/2" inside bending
location. Place the float leg into a vice with a
piece of hardwood on each side of it (see
diagram) and make the first bend directly along
the line just marked on the part. This bend is made
by "eyeballing" the drawing provided. Turn the
part over and make the second bend. Remove the
part, lay it over the drawing to check for how close
you came. Continue this process until the part
matches the drawing. Repeat this procedure for
the other float leg.
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