We cut out the access hatch so that the fuel tank can be installed easily. This also provides easy access for installation of the blind nuts for the new engine mount. You can see that the old blind nuts were removed and new were holes drilled for the new ones.
	We also elected to reinforce the fire wall with another piece of wood to level the back of the fire wall. This adds extra strength at a cost of extra weight. This is not required, but our preference. 90 minute epoxy was used to glue the fire wall backing plate into place.
	A clamp was used to hold the parts together while the epoxy set. We left the fuselage overnight before proceeding with any other fuselage steps.
	As with most ARF projects, we reinforced the wing center section with fiberglass and epoxy. Fiberglass and CA glue would add strength as well and is lighter, but the epoxy/fiberglass is stronger. The covering material was carefully cut at 1-1/2 inches from the center of the wing. This is a total width of 3 inches that was peeled away from the wing panels. We used 30 minute epoxy and gently applied heat from a heat gun while applying the epoxy with an acid brush. Excess epoxy was blotted up using toilet paper. This prevents unneeded weight from too much epoxy. Again, we let the wing set up overnight. Notice that the wing screw plate was installed and clamped in position now. We aligned and drilled the wing for the mounting screws after the epoxy was set., rather than follow the instructions. (Luckily the wing aligned perfectly when we performed that step.)
	As seen in the photo, we added Oracover to the center section of the wing to cover up the reinforced area. Then we trial fit, drilled out and then epoxied the wing alignment dowels in place. We also trial fit the servos and had to make the openings a little bigger to fit the HS605BB servos into the servo mounts.
	There are many ways to align (center) the main wing. We leveled the fuselage, measured from the work table to the main wing tip and used a string (arrow in photo) to make sure the dimensions were the same. The string used has low stretch unless pulled really hard. We stretched the string before using it to measure the distances from a T-pin pushed into the center of the fuselage tail section. Then the wing bolt holes were marked and drilled.
	Again, many ways to arrive at the same place, but we inverted the fuselage with the main wing attached and aligned the horizontal stabilizer by leveling it with respect to the fuselage and main wing and measuring with our string from the main wing tip to the horizontal stabilizer. We can then sight down the fuselage and verify that the gap between the horizontal stabilizer and main wing is the same. The gap at the right and left sides must be the same. We marked the location, then carefully removed the covering and epoxy glued the stabilizer in place. We verified the position by sighting down the fuselage (several times) as the glue set.
	We used a square and a shim on each side of the vertical stabilizer to make sure it is set at 90 degrees from the horizontal stabilizer. The covering on the fuselage underneath the vertical stabilizer is marked and removed prior to epoxying to the fuselage. A T-pin is used to hold the front of the Vertical stabilizer centered. The "natural" position was slightly to the left, so we had to push the stabilizer to the right as we pinned it. The vertical stabilize must be centered on the fuselage to prevent flight problems.
	We used the same procedure used for the flaps and ailerons to hinge the rudder to the vertical stabilizer. We decided not to use the tail wheel assemble from the kit. A Klett unit will be used instead. This will reduce some of the wear and tear of rough landings on the tail feathers and fuselage.
	You can see the elevator hinges being installed. We used the same procedure as outlined in the aileron and flap installation section.
	You can see there is only a small gap between the hinged surfaces. We will seal the gap later.
	We carefully marked the center of the fuselage and then (previously) drilled the holes for the engine mount. The new fire wall reinforcement and new blind nuts were epoxy glued into place. After the epoxy set, the engine mount was installed with washers and lock screws. The engine was the aligned and mounting holes drilled. 6-32 screws and locknuts were used to hold the engine. The engine is a Morris Hobbies 0.53 two stroke with a tuned pipe.
	For the grass flying field, we wanted to use a 3-inch diameter (minimum) main wheel. We chose the Sullivan Skylite wheels. There are other wheels that are just as light but we've used these before and had a set we could use. We drilled out the wheel hubs and made brass tube bearings for the wheels. This reduces the heat from running these wheels at 40 miles per hour or so, and also keeps them spinning true. The K&S tubing works really well.
	You can't tell from looking that the wheels have grass bushed bearings, but you can tell when you spin them. The spin for minutes at a time! Also, we drilled out the main gear for a third mounting bolt in the center. We replaced the two existing blind nuts in the fuselage with new 6-32 ones. The nylon hardware will save severe fuselage damage should a rough landing occur. The bolts should shear off rather than rip the landing gear block out of the fuselage. Just as a comment, the hardware in the kit is fine, but we like to put changes in where they make sense for the way we fly.

Last Updated: 9/27/01

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