Owner manual

9
❏ ❏ 24. Trim the last “A” rib to fit at the
polyhedral joint. Use 6-minute epoxy to glue the “A”
rib and the two plywood gussets in place.
❏ ❏ 25. Trim a piece of 1/16" x 4" x 36" balsa
sheet to 24". Save the cutoff piece for use later. Trim
this 24" piece to a width of 3-5/8". Glue this
inboard top leading edge sheet to the inboard wing
panel using aliphatic resin. Use lots of pins and be
extremely careful that the sheeting is snug to the rib
all the way to the forward edge.
❏ ❏ 26. From the cutoff piece in the previous step,
trim the top center wing sheeting to shape and glue
into place using aliphatic resin.
❏ ❏ 27. Trim and glue the 1/16" x 1/4" cap strips
to the top of the ribs of the inboard panel.
❏ ❏ 28. Unpin the inboard panel from the building
board. Block it up, laying the outboard panel flat on
the building board and pin it tightly. Fit the top spar
in place and trim it even with the bottom spar at the
wing tip. Glue the top spar in place using 6-minute
epoxy at the polyhedral joint. CA can be used to
glue the spar to each rib. Glue the top spar even
with the top surface of the wing tip.
❏ ❏ 29. Cut 1/8" from the front of the “A” rib at
the polyhedral joint. Fit and glue the 1/8" plywood
leading edge brace into place making it flush with
the sheeting.
❏ ❏ 30. Trim and splice another 1/16" x 3" x 36"
balsa sheet for the top leading edge sheeting as you
did in step 4. This sheet should be about 1/16"
wider to allow for the curvature of the ribs. Trim the
sheet to length to fit the wing tip block. Use aliphatic
resin to glue the sheeting in place making sure the
sheeting is snug against the ribs.
❏ ❏ 31. Trim and glue the 1/16" x 1/4" cap strips
to the top of the ribs on the outboard panel.
❏ ❏ 32. Remove the wing from the building board.
Sand the leading edge of both panels perfectly flat
using a two or three foot sanding block. Trim the
7/16" x 1/2" leading edges for a good fit at the
polyhedral joint and glue them in place. Hold them
firmly in place with masking tape until the glue dries.
❏ ❏ 33. Sand the root of the inboard panel flat
and glue the plywood root rib in place.
❏ 34. The right wing is built exactly like the left with
the exception of the fitting of the fiberglass wing-rod
tube. In Step 16, before all the parts have been
joined together, fit the left wing panel onto the wing
rod and block it for the proper dihedral angle shown
on the plan. Align the rod for a good fit at the center
of the wing panels. In Step 33, fit the left wing panel
onto the wing rod again and make any final
adjustments needed for a clean fit prior to gluing the
plywood root rib into place.
❏ 35. Cut the leading edge template from the plan,
glue it to a leftover piece of balsa or 1/8" ply and
cut and sand the pattern to shape. Carve and sand
the leading edge of each wing panel using the
template as a guide. The leading edge tapers from
the “E” rib to the tip. The more true the leading edge
airfoil, the better the Bird will fly; so take as much
time as your patience will allow.
❏ 36. Check the fit of the wing rod in the tubes of
each panel. Push the rod into one of the panels until it
reaches the bevel and won’t go in any further. Mark
the rod at this point. Remove it and insert the other
end into the other wing panel. The rod should go in at
least as far as the mark. If it won’t, cut a short piece
from the rod. If it goes in substantially further than the
mark you might want to but spacers into the tubes in
each panel. Cut a short piece of 1/4" dowel to the
proper length and then cut that piece in half. Push one
piece into each tube and check the fit again. Be
extremely careful when doing this as it is very hard to
remove a piece that is too long.
❏ 37. After a thorough sanding your wing is now
ready to cover.
NOTE: If you notice a part of a rib hasn’t been
securely glued to the leading edge sheeting, and if
you used aliphatic resin glue, you can use a trim