Top Flite TOPA0220 - Manual (Page 10)

❏ 5. Cut the stab ribs, diagonals and hinge blocks
from soft 1/8” x 1/4” x 24” [3.2 x 6.4 x 610mm] balsa
sticks and place them into position. Glue all of the
parts together with thin CA where they join each
other - refer to the
Hot Tip that follows.
❏
6. After the CA has cured, remove the pins from
the stab. Use a sanding block with 150-grit
sandpaper to sand the stab flat.
❏ 7. Use the Hot Tip that follows (or your own
method) to glue two 1/16" x 3" x 24" [1.6 x 76 x
610mm] balsa sheets together to make a 1/16" x 6"
x 24" [1.6 x 152 x 610mm] sheet for one of the stab
skins. Use the two hardest sheets supplied in the kit.
D. Lay the sheets on your workbench covered with
wax paper. Use a credit card or something similar
as a squeegee to simultaneously press the sheets
flat as you wipe the glue from the seam.
C. Turn the sheets over and apply slow drying
glue like Great Planes Pro aliphatic resin to the
joining edges. Some prefer to use CA, but it is not
recommended in this
Hot Tip because CA does
not allow enough working time to align the sheets
and it is much harder than the balsa, making
sanding difficult.
B. Use masking tape to tightly tape the trued
edges of the sheets together.
A. Use a straightedge to true one edge of two
balsa sheets.
HOW TO MAKE THE STAB SKINS
Top Flite selects balsa that is intended for
sheeting. Occasionally, a few of these sheets may
have a small nick or split near the ends. If your kit
contains a few of these sheets, arrange them and
glue them together so the defects will not
interfere with the final shape of your skin.
When you install the tip on the end of the CA
bottle, cut the large end of the tip to a depth of
about 1/4” [6.4mm]. Doing so will prevent the tip
from splitting and leaking when it is pressed onto
the bottle.
It can be difficult to control the application of thin
CA adhesives and get that one small drop that is
needed to glue a part. We have found a CA
applicator tip, available from Hobbico, to be very
useful. Frankly, we wonder how we ever got along
without them.
With these tips you will no longer have large blobs
of CA that needs to be sanded away. Your supply
of CA will also last much longer. As the tip clogs
simply snip the clogged part off and keep using it.
Two of these tips are supplied with this kit. If you
like them their part number is HCAR3780 (6) and
are available in bulk BUKR0307 (200).
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