Top Flite S.E.5A - Manual (Page 13)

If there are places where it has not tightened properly or there are wrinkles or
folds remove that panel of silk and do it over. Never expect the shrinking action
of the clear dope that is applied next to pull out a bad covering job. It never does —
dope will not shrink out wrinkles that water cannot remove. Clear shrinking dope
can only make an excellent job of an already good one.
When you have a good covering job, give the model 3 or 4 coats of clear
dope. Thin the dope out. Two thin coats are better than one thick syrupy one.
If you have a spray you will get a better job.
One piece of advice regarding clear-doping is worth passing on: When doping
the wings, give a coat to the top of one panel and immediately coat the bottom
of that panel. In this way the wing will be subjected to even stresses all around
and warping will be minimized. Do one panel at a time. The same goes for the
stabilizer, elevators and ailerons.
Inspect the wings, ailerons, and stabilizer for warps. Remove any that are
present by holding near (not too near!) heat and twisting gently in the opposite
direction. Take care here, as warps will have a very bad influence on the flying
characteristics.
When the clear doping is completed, proceed to the color. Color dope should
be sprayed if at all possible. The nylon strut fittings can be replaced prior to color
doping. Give at least 3 coats of all colors.
Since most, if not all, S. E. 5A's were doped with matte comouflage dopes,
we now have to kill the unwanted high gloss that our regular model dopes give. The
best way to do this is to spray a coat of clear eggshell lacquer over the colors.
Be sure that the lacquer you use is fuelproof—polyurethane varnish is very suitable
and can be obtained from hardware stores or paint stores. Normally such varnishes
will not be found in model shops.
Finally, add the decals in positions indicated on the plan. Many S. E. 5A's
had the words "LIFT HERE" along the bottom longeron together with a small
white arrow. The particular S. E. 5A we chose, Mike Mannock's D'278 did not
have these markings, but if you choose to paint your model with a different serial,
you can use the words LIFT HERE and the small arrows which are provided on
the decal sheet.
FINAL DETAILS
Like all full-size aircraft, the S. E. 5A was loaded with small details, such
as radiator cap, pilot tube, sumps, and dozens more. Probably, most "Sunday
Fliers" will not want to incorporate these. But for the contest flier, or modeler
who is making this model for static display purposes, and wants to incorporate
these details, cockpit furnishings, etc., we have given drawings on the plan to enable
these details to be made.
If you intend to go this route, we recommend the book, "S. E. 5A" by
Charles L. Bourget available from World War I Aero Publishers, Box 142, West
Roxbury, Massachusetts 02132, at $1.95. The drawings in this book are the ones
we used in scaling the model, because we considered them the most accurate ob-
tainable for this aircraft. We have reproduced these drawings on our plan, enlarged
to 1/2" = 1' scale as an aid to contest fliers in preparing their "Proof of Scale"
documents.
The "Profile" Publication of the S. E. 5A is also recommended, and will be
especially useful, along with our box label, in giving guidance to correct coloring of
the model. The "Profile" (No. #1) is obtainable at most hobby shops and costs 50c.
RIGGING
Due to the scale wing section being so thin, the wings are very flexible. In
our considered opinion the wings would not be strong enough for flying if left
unbraced. When correctly rigged, however, the strength of the "box-kite" wing
configuration is enormous, and will withstand any amount of severe maneuvering
in flight with strength to spare. To have made the wings sufficiently strong as
cantilever structures in the design stage would have been possible, but at the
expense of considerable damage to scale effect, by way of a wing section of twice
scale thickness and areas of sheeting. We chose to make the model true scale and
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