Top Flite TOPA0405 - Manual (Page 42)

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8. Reinstall the engine on the firewall. Use
pieces of thin cardboard or plastic to make
templates for the head of the engine, carburetor
and exhaust.
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9. Remove the engine from the fuselage
without disturbing the templates. Reinstall the cowl
and transfer the hole locations from the template
onto the cowl.
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10. Remove the cowl and templates and
reinstall the engine. Cut the openings in the cowl
slightly undersize and test fit it on the fuse. Make
adjustments as needed. Also cut a cooling exit
hole in the aft bottom of the cowl and a cooling
entrance hole in the front of the cowl.
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11. Supplied in the kit are four die-cut 1/8"
plywood valve mounts. These mounts can be used
for mounting the air filler valve, fuel filler valve or
kill switch if installing a gasoline powered engine.
Glue the sides to the mount and attach them the
firewall. We mounted the air filler valve and kill
switch at the bottom of the cowl and the fuel filler
valve on the side of the cowl behind the
carburetor. Cut the appropriate openings in the
cowl for these accessories.
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12. Glue fiberglass around the mounting holes
and along the seams on the inside of the cowl. For
maximum protection against stress cracking, you
may apply 3/4oz. fiberglass cloth to the entire
inside surface of the cowl. Adhere the cloth with
thin CA.
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13. Before painting the cowl, fill the seams and
other imperfections with filler such as Squadron
White Putty, or resin filler such as Bondo
® . We use
Bondo most of the time because it cures quickly
and is easy to sand. Squadron putty works well,
but it takes several hours to cure.
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14. After the filler cures, sand it flush with the
plastic. Wet sand the entire cowl with 400-grit sand
paper in preparation for primer.
BUILD THE WING FILLETS
NOTE: There are many techniques to build a wing
fillet. Some modelers prefer to carve the entire fillet
from balsa. Others use a mixture of epoxy and
micro balloons to finish the fillet. If you have a
favorite technique, feel free to use it. The
technique described below works fine for aircraft
covered with MonoKote film.
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1. Remove the die-cut 1/32" plywood wing fillet
bases from their die blanks. Cut the “die-cut
bumps” off the aft end of the parts with a
straightedge and hobby knife.
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2. Tape the wing fillet bases to the wing saddle
as shown. Notice how the wing fillet bases overlap
the wing saddle and fit around the fuse behind the
wing saddle.
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3. Tape a layer of wax paper or Plan Protector
to the top surface of the wing in the wing saddle
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