RE: Lightning Build
The next step on the fuselage is to sheet the front section of the fuselage with 1/8" balsa. On the prototype, the upper section of the nose was about 12" long and was planked with 1/2" strips of 1/8" balsa. On this version, the canopy extends further forward, leaving about 5" to sheet. I decided to use four larger pieces of wood for planking since there is such a small area to plank (I have enough fingers and hands to hold it all down). In addition, the reduction in the number of seams will be a benefit as after three years they have started to show under the paint. The diagram on the picture shows the outline of of the sheets.
I used a heavy piece of 3/32 balsa out of the reject pile to make a pattern. The using the heavier wood (stiffer) was great for the pattern as the soft stuff will just bend into place. I cut and fit all of the pieces for the nose section and practiced holding them onto place.
Start by edge gluing the new piece of wood to the previous piece already in the airplane. I used medium CA for this job, taking great care to not have any ooze out of the seam. If the edges don't align perfectly, not a big deal. There is pleanty of material to sand the seams out smooth. Once the edges are glued together, I do some real finger gymnastics and CA the rest of the piece into place.