RE: Team OMP Presents the Boxxer ARF!
Horizontal Stab Install:
1: Center the horizontal stab in the slot at the rear of the fuselage. Measure that each outboard tip of the stab is equally distant from the fuselage first. Following that, you should measure from the outboard forward tip of the stab to the rearmost outboard tip on the adjacent wing. Measure several times, and then mark the stab, where it contacts the fuselage on top and bottom.
2: Remove the covering from the center of the stab, approximately 1/16 of an inch INSIDE the marks you made. It is best not to use a sharp knife, but a hot soldering iron, with a pointed tip. Use a metal straight edge as a guide, and slowly move the iron across the covering allowing heat, not pressure, to cut the covering. Simply cutting the covering with a sharp knife can often damage the stab, and almost guarantee a failure in flight during high “G” maneuvers
3: After removing covering from the top and bottom of the stab, prepare some 30 minute epoxy for bonding the stab to the fuselage. Some modelers prefer to use CA for this job, but the additional work time that epoxy allows will be of great benefit. Apply mixed epoxy to the top and bottom of the stab, on the exposed wood. Slip the stab in place (from the rear), and clean up any epoxy that oozes out with rubbing alcohol and paper towels. Realign the stab, measuring again stab tip to fuselage and stab tip to rear of bottom wing. Next, set the stab square to the fuselage, using a right angle, and tape the stab in place with masking tape. As with the wing, check the joint a few times, during the cure process. Measure to be sure the stab has not shifted, and clean whatever epoxy you can find with rubbing alcohol and paper towels. When fully cured (often longer than 30 minutes), remove the tape.