Wow, it almost seems like something wants to keep me from getting the wings joined. Actually, it's an easy step that really does need to be done before we join the wings. What we need to do now is install the WS-T3 sheeting which goes on top of the wing between the trailing edge and the top rear spar, and the WS-B1 sheeting which goes on the bottom of the wing between the leading edge and the bottom main spar. We need to put these in place before we join the wing halves because these pieces of sheeting will help stabilize the W1 rib and hold it in place. We don't want the rib to move around when we are trying to glue the halves together. These pieces of sheeting are fairly easy to put in place.

Picture #1 shows getting ready to test fit the WS-T3 sheeting in place. One thing that will help you produce high quality model is attention to details. When I went to test fit the WS-T3 in place it didn't fit correctly without “jamming” it in place. When I glued the leading edge in place the glue dripped down and left a “blob” of glue that was in the way of correctly placing the sheeting (see picture #2). Use your hobby knife to carefully remove these “blobs” of glue. Once the sheet is glued into place I placed a weight bag on top of it to hold it until the glue dried.

After doing the WS-T3 sheeting I moved on to doing the WS-B1 sheeting on the bottom of the wing. When I got to this step I ran into an instruction in the manual that had me scratching my head and grinding my teeth. Scratching my head because I almost couldn't believe that they actually printed the instructions in the manual, and grinding my teeth in frustration that they actually did print it. I've scanned the step from the manual and included it here so I could show what I was talking about. It tells you to put the WS-B1 sheeting in place and gives you a note that there will be a wedge shaped gap at the front of the sheet and to just fill that gap with medium CA. [:@] What is wrong with this? Technically nothing. It doesn't hurt anything in the final product and the plane will fly just as well, but I think that it's just a cheap and easy way out, and doesn't produce the best model possible. And in my mind, if I am going to take the time build this model I want to build the best model I am capable of building. So what is wrong with the way they did it? Filling the gap with medium CA will produce a hard “lump” that will most likely stand out when we cover the plane. CA dried rock hard and is very hard sand down, and when the wing is sanded it most likely won't smooth out. Also, I prefer to have wood-to-wood joints everywhere possible. So how did I fix it. It's actually pretty easy, more or less. Where the front of the sheeting meets the leading edge we want to sand a bevel (picture #7) into to so that it will make good a good joint with the leading edge. Since we are beveling the edge of this sheet it's going to come up being a bit too short to fit to the main spar at the rear of the sheet. I had two choices to fix this problem. One would be to cut a new piece of sheeting and the other would be to just add to our existing sheet. Since I want to do this build with the wood that came with the kit and not have to spend money for extra wood I'm going to add on to the existing sheet. Once again, this is where saving all the scrap wood comes in handy. In picture #8 you can see where I cut a strip out of the same thickness wood as the sheeting. Then glue that strip to the edge of the sheeting. And then a little sanding and now we have a very good fitting piece of sheeting. As you can see in picture #9, the sheeting fits a lot better now. Even though I use a magnetic building system to build my planes with, that doesn't mean that I still don't use pins. Place pins in the edge of the wood to hold it in place until the glue dries. I also placed a weight bag on it to hold it down.

Alright, I promise that we're getting closer to actually joining the wings. Just hang in there and we'll get there soon.

Pictures
1. Test fitting the WS-T3 sheeting
2. Remove the “blobs” of glue
3. Putting the WS-T3 sheeting in place
4. WS-T3 sheeting in place.
5. Use a weight bag to hold sheeting down while glue dries
6. Scan from instructions manual explaining an aggravating step
7. Sanding a bevel into the sheeting
8. Adding a strip to the sheeting in order to make it fit
9. Putting the sheeting in place
10. Using pins to hold the sheeting while glue dries
11. Weight back used to hold sheeting in place while glue dries

Until next time

Ken