After gluing the fuselage doublers onto the fuselage sides we need to take a few minutes and do a little bit of clean up before we move on with this build. Look all around the edge of the fuselage doubler and make sure it is securely glued to the fuselage side. As you can see in picture #1 there is a gap between the doubler and the fuselage side. We need to go around and take care of any gaps like this. I used a hobby knife to work Elmer's glue into these gaps, and then I securely clamped it all down while the glue dried (pictures #2, #3, and #4).

Another part of cleanup is that we want to clean away any excess glue that has oozed out from under the fuselage doubler. Pictures #5 and #6 show where the glue has oozed out. In these areas there will be parts attached here later on in the build. If we don't remove this excess glue the parts will not fit correctly when we attach them. I've tried lots of ways to get rid of excess glue like this, but the only way that I've found that really works is a plain old hobby knife and some elbow grease. It's a royal pain in the rear end to scrape this glue off , but taking the time to do it makes the difference between an ok built plane and an outstanding build. Trust me, the time you spend will be well worth it.


Pictures
1. Gap between the fuselage doubler and the fuselage side
2. Clamping down the fuselage doubler with the glue dries.
3. Clamping down the fuselage doubler with the glue dries.
4. Clamping down the fuselage doubler with the glue dries.
5. Excess glue that has oozed out from between the fuselage doubler and the fuselage sides
6. Excess glue that has oozed out from between the fuselage doubler and the fuselage sides


Until next time

Ken