Tail-feathers were very simple to do, weren’t they?

Now let’s get a little more complicated with the build. Well . . . maybe complicated is too harsh a word . . . how about . . . a more technical build, as you have to be very exact in the measurements and placements of the fuselage parts, as the straightness and strength of the fuselage depends on how you place the major components and the gluing job you do. I tend to use a lot of wood glue for the fuselage joints as you will see in the following procedures.

Photo 1) Fuselage parts accounted for and categorized and ready to start construction
Photo 2) 1/8” balsa upper and lower fuselage sides glued together. Manual calls for thin CA to be wicked into the seams but the gaps between the parts are too great so I used professional strength wood glue, which I will use throughout the entire fuselage build, except for the high-stress areas such as firewall, formers, and landing gear plate. I will be using epoxy for those areas.
Photo 3) Four die-cut 1/8” balsa stabilizer bases carefully aligned and laminated into two bases ¼” thick.

It is very important before the next step to mark a right and a left side of the fuselage halves:

Photos 4 & 5) Glue the die-cut 1/8” plywood upper and lower fuselage doublers to the INSIDE of the fuselage halves. Before gluing in place I double-checked the fit and when satisfied glued them in place with wood glue, reinforced all around with thin CA. Got the right side of the fuselage clamped and drying while I take a short break.

Have to use my old clamps as my new Hayes clamps have not come in yet. My Slot Machine accessories are still not in yet either so the control surfaces will still have to wait. Supposed to be in some time tomorrow – we shall see.