Uh-oh,
after glueing in the tapered tail post i checked with a straight edge
and "oh well" see pictures. the fuselage ends needed to be held in place
with a clamp to avoid springing back. didn't see they weren't straight.[&o]
anyone has an idea how to fix that?
thanks, pat

OK Miami, you are still ok. when you glue the stab and fin on just be sure they are centered. Should not make too much difference in how thw plane flies. There is very little offset there. If it concerns you you could cut the fuse sides at the tail and re glue them. Use a small piece of balsa in the nothc to reinforce it. Too be sure the glue joint is good. That should be a simple fix. Don't sweat it too much. Just take your time and be careful and all will be fine.

Mark Shuman

Miami, was this a cutting issue, or was the stock warped? How long have you been working on this kit (in hours)? What's your feel for it so far?

[8D] my bad,
i assumed clamping the tail together gets the end right in the middle.
the instructions don't say anything about checking. looked kind of funky
pointing to the left.
i just cut it again and reglued but this time holding the tail down with the fuse on the side
and the straight edge attached. hope this works out.
I've worked approx. 10 hours so far.
tailfeathers and ailerons are ready to cover, wing is done but i'm stalling there again.
can't decide wether to apoxy in the wing dowels yet (according to the manual) 'cause they need apoxy at the aft
dowel guide, but you can't reach there if you've sheeted the bottom wing middle section.
but to get ready to cover you obviously need the sheeting there.
covering around the dowels also sounds like a pita. or maybe it's possible. have to think more.
looks like there's a lack of building experience.
but i'll get to it.

A little trick I learned in applying covering around a dowel and still making it look good. Go to a stationary store and buy a round paper punch as it's the same diameter as the dowels we use in these size planes, cut your covering for the wing and where the dowel goes through punch a hole. Now slide the covering over the dowel and apply the covering, works great!

It's probably a good thing that you cut and reglued the tail. Remember the top and bottom fins on the Contender should be in alignment as the rudder hinges to both of those above and below the fuselage. If you had left it alone, you could have set the stabilizer correctly, but the fins and rudder arrangement would have been out of whack. Good job.

Robert92679

good point robert,
i forgot about it also. everything is straight now and i moved on to the firewall.

Thanks for the dowel hint, art.

Hope somebody has a clue if it's alright to glue the firewall in straight without
any compensation for the engine's thrust. the manual didn't mention anything.
The dry-fit looks straight. no down or (left/right?) angle?


Thanks for the dowel hint, art.

While you're working on the firewall, you may want to consider using bolts for the nose gear bearing. The instructions call for screws, but a hard landing on the nose wheel will pull out the screws, bearing, nose gear and in my case slam them through the wing.

DaveB

Ouch ! through the wing !
I thought about this, too but if i put bolts and blind nuts there, the nuts would be covered
by the glued in upper and lower cowl block and ...pretty strong, right?

When I repaired my Contender, adding blind nuts was easy and I have not any problems since. The screws just didn't have enough bite into the firewall to stand up to the stress of a nose wheel first landing. Also, for what it's worth, I added flaps and I am glad I did. Although the plane lands easily without flaps, they add a new dimension to the plane. It will slow to crawl and land like a bird.

DaveB