Fuselage Construction

BVR Kits Fizza

Fuselage Construction

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1. Glue fuselage parts 6a and 6b together leaving 50mm in from the rear to provide the tailplane seat. If necessary use the tailplane itself for the correct spacing.

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3. Keeping the fuselage sides parallel, glue former 7 in place at the rearmost extent of the doublers, but only apply glue to the bottom half of the former as shown here.

5. After trimming to the same length as the flat edged triangle pieces, upper deck 12 can then be glued firmly into place.

7. At this stage the rear lower sheet 10 should be glued into place and trimmed level with the fuselage sides. This will add stiffness to the fuselage structure for the next step.

9. After sanding the upper fuselage side edges flat, glue upper rear deck 13 in place and when set, round off to a smooth curve as shown here. However do not allow the depth of this deck to diminish towards the rear end.

11. Shape the entire front of the model to blend in with the ply motor mounting disc. Pay particular attention to achieving a smooth and aesthetically pleasing air intake below the disc, by filing th pieces of triangle stock into smooth internal curves.

13. Add the tailplane leading edges 15 and tail tips 16, making sure that the entire tailplane unit ends up even and flat. It is better to use Epoxy than Cyano for the tips! Then proceed to round off the front edges to a smooth curve as shown here.

15. Glue the fin 18 in place ensuring it is both central and at 90 degrees to the tailplane. File a notch in rudder 19 to provide operating clearance from the elevator joining dowel.

17. Add the ply tongue to the front of access hatch 11 after trimming it to fit snugly between doublers 5 and under front lower deck 9. Glue the white plastic hatch retaining block to the front lower edge of former 7. A good tip is to strengthen this union using two pieces of scrap triangle stock as shown here.

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19. You may wish to cover the entire fuselage and wing separately at this stage as it is much easier to do so before the wing is permanently fitted in place!

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2. Glue doublers 5 to fuselage sides 6 ensuring that the front and wing seat edges are level – the underside edges can be sanded level if necessary later. Remember to make a right and a left side!

4. After establishing their position by dummy fitting the wing, trim to size and add the flat-edged triangle pieces. The ply motor mounting disc can now be Epoxied in place noting that it must protrude 1/8” or 3mm higher in the centre to attach to upper deck 12.

6. Chamfer rear former 8 so that it will match the angles of the fuselage sides 6 when pulled together onto it. When satisfied, it can be glued in place taking great care to ensure that the fuselage sides have an equal curvature.

8. Carefully bend the fuselage sides on to the angled faces of former 7 and glue in place. If necessary dampen the outer edges of fuselage sides 6, but due to the soft nature of the balsa this will probably not be required.

10. Add the two 40mm long triangle pieces in the front bottom corners as shown on the assembly diagram and add front lower sheet 9.

12. Glue the tailplane 14 firmly onto its seat, making sure that it is both central and that the front corners are equidistant to the wingtip rear corners when the wing unit is dummy-fitted to the fuselage.

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14. The elevators 17 need to be joined using the short length of 3mm dowel supplied, making sure they end up level. Cut out the notches required in the inboard ends of the elevators and position the dowel to give approx. 1mm operating clearance to each tip.

16. Shape the two wedge pieces 20 so that they will continue the fuselage rear deck taper to the rear of the fin. When satisfied glue them in place as shown here. As well as maintaining the fuselage lines, these provide useful support for the fin.

18. Screw access hatch 11 in place with the screw provided after drilling a corresponding hole in the hatch retaining block. When secure proceed to shape the entire underside of the model so that parts 9, 10 and 11 blend into each other smoothly, and the lower edges are nicely rounded off.

Now move onto the Final Assembly