| Next was time to cut some BT60 tubing for the airframe and all 3 turbos, and sand all the glassing off of them... |
| ...after drawing the lines, I tacked on the panels, and then filleted the seams... |
| After marking for the tail, a triangle works great in lining up the fin first lengthwise... |
| ...Then gently fold along the dotted lines to make it look like this... |
| ... tape the whole mess on table top while the glue is still soft. Let dry and fillet up. |
| Run little glue on the cockpit support brace and tack it on. Rubber bands help... |
| ...then lightly smear around edges to seal them in. |
| First I laid the airframe and top turbo tube on a table and tacked them on with Titebond... |
| First NC was hacked at an angle with a razor saw, then drilled out and filled with BB leadshot from Wallyworld... |
A new BSG Viper 1.7x upscale being born... |
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| Then I got the revelation that since its balsa, I can do more shaping with careful drilling & sanding... |
| Mixed a batch of 30min epoxy, and smeared the inside all over... Popsicle stick works great... |
| Then I poured in pre-weighted #7 leadshot (Wally was out of BB size that works better)... |
| ...and filled it up with more epoxy, just short of the bottom lip... Looks pretty cool... |
| Then it was time for some fillets, first I poured on a little bit of glue... |
| ...then used a Q-tip for a nice smooth and thin layer. Methinks 3 layers will do just fine... |
| Then I stood the assembly upright using a triangle and taped it to the table top... |
| ...that made it easy to tack on the first turbo tube, then recheck for squareness ... |
| ...and tack on the other. Then its fillet, fillet and fillet again using a Q-tip... |
| It's time to mark the tubes for turbo panels, a compass comes in handy... |
| ...and while the glue is still soft, use it to line the fin up vertical , and let it tack. |
| Cut out the canopy by carefully tracing the lines printed on card stock with a fresh blade... |
| ...and glue on the cockpit support bracket... |
| ...then smear on a bit of glue to seal in the seams. |
| Next use a 1/2" aluminum angle bar to mark for the main wings... |
| ...that we have to put together next. First glue the fwd and rear halves together... |
| ...and after they've cured under some weight like books, mark for cannon mounts. |
| Should look something like this. Use waxpaper and weights again... |
| ...and you'll end up with something like this. |
| Next, tape a C-cassette case lightly on the bottom, then stand Viper on its tail... |
| ...and tack on the wings using that triangle again to keep them lined up... |