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! Glue two 3/32” balsa braces to each of the outer ribs as shown.
! Verify that the top and bottom spars are glued to the vertical spar completely and that there are no
gaps in the glue joints.
! Lightly sand the wing to remove any bumps and glue
Aileron Assembly
The ailerons are made up from the 3/32” laser cut sheet. Lay the plans out on a flat worktable and tape
them down, and then lay a sheet of wax paper over the plans. This will protect the plans from the glue.
The pieces of balsa are positioned over the plans and glued together. Each joint can be glued by holding
the two pieces in place and applying a drop of thin CA to the joint. In the past, you may have used pins to
hold parts down, but I find this process to be faster and you don’t have to worry about the pin damaging
the balsa. You do have to worry about keeping your fingers far enough away from the joints or your
fingers will become part of the model.
Once the parts are dry, carefully remove them from the wax paper then sand them. Round all the edges
EXCEPT the front of the ailerons need to have a 40 degree bevel sanded in to them. How you sand the
bevel in the ailerons determines whether the aileron will be for the right or left side. Make sure you make
one left and one right.
Covering the Wing
The Dandy kit comes with a clear, paintable covering called Doculam which is actually a laminating
film. The frosted side has a heat activated adhesive. Unlike most coverings, Doculam does not have a
backing sheet. Compared to SoLite (Solarfilm Lite – another excellent choice for the Dandy),
Doculam is stronger, heavier, and needs a higher temperature to adhere and to shrink. It should also
be painted which will add weight. We will cover one half of the wing at a time.
! Lay the wing on the table and cut a piece of covering so that it starts at the inner rib of the opposite
wing and overlaps the wingtip and the leading and trailing edges by ~2”. The first piece will
cover the center wing.
! Tack one corner of the trailing edge then the other corner of the trailing edge with a covering iron,
ensuring that the covering is tight.
! Pull the covering tight and straight then tack the two corners of the leading edge.
! Tack down the entire leading and trailing edge. Wrap the covering around the back of the trailing
edge and tack it down across the back of the trailing edge.
! Pull the covering tight across the high point of the wingtip and tack.
! Here’s the fun part: work the covering around the curve of the wingtip so that the wrinkles are
evenly distributed. This will make shrinking the wrinkles out easier.
! Tack down the covering to the inner rib.
! Trim the covering so that there is a 1/8”- 1/4” overlap around the inner rib. Tack down the overlap
to prevent the covering from pulling away when you shrink it.
! Cover the other side. This side does not need to cover the center wing but should overlap the
other sides covering by at least ¼” to ensure a good bond.
