Top Flite SE5A - 50 year old (partially built) kit

[GuyOReilly]

So no pull-pull rudder control then...
Still looks fantastic.
Guy

[Michael]

One side will be push-pull, the other side fake push-pull.

[Michael]

I built up and shaped the fuselage area under the lower wing; a lot of work but not a lot to show for it.

I also made a hatch, so I could adjust the servos without removing the wing.

I temporarily assembled the landing gear (now sanded smooth) to make sure everything fit well.

[Michael]

It's a cold, wet and windy day.

The next step in construction/assembly, is to mount the upper wing. This includes figuring out how to attach the inner struts and the struts at the outer wing panels.

The kit comes with plastic parts for a specifically designed fit, but the parts are old, brittle, and likely irreplaceable. I decided to go with a simpler method, but that means making my own parts.

I'm making brackets that will screw onto hard plywood on the wing (see photos), cut, drilled (in a home-made jig) and bent to screw onto the strut, and with a tab for wire rigging. The corners were sanded slightly round for safety and appearance.

To mount the wing, the front inner struts need to be fitted and glued, with temporary height gauges (see photo), and once set, the rest of the struts are made and attached.  Holes had to be cut in the fuselage sides so the struts could be fitted and adjusted before gluing.

[Michael]

Wing strut and rigging brackets.

These are cut from quarter-inch airfoil-shaped aluminum tubing, which is then flattened, drilled, corners rounded, and bent to shape. Hard plywood mounting plates are glued to the hardwood spars on the wings, onto which the brackets are screwed. The brackets will be removed before covering, and the holes will be strengthened with CA glue.

I'll keep careful track of which brackets go where, since each strut will be custom fitted to its position.

[Michael]

Wing struts cut, shaped, sanded, drilled, and very carefully fitted to the wings, making sure to avoid twists and warps.

[sihinch]

This looks magic!

[Michael]

The model comes with upper and lower cowl aluminum covers. I re-made these in balsa; the bottom is a screw-on hatch for access to the speed control; the top is a batter hatch.

[Michael]

Battery hatch is hinged.

More hard-points and rigging anchors on the wing.

[Michael]

The basic air-frame construction is finished, but a fair amount of detail-work needs to be done before covering, including: preparing mounting spots for the guns, windshield, cockpit, dashboard, pilot, (dummy) engine and mufflers. After that some painting, then covering, hinging, assembly, rigging, and then finish electronics installation, programming and balancing.

I started with the lower machine gun. I've assembled only the barrel section, and cut off the rest, since that would be hidden in the fuselage. Then a section of the fuselage was cut out, and covered with concave-bent thin plywood. The area was sanded, and the gun is test-fitted.

[Michael]

The upper-wing gun has been assembled, and a gun mount was constructed from scrap balsa.

[Michael]

A gun-sight was constructed of carbon-fiber tub (instructions suggested a dowel), and strips of masking tape.

[GuyOReilly]

Beautiful job on the gun mount!
It needs a full scale colour scheme with this level of details.

[Michael]

Beautiful job on the gun mount!
It needs a full scale colour scheme with this level of details.

With this level of work on the details, this thing better fly!

[Michael]

Engine (cylinder-covers?) and mufflers constructed of balsa and dowels.

Windshield constructed of thin plywood and balsa.