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10. Remove the cowl rings and set the cowl on
the fuselage. Reference the plans for the exact
position. Hint: You could mount the engine to the
fuselage and use it as another reference for
positioning the cowl. Use a felt tip pen to mark the
location of the mounting screws on the cowl.
Remove the cowl and drill 1/16" holes through
each mark you made.
11. Glue each of the six die-cut 1/32" plywood
Cowl Reinforcements to the cowl with the punch
mark centered in the 1/16" holes. Drill through the
holes in the cowl and the reinforcements with a
1/8" drill bit.
12. Reposition the cowl on the fuselage and
confirm that it is in the proper location on the cowl
mount blocks. Slight sanding of the cowl mounts
may be required to account for the 1/32" plywood
reinforcements added in the previous step. On the
cowl mount blocks mark the location of the holes
for the # 4 x 1/2" sheet metal screws.
13. Remove the cowl and drill a 3/32" hole
through each cowl mount block where you made
the mark. Put several drops of thin CA into the
holes then re-drill them. Check the fit and
temporarily mount the cowl on the fuselage with
the screws and #4 washers.
Now it looks like a P-47!
14. Tack glue the cowl ring to the firewall, then
sand the sides until they are flush with the fuselage.
15. Remove the cowl ring sections, then round
the corners as shown on the fuselage plan. After
they have been shaped, permanently glue the
cowl ring sections to the firewall.
16. Cut six 1/2" wide blocks from the left over
sheet used for the cowl ring sections. Round the
blocks as you did the cowl ring sections and insert
them between the cowl block supports to fill
the gap.
FINISH PREPARATION
FINAL SANDING
Nearly every imperfection in your wood
structure will show through the covering material
therefore, before covering, you should make a final
check of the entire structure. Fix any "dings," then
sand the entire structure smooth using
progressively finer grades of sandpaper. Many
small indentations can be removed by wetting the
spot and using a sealing iron to "steam" the
ding out.
FUELPROOFING
Fuelproofing may be performed before or after covering.
1. Fuelproof the firewall and fuel tank
compartment. Grey (mix black and white) K&B
epoxy paint or 30-minute epoxy is a highly
recommended fuelproofer.
2. Fuelproof any external exposed wood such as
wheel wells and pushrod exits. Use epoxy resin to
glue strips of 3/4 oz. glass cloth to the inside of the
- 46 -
top wing skins in the wheel wells. This will fuelproof
and reinforce the exposed wood inside the wheel
well. This must be done before the covering is
applied as it may blemish the covering.
BALANCE THE AIRPLANE LATERALLY
SPECIAL NOTE: Do not confuse this procedure
with "checking the C.G." or "balancing the
airplane fore and aft."...That very important
step will be covered later in the manual.
Now that you have the basic airframe nearly
completed, this is a good time to balance the
airplane laterally (side-to-side). Here is how to do it:
1. Temporarily attach the wing and engine (with
muffler) to the fuselage.
2. With the wing level, lift the model by the
engine propeller shaft and the fin post (this may
require two people). Do this several times.
3. If one wing always drops when you lift the
model, it means that side is heavy. Balance the
airplane by gluing weight to the other wing tip.
NOTE: An airplane that has been laterally
balanced will track better in loops and
other maneuvers.
FINISHING
The P-47 does not require much painting to
obtain the trim scheme shown on the box as most
of the finish is created with Top Flite MonoKote
film. The only painting that is required are the
plastic parts, cockpit and canopy frame, and the
wheel wells. There are many other schemes used
on P-47's but the one shown on the box has
proved to be highly visible in the air and represents
a scale trim scheme.
COVERING
The technique we will describe here is the how
the model pictured on the box was finished. In
general, it involves covering most of the model with
MonoKote film, then priming and painting the cowl
and surface details.
Make sure the structure is smoothly sanded
with 320-grit sandpaper. Remove all dust from the
structure so the MonoKote film will stick well.
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