Build The Fixed Landing Gear - Top Flite Douglas DC-3 User Manual

location of the holes. Drill 1/8" holes at the marks you
made and insert 4-40 blind nuts (not included) into the
basswood stick on the back of the rail web. Reinstall the
rail web and glue it in place with 30-minute epoxy.
Mount the landing gear to the web with two 4-40 x 1/2"
screws (not included) before the epoxy cures. Clamp the
top of the rail to the forward landing gear rail and allow
the epoxy to fully cure.
R16. Return to step R1 and mount the other retract and
air cylinder to the right engine nacelle the same way.
R17. Fit the die-cut 1/8" plywood nacelle bottoms to
the nacelles but do not glue them in place yet. Cut the
nacelle bottoms so the retracts will clear them. Set the
nacelle bottoms aside.
R18. From a 1/4" x 36" triangle stick, cut four 2-1/4"
pieces and four 3/4" pieces. Use 30-minute epoxy to
glue the 2-1/4" pieces to the back of the firewalls inside
the nacelle sides and glue the 3/4" pieces to the back of
the landing gear webs as shown on the plan.
R19. Remove the landing gear and fuel-proof the
wheel wells and the inside of the nacelle bottoms. Refer
to the Painting section in the back of the manual for
hints on painting.
R20. Glue on the nacelle bottoms.
R21. Cut the rest of the way through the partially
die-cut lines in ribs W1 and W2 on the right side of the
center section and remove the balsa to accommodate
your air tank. Trim the ribs further if needed to
accommodate your air tank.
R22. Fit approximately 10" of air line onto your air
tank and use RTV silicone or epoxy to glue the tank into
the wing. Coil the air line for the time being.
Retract builders proceed to "Prepare the bottom of the
wing for sheeting" on page 42.

BUILD THE FIXED LANDING GEAR

Refer to this photo for the next four steps.
- 40 -
F1. Glue the 1/2" x 3/4" x 3-1/2" basswood aft
landing gear rail in the notches of ribs W3 on the left
side of the center section.
F2. Cut two 3-7/8" long servo hatch rails from
leftover 1/4" x 3/8" basswood. Glue the rails into the
notches of the ribs for the left servo hatch.
F3. Trim a 1/2" x 3/4" x 1" maple torque block so it
will fit between ribs W3A and W3 on top of the forward
landing gear rail. Use 30-minute epoxy to glue that
torque block and an additional 1/2" x 3/4" x 1" maple
torque block to the top of the forward landing gear rail
and the W3 ribs as shown on the plan. Use clamps to
securely hold the blocks in position until the epoxy has
fully cured.
F4. From a 1/4" x 24" triangle stick, cut four 2-1/4"
long pieces. Glue two pieces to each firewall and the
nacelle sides where shown on the plan.
F5. Glue on the nacelle bottom.
F6. Perform steps F1 through F5 to glue the landing
gear rails and torque blocks in the other side of the
center section the same way.
This is another area where it will be helpful if you are able
to visualize and understand the assembly before you
continue so, read through this section before you begin .
Let's build the landing gear struts...
F7. Before you start soldering, use a cutoff wheel or
a metal file to remove burrs from both ends of all the
5/32" landing gear wires. Clean the wires with alcohol or
other solvent, then use coarse sandpaper to roughen all
the areas of the wires that are to be soldered.
Make the aft strut first ...
Note: The aft struts are optional. They add to the
scale appearance of your landing gear and they do
increase rigidity, but we have flown our prototypes
many times without the aft struts.