Golden Era Model Service
High Quality Plan Sets for Radio Control Aircraft
The Tlush Mite

Published in the May 1938 Air Trails
Designed by Francis Tlush
Original span 50 inches



There is a chart on the plans showing the overall lengths of the verticals, diagonals, and crossmembers.  It is easy and quick to cut them all to size before
 starting fuselage construction.  Sticking them in order on blue tape keeps things organized.  The end angles are sanded in as the fuselage is built, the
 lengths on the chart allow for that.  The digital caliper makes accurate cutting of the the parts easy.  The cutting board is a length of 3/16 basswood sheet.



The inset on the right shows a closeup of a useful tool for thin CA application.  It is a small diameter brass wire twisted up, with a small fork formed in the end.  
As you can see capillary action draws a small amount of CA in to the fork.  When touched to a joint the CA flows in.  A small amount of fresh CA is kept in
 the depression in the bottom of the upturned medicine cup.  The fork will clog up, at which point the end of the wire is cut off and a new fork formed.

This is the way the fuselage looked when built initially.  The forward sections of the lower longerons were sliced lengthwise to allow for making the curve
near the nose.  Don't do like I did and install the wing saddle at this point, it must be installed after the fuselage sides are joined together with the frames flat
on the table upside down.
 

I managed to run into a border board in a long landing, actually a rather clumsy attempt to taxi closer to myself, and the lower fuselage proved to be unequal to the task.  
The lower fuselage was modified during the repair to this configuration.  The laser cut part extends back one more cluster than my repair part.  The inside faces of the
  keel parts are saw cut vertically to mid depth in the area of the rear landing gear mount plate to allow for the inward bend there.  The landing gear plates
 are set in to the keels, locating them accurately and providing more strength, also allowing the deletion of the balsa crossmembers in those places.



The second fuselage frame is built over the top of the first, with plastic wrap between.  Again, that wing saddle should not be there at this point.

Tapering the inside faces of the aft ends of the fuselage frames.

Mite Page 1  Mite Page 2  Mite Page 3  Mite Page 4  Mite Page 5  Mite Page 6  Mite Page 7  Mite Page 8  Mite Page 9  Mite Page 10

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