New Way Blade Runner, Part 10, Filling The Pinholes

I could see two small pinhole air bubbles in a glue fillet.

Lightly drag you knife blade tip along the fillet and you might feel the dip.

Instead of a applying a full length glue fillet, 

Use a toothpick to direct a small mount of glue into the pinhole.

Press and drag the small glue dot into the fillet hole.

Immediately smooth and remove excess glue using a Q-tip.

New Way Blade Runner, Part 9, White Undercoats & Parachute Assembly

The main body was sprayed with gloss white.

A little more sanding will follow and then a final coat of white.

The 12" New Way parachutes are  interesting.

The reinforcing rings are jewelry ring price tags made from no-tear Tyvek.

The adhesive is only on the round ends allowing an easy tie of the shroud lines in the middle fold.

The shroud line holder is meant to be easily unfurled.

See the hole on the left side of the black spool?

Hold the "spool" with just your thumb and index fingertips over that hole. This allows the spool to rock back and forth as you pull the string free. No tangles!

Here's how the shroud lines tie into the reinforcements.

As always, I recommend tying the lines on using long tweezers.

New Way Blade Runner, Part 8, Gluing On The Fins

Five fins!

The marking guide fit very well. Pencil marks were made and extended the full length of the tube.

On the right -

I used the marking guide as a height guide at the 1 1/4" mark.

The long strakes glue down the fin lines, butted up against the  top of the fins. 

For a better alignment, I used the reversed clothespins. Be careful not to glue the clamps to the fins.

To see the original post and make your own flat clamps: CLICK HERE

After the glue dried on the forward strakes,

I tried the fit of the ring tube. A perfect slip fit!

The ring tube will be glued on after the fins and strakes are painted. Otherwise, it would be very difficult to get good paint coverage with the ring glued in place.

New Way Blade Runner, Part 7, Gluing In The Engine Mount

The Kevlar and shrink wrap are run down thru the mount so they won't get in the way.

The instructions have you apply glue 1 3/4" from the bottom of the main airframe tube.

I use a dowel to roll a line of glue inside the tube. Setting the dowel beside the engine mount shows me the glue line would be better at 1 7/8" to apply the glue just below the upper centering ring.

Notice the two depth pencil lines on the dowel. The lower pencil line is the 1 7/8" mark.

A ring of glue is set around the top edge of the dowel.

Set the dowel in the tube up to the 1 7/8" pencil mark and roll the glue into a ring line inside the tube. You will have to apply more glue on the dowel to get a ring all the way around inside the tube.

Slide the engine mount in, turning the mount when in contact with the glue to even out and make a smooth interior fillet.

With the mount glue dried, 

TIP: Note the straightened coat hanger hook in the right side picture. The hook will help get the shock cord back through the top of the tube.

 

There isn't much room to get a fillet at the lower centering ring/body tube joint. 

I applied a small glue drop to one side of my long tweezers. Set the drop in on the joint to smooth as best your can. Keep some Q-tips handy to pick up any glue boogers.

New Way Blade Runner, Part 6, Tying Elastic Shock Cord To The Kevlar

As I normally do, some steps are out of order from the instructions.

I like to mark the body tube seams with a fine point pencil for visibility when filling.

The tip of my knife blade is dipped in thinned CWF. Wipe off the back of the blade leaving the filler on the top side of the knife. Set the knife in the recess seam and with a back and forth motion of the knife, leave filler in the seam.

You should be able to leave filler for a length of about 1 1/2". If not, your filler needs more thinning with water.

The instructions spell out how to tie the elastic shock cord to the Kevlar before gluing the engine mount in. You don't want the Kevlar line to extend beyond the top end of the body tube. This can lead to a "zipper" at an early or too late ejection, the Kevlar tearing through the body tube. 

Set the mount along the side of the body tube with the 1/4" pencil mark on the mount even with the end of the tube.

Straighten the Kevlar line out down the tube to the top. Mark the Kevlar 2" down from the top of the tube.

At the 2" mark, tie the Kevlar to the elastic shock cord using a simple, overhand knot.

The short, larger diameter heat shrink tube is slid over the knot. 

Hit with a heat gun or hair dryer at the low setting. On the left is the before, on the right is after using heat.

You can cut off the excess.

New Way Blade Runner, Part 5, Fin Prep & Grain Fill

Like all laser cut fins,

these aren't cut straight down but in a narrow wedge.

It'd be like cutting out fins with a straightedge and the knife blade at a very slight angle.

Just be aware of which edges are a glue joint, like the root edge. A root edge cut at an angle could glue onto the body tube at an angle.

The flat blades are glued onto an outside edge. I used a flat diamond file to easily square up the sides and inside corners. 

There are 20 pieces of balsa to fill!

When brushing on the thinned CWF filler, be sure to keep the tab slots clear and open. 

Here I'm using the backside of my knife to clear the slots.

New Way Blade Runner, Part 4, Freeing The Fins

Here's a closeup of the laser cut fins. There are hold down ticks - 

and the corners need to be free.

Use the tip of your knife blade.

I tried a dry fit of the flat "blades" in the fin tabs.

These tabs were purposely cut a bit high so they extend above the fin face. Too many kits have short tabs requiring extra filling. These tabs can be sanded to surface after the glue dries!