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LANIER LASER 200
This will be a gas powered plane. The file is in order of the build so start at the bottom to see how it was done.
1/10/12
The first thing was to glue on the wing tips from 1/8" material. This was allowed to dry for 2 hours since it was glued with white glue. My rule is that if there will be a need to sand a joint later on, then no CA can be used.
I then removed all the tape and barbered the balsa edges to shape using a flat gouge. I then used rough sandpaper to complete the shape of the leading and trailing edges. The final shape and surface will not be applied until just before covering.
Next I drew out the ailerons on the surface of the wings. The beveled joint for the ailerons will be made from 1/2" thick stock so I drew the joint lines and then a line 1/2" on each side of the joint. I allowed 1/8" on the inside end of the ailerons and a gap of 1/16". I was then ready to cut out the ailerons.
I returned the wings to the shucks and that gave a flat bottom surface from which to cut the ailerons so that the cut was perpendicular to the center line of the airfoil. The cut was made on the band saw and the outside lines were cut using a straight edge as a guide.
Once that was done, then I glued the 1/2" balsa on the cut sides of the hinge line and set it aside to dry.
1/9/12
The wing was removed from the weights and the panel was set aside. The second wing was then glued and assembled like the first one and set under the weights to dry
The first panel was then opened up and inspected. It was nice and straight and the skin was well adhered to the foam.
The edges were trimmed back to the foam all the way around. This takes time and must be done with some precision.
The leading and trailing edges were then glued on with white glue and tape was used to clamp them to the wing and hold everything straight.
This kit is an older one and I am not building the wings per the plans as I have done many of these planes and I have modified the plane in every area over the years. I will not bother the reader to site all the changes I have made as there is very little of the original plane that survives the changes.
Next I cut out the servo opening in the bottom of the wing.
1/7/12
The two skins for one wing were checked and the glue was applied to the skins. The glue was was spread evenly over the entire sheet.
The skins were then applied to the damp foam cores and wax paper used to be sure we glue only the skins. The sucks were then lined up with the core and placed on a flat spot on the shop floor. I then put a sheet of ply over the wing and applied lots of weight to the package. The Gorilla glue needs 2 hours to set up and then the package was removed from the weight.
While the glue dried, I began the fuse with the ply sides. I drew the location of the elevator servos on the sides and then drew the location of the lightning holes. These are necessary to help the plan not be tail heavy.
I cut the holes in the sides and checked them to the drawings
I the cut the servo holes and added the hard wood rails behind the ply
1/6/12
The panels for the wings were dry so all the tape was removed and the panels were weighed to be sure they were all the same. The sheets were selected by weight so that each panel would be the same.
I used a palm sander to sand both sides of each wing skin and I weighed before and after to be sure the proper quantity of wood was removed. The sheets are 1/16" thick at the begriming and I remove 40% of the wood by weight on this first sanding.
The surface of the wing is mostly developed at this stage so I inspect the skins very closely for problems of any kind.
Once the skins are ready, I turned my attention to the foam cores. I sanded and cut all the spars and the servo mounts to be flush with the surface of the foam. the foam was then sanded to remove the grooves left by the cutting. This will improve the adherence of the skins to the foam.
1/5/12
The work on the skins continued with the setup of the sheets. I taped them together and cut them to shape for the wings
Once the four skins were made, I glued them together on the edges and set weights on them to dry.
1/4/12
The work began with opening and inventorying the box. Once that was done, I began to lay out the wings.
I drew the location of the aileron servo on the bottom of the wings
I cut the pockets for the servo mounts and the servos. The spar grooves were in the wing panels so the first glue up was the spars and the hard mounts for the servos. This was done with 30 minute glue and I placed weight on the wing panels to be sure they were flat.
Next I turned over the wings and glued the upper spars in place.
The phenolic tubes were next and I made supports for the end of the tubes. This was all glued in place and allowed to dry
