The fuselage is molded in two part, the nose section and the main body, this is to help with construction and transportation as the nose is removable. The nose and main body sections are mated and joined with 6/32 screws and blind nuts.

    If you rather not spend another $220 dollars, which I would suggest doing, I have had success with using certain rubber/foam type materials placed within the tire themselves, the key is to find the right material to do so. I have been using material from a Rubber Slipper ( we locals in Hawaii are famous for wearing slippers everywhere). It  was thin so I glued them together with GOOP. I then made a wood dowel spindle to turn the foam and shape it into a donut as to fill the tire inside completely. I used sand paper ( 40 - 80 grit) to shape the donut. They then can be stuffed into the tire, it will easily support the weight of the plane then. I went flying today (2/21/99) with this mod to the tires and it worked fine. Just look around your home to find stuff or the local hardware store.

The MOST IMPORTANT THING WHEN CONSTRUCTING THIS PLANE!    When constructing the wings and you are aligning them, be sure they are as close to perfect as you can get, my wings are within 1/16 of a inch of each other, wings out and wings back, and I have no problems with roll trim when flying wings out or swept. What ever the difference is with the wings out, make sure that difference is the same with the wings swept. That's so you won't have surprises when the wings are swept back ( roll trim changes).
    If you are measuring and checking this at least 2-3 times and they are not swinging back and forth within acceptable margins, it is possible, however unlikely, that the wings are out of alignment (from the factory) and a call to DCU is in order to remedy the problem. In fact, check 2 more times before you call just to make sure. If it is, there is nothing you can do on your end, it just has to be replaced. . Be sure to send both back.

    If you already checked your wing sweep previously like I did, you will only need  to verify one more time that everything is cool before gluing in the rear landing gear blocks. check with the maintenance page for further updates in this area.

    Make sure when attaching the Custom fan mounts to the Dynamax fan shrouds that you slightly counter sink the holes that you drill to help relieve stress. Any holes that you make could end up splitting or cracking if this is not done. I changed the fuel cells and used two Dubro 20 oz. tank instead of the two 16oz. tanks supplied. I also changed the hopper tanks, went from two 6oz. tanks going to two 4oz., the idea with that is to free up some space in the engine compartment. All the plumbing is of the Large fuel tubing /brass setup, standard stuff. Only from the needle valve back to the engine is the smaller (medium) line. I used Prather (pink) fuel line for this one as it is a little stiffer. The instruction mentions pipe pressure, I opted for Pitot power, in this case the Ramtec/Trim Aircraft Pitot.

    I changed the Rudder Servo location and linkage. It originally called for one servo, positioned between the engines, to drive two rudders. Due to the angle involved with this setup, the linkage had acquired too much slop for my taste. I positioned a Hitec 205 BB servos about a 2 inches behind the main retracts on each side of the plane. A Sullivan Semi-Flexible Cable was used to provide linkage between the servo and rudder horn. This tucked in nicely over the thrust duct. I also used Robart Pin Hinges instead of the method described in the manual for a more secure hinge joint with less possibility of flutter.

    Most everything else in the plane is rather straight forward with nothing complicated. You will run out of space quickly so getting in there to do maintenance or repairs would be hard without a little planning as to where you equipment will go.   

    If I were to reconstruct the Tomcat, a modification I would make is to change the Elevon Pivot Arm and Elevon shaft. I would fabricate a new arm and shaft with a pin or set screw to go through the shaft. The shaft currently has teeth on the end on which the pivot arm clamps onto, which works completely fine. The problem with this is that the Elevon shaft assembly (with the teeth) will not pass through the pivot housing for removal. Just food for thought. I mean, if you are not going to take it on trips and have to haul it around long distance then it is perfectly fine the way it is.

Back to Previous Page

Questions? email CAG