Medicine Man Glider

This is the tedious part. Do not attempt it while feeling impatient or agitated.

If you’re building from plain wood rather than the kit, download and print the plans from http://makezine.com/17/model_airplane. Trace the patterns onto the sheet using carbon paper, making sure the wood’s grain runs in the piece’s dominant direction. Mark some pieces multiple times, following the plan. I offer the kit (http://www.realkits.com) because patterns can be frustrating to a beginning builder.

Cut out each piece using the knife. Cut them slightly oversize, particularly on mating portions, so you can sand them down to a firm fit later. Don’t cut through the piece all at once; allow about 9 passes (3 per 5" of thickness). Where parts are mirrored right and left, cut one and then flip it over to use as a pattern for the other. Old magazines are good for cutting on top of.

After cutting out each part, number it with a pen. Then trim the parts down and refine their shapes using sandpaper. Save leftover wood.

General building advice: Before touching knife to wood, study the plan and conduct an “imaginary build” of the model’s entire skeleton, visualizing each step. Taking the time to do this first will make the build much easier.

For each section of the plan, you’ll follow the same general procedure: pin the plan onto the building board under a sheet of waxed paper. Start with the tail, which is the simplest part.

Fit, glue, and pin down the pieces, starting with the perimeter pieces and then filling in, sanding as necessary for a precise fit. Glue pieces only after they’re snug; glue should work as a bonding agent, not as a filler. Wipe away excess glue with a scrap of balsa – this is easier than sanding it away later. Finally, spray down the assembly with warm water to relax tensions in the wood.

Let the tail assembly dry overnight and remove it from the plan.

Note: you can add 50% rubbing alcohol to the water to promote saturation and relax the wood even more.

To cut the tail’s curved tips, hold the plan up to a light and pin it aligned over the assembly. Lay them down, plan on top, and punch through the paper with a pen at about 1/8" intervals, following the curve to make a dotted line. Remove the plan and make a connect-the-dots cut, following the line. Finish by holding the elevator piece against the fin and blending their combined outline into a smooth curve.

Draw and cut hinge slots for the rudder and elevator, centered as shown on the plan. Use sandpaper to bevel the leading edges of the rudder and elevator along their hinge lines, so they’ll rotate freely.

Sand all surfaces to the rounded cross-section shown on the plan.

You’ll build the 2 mirror-image fuselage sides one at a time.

For the longerons, soak 2 of the 3/16” square sticks in hot water for 10 minutes to make them more flexible.

Assemble a fuselage side on top of the plan, as you built the tail above. Place perimeter pieces first, then the risers, and finally the diagonals, working in from each end. This sequence gives glue joints a few minutes to set undisturbed.

Fit pieces F1, F2, and F3 to each side, spray down the assembly with warm water, and allow to dry overnight.

Remove the assembly from the plan and repeat these steps to build the second fuselage side.

Drill two 3/16" holes in each fuselage side as shown on the plan for the wing mount pegs. You can twist the drill bit through the balsa with your fingers.

Separate the sides and sand the bevel shown in the fuselage top view into the tail. This makes the 2 sides handed, mirror-images rather than identical.

Following the fuselage top view, cut the cross-members for stations 1 through 7. Note that stations 3 and 5 use spruce, and at station 4 the top cross-member sits about 3/8” below the top in order to clear the wing. Pin the bottom cross-members in place on the fuselage top view.