Hey, Guys!
Welcome to Nighthawk Gliders!
I’m Brad.
Today we are going to build the “Sandpiper 12” Glider.”
This is a catapult-launch glider; an outstanding glider.
And many of you’ve been asking for a “how to” video.
This is your video.
I’m just going to go thru the basics and let’s build one!
We’re going to use #11; I designate these guys.
He’s #11 and we’re going to use him as a guide since he is a great flyer.
First choice is balsa selection.
We need a 3/32” x 3” x 36” (balsa sheet).
And we’re going to cut off a 12” segment.
And this part here is going to be both the wing and the fuselage.
That’s what we’re going to cut out of here.
This balsa right here is a little bit more dense than I would typically use.
For demonstration purposes here, this will do.
I like to use a balsa stripper right off the sheet.
It does not cut all the way through.
It cuts mostly through.
And once I cut on one side I flip it over and I just cut the other side.
This is already pre-measured to 1/2”.
The fuselage height is 1/2”.
I’m going to cut off two strips.
Two strips of 1/2” equals 1”.
That coming off a 3” sheet will leave us 2”.
So this is going to be our wing and the chord will be close to 2”.
This will be our fuse and this is going to be our wing.
We need to find the center of our wing.
I will choose to mark it.
And from the leading edge, I want to go back 1/2”.
So I will cut off from the center point to that 1/2” mark.
This kind of creates a sweep-back on my wing.
I think it adds a little stability.
So typically on my wings I will do a sweep back.
And for esthetics, and probably aerodynamics, I like to curve off the leading tips.
So, I’ll just trim off a little bit there.
Alright, that’s the general planform.
Now for our fuse, get some wax paper.
We need to glue these two together and I will find really quickly the center point of the
fuse and create a mark.
What I like to do is balance the fuse on a ruler and find out which side is heavier.
In this case it is the right side.
In this case here it is the left side.
I will switch over so that the two heavy sides are on one end.
This is going to be the nose.
Since I typically add some extra weight on the nose, let’s keep the tail light and
the nose heavier.
Just a little quick tip there.
Alright, these two are just going to glue together.
Trying to spread this across.
And put these two together.
I’ll set them flat and squeeze them together.
I need to remember what is the nose so I’ll put a little mark on here.
Just so I know.
Ok, so here we have some tick marks.
These are indicators as to where we’ll make some cuts to shape our our fuselage.
I’ll call this the “fuse.”
This is where we will be creating a notch for the catapult.
And we want the body kind of fat; going to draw a line to here.
The tick marks were 1” from the nose.
Another 1” for the notch.
5” to this point.
And 6”, which is the 1/2 way mark, there is a line right here.
So, this will be a line straight to that.
I like to use… also, we actually need to put a tick mark on the other side at the 6”
I like to use, again, the balsa stripper.
This time I have it set at 1/4” which is close to 1/2 the width.
I’m just going to put a mark… probably can’t see that.
I’m going to put a mark on this side and put a mark on this side.
I’m going to look to see how well that lines up.
Which looks pretty close.
I think it needs to be a little bit wider.
I’m going to adjust it a little bit and go with that.
The idea is that I’m going to be drawing this down… holding it very tightly with
my thumb… to that line or a little past that line.
I’m going to flip this over and do the same thing.
This is going to split the wood right to the mark where I need it.
And then, I can take my ruler and start cutting into this line right here.
Since I’m going with the grain it won’t be too difficult.
And there we go we have a thinner tail and a fatter body.
Having a lighter tail will actually give us the ability to put less blast on the front
and it will allow the plane have more control with it’s tail.
So, for the shark’s tooth, I like to use a saw— this is a razor saw.
I’m going to cut…
See if I can show you this…
Going to cut right into that angle.
And then I’ll use my ruler again to finish that off very carefully.
The saw works great with a cross-grain cut.
And there we go.
I’m going to round off the nose a little bit.
That is the raw-cut of the fuse.
Ok, we have our fuse, we have our main wing, so we need a tail.
What i like to use is 1/16” (thickness) x 3” x 36”.
I’m going to cut off a piece of that.
And the tail is 4” long…
Make a couple marks there.
Ok, 4” long.
It is 1 and 1/2” wide.
What’s nice about the 3” sheet of balsa is that these dimensions work very well—
in that when I cut this in half I have enough for two tails for two gliders.
I’m going to find the center point… since it is 4”, 2” is the center point.
And this is going to be my leading edge and this going to be my trailing edge.
I’m going to bring forward 1/8” from trailing edge and put a tick mark.
And from that tick mark I go another 1” and mark that.
So I will cut from that center point to that mark, right there.
And this will give my general shape of my tail.
The trailing edge will have a little bit shaved off… which we also need a tick mark at 2”.
From the center point on the trailing edge to the 1/8” mark I will shave off just a
little sliver.
Same thing for the other side.
And that is the basic raw-cut of the tail.