Package Contents

Fuselage

Nose section of pink foam

Two wing panels (or two tapered panels and center section)

Die cut coroplast tail group and fuselage doublers

Three control horns and screws

Piano wire

The following supplies and tools might be helpful for your building pleasure

Nylon reinforced filament tape. 

Packing tape, either clear or colored. Most kits come with 1 roll included

Possibly 5 min. epoxy

Razor blades and/or large snap blade knife. Use only very sharp blades!

Silicone sealer or builders construction adhesive.

Goop type glue (use only on taped up Styrofoam, it will melt plain styro)

Sanding board and loose sheets of sandpaper, 50 grit for rough sanding 100-150 grit for finish sanding.

Various tools for gouging out the cavities for the radio gear. Try sharpening an old flat blade screwdriver to a chisel tip. Wood carving tools or potato peelers work great too!

Flat table that you can cut against.

A can of 3-M 77 spray glue or something similar that will not melt the foam (if 77 is not available, you can assemble the Micro Sniper without it but the tape may not stick as well and is not recommended)

The Micro Sniper was designed as a simple to build, mini type plane for slope soaring. It handles very quick and flies in light to heavy wind with ballast.  With micro radio gear, should finish out to around 14oz with a standard battery pack. The first thing to keep in mind is that these are functional planes, not beauty contest winners. They are designed for fun. Part of that functionality is the way they are built. Servos can be simply pocketed in anywhere on the fuselage where it is most convenient or hidden inside the canopy for a cleaner look. The pushrods can be left hanging out or buried in the foam. Sometimes the simplest most direct methods are the easiest and best. I will outline how I build this plane. You are free to experiment and try other innovative ideas and if you come up with a good technique, let us know about it and we will post it on the web. Now, let’s get to work! 

NOTE: Before you begin remember that when covering wings, the basic taping convention for foam-and-tape planes is to always start at the back and work forward so that an overlapped tape edge is never into the wind. As much as possible - try to cover the fuse working from the bottom up. Also, the coroplast parts are die-cut and usually stick, so you may have to cut the parts free with a scissors or knife. Save the leftovers for ailerons and fuselage reinforcement.

Tail Group

I generally start with the tail group. Notice, that the tail sections are white, I usually leave them that way or spray paint them with Krylon paint in a color that is close. Start taping at the back and work forward just like we will with the wing. Look at fig 1, for a side view of the hinge line in the elevator. Find the approx. hinge line by slipping the elevator into the fin (or just hold it up to the fin and line the tab and slot up) and pick a rib that will allow the elevator to move up and down without binding on the pie shaped clearance hole in the fin. After finding the rib where you want the hinge, slice only the bottom surface of the coroplast. Trim the flashing off so the hinge will bend up and down without binding on itself. Make dashed cuts in the hinge, this makes the elevator bend easier. I use an Xacto knife and make 1/2" cuts every 1/4" or so. Bend the hinge up and down a few times to loosen it up.

The tail pieces are glued together with GOOP (E6000 is the industrial name). A small bead along each side of the fin will do. Block them so they will dry straight and perpendicular. Thick CA or 5min epoxy glue will work also but will not be as crash resistant. Silicone glue will work too but don't get it anywhere you will need to tape

Correct

Fuselage   First off, this is a very small plane. So you will need to think small! In order to fit all the radio gear, you will need a small receiver and micro servos. We recommend an FMA Fortress or Magnum micro receiver with S-80, 90, or 100 servos. Some Futaba and Hitec receivers are small enough also. I was able to shoehorn a standard receiver in just under the front deck from the canopy but it is very tight.

  First locate the fuselage doublers and cut them free from the plastic – save the leftover plastic.

WRONG!

Now we want to round out the fuse. Start the shaping process on the top edges of the fuse. Use course sandpaper for rough shaping and sand the sharp edges of the fuse from the tail group to the nose. As you sand, work towards a smooth transition from the tail through the canopy area to the nose. After the shape is roughed in, use fine (about 150 grit) sandpaper to smooth it out. Turn the fuselage over and radius the bottom edges. I do not recommend sanding a large radius into the bottom of the fuse, especially under the wing. Keeping the area under the wing a little squarer will insure a sturdy place to grasp for hand launching. Use fine sand paper and smooth the whole fuselage. This will help the tape stick.

Notice: I followed a slightly different procedure when I built this plane. I didn't cut the canopy off at the time I mention it in the instruction sheet but I do think it is easier if you follow the procedure as outlined. You can mix up the sequence a bit with very little chance of messing things up.

Dig a pocket out so the battery pack can be buried in the nose section. I use a 1-1/4 spade bit from the end but be very careful so you don’t cut your fingers. If you don’t want to try that, mark the outline of the battery on the top of the nose and gouge a pocket to lay the battery in from the top. Don’t worry about the hole because we will cover it up with scrap foam and tape over it when the plane is taped up. Another good battery is our 350mah micro pack because it is very small and easy to fit, but you will definitely have to add lead to the nose for balance, which is not a problem because the plane is very light anyway. After the battery is installed in the nose, you will need to route the battery wire through the front of the main fuse and into the canopy area.   Use a ½” drill bit and punch a hole from the front of the main fuselage (through the “V”) at an angle so that it comes out into the canopy area. This will allow the battery lead access to the receiver.

TIP: when trying to tape a curved fuselage surface with packing tape it will tend to bunch and pucker. Stick the tape along the flattest surface and slice the edge that is hanging over the curves about every ½", then starting at the back, working forward, smooth each little flap of tape over the curved edge. The little flaps will overlap each preceding flap and the curve will be much smoother. If you have a Monokote iron, use it to take out wrinkles and smooth compound curves. The iron will also help stick tape edges that seem to be stubborn about sticking. After the fuselage is taped up, use a razor blade to open the wing and tail slots and wrap the excess tape flaps into the slots.

Keep the tail pad smooth!

Again, I changed my procedure a bit and had the wing done first. Ignore that and read on for the details on the wing construction.....

It is time to glue the tail group in.

Installing the Tail

At this point you should have a fuselage that is completely taped up. Make sure the pad that the tail sets on is taped smooth and flat. The tail group should be dry and ready to install now. I use a coat of 77-spray glue on the part of the tail that slips into the fuselage. You have to work fast so have the slot in the fuse open and ready to receive the tail group. Then, quickly spray a wet coat of 77glue on the parts of the tail that fit into the fuse. Before the glue starts to set, slide the tail into the slot of the fuse. Make sure the fin is straight and true with the centerline of the fuse and squish the sides of the fuse onto the fin. If you are not careful, it is easy to give your plane a permanent right or left turn by bending the back of the fuse one way or the other. The goal here is to assemble the tail group and fuse while the glue is still wet to allow a little slippage so they can be aligned properly---good luck, work fast! Apply a strip of packing tape under the fuse to close up the tail slot, then run a small bead of Goop on either side of the elevator to stick and seal the tail to fuse joint. Block the fuse and tail so they will cure in good alignment.

You should now have a completed fuselage ready for radio gear and wing installation!

Spars  

If you intend to ballast the glider for heavy wind, you may want to install wooden spars. We use 12” bamboo shish kabob skewers from the grocery store. They are light and incredibly strong. You can catch a picture instruction set on our web if you go to the Tech/Instruction page and click on “Wing repair and installing spars”. Basically the procedure involves sanding a groove for the sticks and gluing them in before putting the strapping tape on. Use epoxy, Elmers wood glue, or Pro bond Urethane wood glue to bond them. We have found that spars that extend at least 11 inches from the wing center will support the wing even through the worst possible torture we have been able to dish out. You may kink the outer wing panel a bit but we have never been grounded because of a wing failure yet. You could also use full-length spars of balsa or spruce or carbon fiber. If you don’t want to go to the trouble of spars then read on and do it as follows….

You can gently round out the wing tip for a nice look....

Wing

Note: the wings now ship at about 47 inches. The Micro can be built and flown very well at 40 inches. If you use the long span, you will need balsa strip ailerons as the coroplast is a bit too flexible for that long a span. 1/8 x 7/8 strips should work. Cover the wood with tape and hinge as directed below.

The standard wing for the Micro is a straight wing that has a very thin and fast airfoil. The first thing to do is sand with fine paper and dust off the wing panels thoroughly. Stick the two panels together with 77-spray glue or 5 min Epoxy. If you want to change the wing tip shape, do that now and sand them smooth. After the panels are joined and the wing is dusted off thoroughly, coat the wing with 77-spray glue and let it dry. After it is dry, run four strips of strapping tape from tip to tip at the thickest part of the airfoil. Let the ends run about an inch long and wrap around the tip to the other surface. These are the “wing spars” and are the main strength of the wing. You should stretch them slightly as you stick them down. Notice that the wing will tend to bow after one side is taped, this is normal and if you stretch the other side the same amount the wing should flatten out. Note: the hot wire cutting process will tend to relieve stresses in the foam and some wings will have a bow in them. Don’t worry too much as you can stretch the tape to correct wings that bend up or down, just pull a little harder on the convex side. Building the wing on a flat table will help the wing straighten out also. After the spar strips are on, tape the center of the wing with colored 2” tape running from front to back. Start with one strip centered over the wing joint, then apply 5 more strips from the center out both directions and overlap each successive strip by half the width of the tape. Do the same top and bottom. 

Prepare the Ailerons

After applying the strapping tape to the wings and centers are taped, it is time to prepare the ailerons. The kit includes corrugated plastic stock for the ailerons that you will cut from extra material on the sheet with the doublers and tail sections. The ailerons should be cut about 5/8 inch wide. Trim the outboard ends of the ailerons to match the wing tip and the inboard should clear the fuse by about ¼”.

  Tip: when covering the ends of thin parts, trim one side off at the edge and wrap the other over it---just like when using iron-on covering.

I have tried several methods to attach the ailerons to the wing using the tape as the hinge and have settled on this one because it seems to give consistent results and is the easiest to do. First take the sanded and joined wing and, working with one wing side at a time, weight it down so the trailing edge stays flat on the table. Place the aileron along the back edge of the wing at the precise position you want it on the wing with a 1/8 inch gap between it and the trailing edge of the wing. Now snip three strips of packing tape about a quarter inch wide and about one inch long and stick one in the middle and one on each end of the wing panel across the 1/8 inch gap. These will help to hold the aileron gap precisely while the first strip of tape is stuck on. Now pull off a strip of packing tape the length of the aileron and lay over the aileron and wing, lining up the edge of the tape with the back edge of the aileron.

After you get the top hinge tape on the aileron and wing, pull the aileron up and fold back over the top of the wing and temporarily hold it flat to the wing with a small piece of masking tape. This will expose the sticky side of the tape along that 1/8^th inch gap between the wing and aileron. Now you will want to cover the bottom of the aileron with tape so pull off another piece of packing tape the length of the aileron stick it on - lining up the edge of the tape with the edge of the aileron. So now you will have the aileron folded back over the wing with a strip of tape stuck to the aileron with a lot of the tape left hanging off the back edge of the wing. I like to use my thumb and slide it back and forth over the back edge while sort of rolling my thumb over the edge a little bit more on each pass. This will crease the tape and roll it over the edge smoothly and evenly, lessening the chance of wrinkles. Roll the tape over the edge so it will stick to the sticky tape in the 1/8^th inch gap then use your thumb and roll the rest of the tape around the bottom edge onto the bottom of the wing. Take off the temporary masking tape and fold the aileron out flat. If you did this right, the hinge should be flat across the top surface and the bottom tape should go up to the top tape in the 1/8^th inch gap and stick solidly to it making an airtight and very strong hinge line. Finish the hinge off by flipping the wing over and sliding a blunt object, such as the back edge of a table knife, along the hinge line to make sure the top and bottom tape are firmly stuck together. Now attach the other aileron the same way and then you are ready to finish the wing.

Now lets tape the wing panels. I like to do the bottom first so the top will wrap over the bottom at the tips and front edges. Working with one wing panel at a time, lay on the packing tape starting on the opposite wing panel about 5 inches past the center and smooth the tape toward the wing tip of the wing panel you are taping using a slight stretch on the tape. Remember the tip above on smoothing the tape and remember our taping convention: always overlap the tape working from back to front!! Overlap each successive tape strip about ½ inch. Let the tape run long about 1 inch and wrap the end over to the opposite surface. When one side of the bottom is done, do the bottom of the other side and again start the end of the tape past the center about 5 inches onto the panel you just taped. This will in effect double the tape layer at the wing root out about 5 inches where it is subject to the most bending loads in hard turns. If you find that your wing suffers from fatigue at the fuselage after some hard flying or crashes, you can put several more layers of tape on the inboard portion of the wing on each side and it will help strengthen it. If you lay on more tape, stop the tape at the aileron hinge line because putting more layers of tape on the hinge will hamper the bending of the hinge and either overload the servo or keep the full length of the aileron from moving. Now turn the wing over and do the top of each wing panel and remember to run each tape strip past the center about 5 inches just like the bottom. Leave the tape about an inch long and wrap over the wing tips and front edge. See the tip below on how to cover curved wing tips. After covering the wing surfaces, I like to finish off the leading edge of the wing with a couple more strips of tape. Lay the tape along the leading edge so about half of it can be smoothed over the edge to the bottom surface. Again I use my thumb to rub back and forth along the edge with each pass forcing the tape a little farther around the edge until it sticks smoothly to the bottom of the wing.

Notice here that I ran the extra packing tape in the center of the wing along the length of the wing instead of front to back like the text says - doesn't really matter too much, it just helps give the center a little more strength.

Tip: when laying a long piece of packing tape down along a wing or other flat surface, stick one end and smooth it down evenly working from the stuck end toward the end you are holding. Slide your hand along the surface while holding the other end off the taped surface, keeping a little tension on it. This will minimize trapped air bubbles and wrinkles. If you get a little bubble, use a pin and poke the bubble in the center and push the air out.

Tip: when taping wing tips, let the tape hang over the end and cut slits in it. Then wrap each of the tabs around the curve and stick them down working from back to front. Use a Monokote iron to smooth them down if you have one.  

Tapered Wing  

(NOTE Tapered wing not available yet)

The tapered wing will come with two wing panels and a center section. First, prepare the wings for the ailerons. Tapered wings tend to get thin at the trailing edge towards the tip. Our aileron stock is 2 mil (about 1/16 inch thick) coroplast. So before you glue the wing halves together, you will need to trim and sand the trailing edge. Make it a constant thickness, root to tip, which will approximately match the coroplast supplied with your kit. Usually the root is at about the right thickness. If it is thicker than the aileron stock, sand it down a little first. Then use a straight edge and mark a line from the root to the tip so that when the wing is trimmed, the trailing edge is a constant thickness. In effect you will be making the wing a little more tapered by maybe ¼ to 3/8 inch at the tip of the trailing edge. This is OK; we have sized the wing to take the trimming into account. For the ailerons to work efficiently and smoothly, the trailing edge should match the thickness of the ailerons.

Now sand all surfaces with 150-grit sandpaper and round the wing tips a little if you want, don’t forget to sand the wing center section too. There is no dihedral angle, per-se cut into the center section but the fact that the wing is tapered will in effect establish a small dihedral in relation to a flat table so it is a good idea to check it just the same. Weight the center to the table and fit the wing halves to each side and check that the seams fit tight and the wing is the same distance from the table to the bottom of each wing at the tip, about 1/4inch”.   If there is a gap on one side or the other, gently sand the center section a little to make both panels measure the same from the table. If you want a dihedral, you could sand one in the center section at this time. If you get weary of trying to get them to fit perfectly – stuff the joint with 5 min. epoxy and let the glue fill the gaps, it won’t matter. The two main things to be concerned about here are that the wing is the same distance from the table on each wing panel and that both wing panels are exactly the same angle in relation to each other. In other words, if one wing panel is glued onto the center section so that it is twisted relative to the other panel, you will have a plane that will want to do axial rolls continually. That’s not fun!  

Now, when you are certain all the angles are correct, take the wing halves and use 5-min epoxy, and stick the two halves to the center section. After they set, spray a light coat of #77 over the whole wing, top and bottom. Let it dry off thoroughly.  Now the taping begins. You can follow the directions for the straight wing because they will tape the same way with a couple of exceptions; one, you will have two joints in the center instead of one and two, you will be dealing with dihedral. When taping the bottom of a tapered wing with dihedral, it is easier to hang one wing panel over the edge of a table and work on the panel that is flat on the table. On the top, work on one panel at a time and hold it flat to the table. Start with strapping tape spars (or wood spars if you want), then attach the ailerons, and finally tape the wing up. Tapered wings will tape out at an angle at the leading edge. Don’t sweat it, just trim off the excess and finish the leading edge with several strips of tape along the edge after the top and bottom are taped up.

Installing the wing

You should have a covered fuselage and a finished wing, either straight or tapered. Slip the wing into the fuselage, center it and make sure it is square with the fuselage. Run a bead of GOOP along the wing to fuse joint and let it set. GOOP tends to sag so make a small bead.

Radio gear

The control throws should be set to 1/4inch up or down on the ailerons and 1/4inch up or down on the elevator to start and since this is a slope machine, you may want to increase that depending on your flying ability, wind speed, and the maneuverability you desire.

The first step is to hook your servos to the receiver and center them with the controls in neutral and the trim levers in the center of their slides. You may have to do this periodically because they always get bumped during the installation. After centering everything, lay the radio gear out on the plane and use masking to hold it in position to find the placement to get the best balance. The CG is at about 2-1/4 inches from the leading edge of the wing. In our plane the aileron servo was at 5 -3/8 inches from the aileron hinge line to the center post of the servo. And the elevator hinge line was about 16 -1/2 inches from the center post of the elevator servo. This is about where my servos went but yours may need to be in a different spot for size and balance reasons – that’s OK. The only real important thing is never cut a servo in right over the spar area where the strapping tape is because this can weaken the wing. The receiver is cut in under the front deck of the nose with access from the canopy and the switch is installed right behind it. With a 350mah battery in the nose, I had to add an ounce of lead to balance the craft but that’s fine because it is too light anyway.

control horns. You may need to enlarge the slots a bit if you don’t hit it right the first time, but after the pushrod wires are installed and working smoothly, simply cover the hole with a small strip of packing tape leaving a small slit for the wire to work. We use Z bends to connect the servos and horns with a kink in the wire for length adjustment. Tight Z bends are hard to do unless you use the method outlined in our web. So study that carefully and you will be able to make great Z bends every time. The easy way is to purchase some of our optional “pushrod connectors”. Then you only make a Z bend in the end that goes to the servo and the connectors allow easy adjustment to the aileron with a set screw. Just be sure to lock the set screw down!

The elevator servo is next. I put this one directly in line and behind the aileron servo towards the back of the canopy area. With the micro servos, it seems to work well to cut the pocket in so that the bottom of the servo rests on the surface of the wing below it. Sand clearance into the foam for the servo arm to swing and smooth a place out for the servo to set in neatly. This will allow the pushrod to exit the fuselage at about the right height for the elevator control horn. Install the elevator control horn now and bend up the pushrod for it. You will need to guess where the rod will exit the fuse to the horn but you can kind of eye-ball it with a straight edge held along the side of the fuse in line with the servo arm and control horn. Use a long piece of 1/8 inch or larger diameter piano wire or long nail to poke a hole for the pushrod to go through. If you don’t hit the first time make a larger hole – you can always tape it up with just a slot for the wire. Make the Z bends and put a little kink in the wire for adjustment. Note: This plane used our optional push rod connectors. We have those available on the web or phone order.

The balance point for this plane is at 2 - 1/4” from the leading edge for the straight wing. If you built the tapered wing version, The balance point should be about the same, maybe a bit forward. Double check the servo arm movement for unobstructed motion and glue the servos in with silicon glue. Tip: put a layer of masking tape on the servo body and it will help to clean the silicone off the servo in the future. Coat the edge of the servo pockets with a dab of silicone and slide the servo in tight. Silicone seal will stick the servos securely but still allow removal.

You should be ready to finish hooking up the receiver. Route the wires so they do not interfere with servo arm movement and put a piece of tape over them to hold in place. If needed you can tape the receiver down also.

Now, hold the canopy over the servos, mark and sand it out to clear the receiver, servos, and pushrods or anything else that needs to clear the under side. Then cover the canopy top with tape. It will want to wrinkle if you sanded it round but use the tip above for covering rounded shapes to get a smooth covering. I like to paint the canopy silver for contrast and a neat look. In fact you can paint the whole plane, just sand the tape surface with super fine sandpaper (220 grit) to help the tape stick. I use Krylon and it seems to stick OK. It may chip off a bit, but it is easy to touch up. After the canopy is done, you can use 1/4inch wide automotive pinstripe tape to seal the seam between the fuse and canopy with the added benefit of sticking the canopy on rather nicely. You could glue it on or use some other tricky method. If everything works correctly, you shouldn’t have to get into the cockpit until some sort of maintenance.

Well that’s about it. This plane flies very nice and with ballast will handle fairly quick wind.

Notice the wide range of receivers I was able to fit into this plane. The one in the fuse is a standard Futaba - it's tight but it works!

To close the canopy, slide the canopy rearward and engage the front wire into the front hard point. let the canopy go and the rubber band pulls the canopy forward and down.

This would be a good way to attach canopies on most all of our foamies.

Thanks Cody for the great idea!