GoFly Paper Gliders Instruction Manual Introduction: Thank you for your purchase of a GoFly Glider Kit! We hope you enjoy building and flying your gliders, and we are confident the quality of the glider and its flight performance will satisfy the most demanding paper flight enthusiasts. About the Kit: The GoFly glider kits are laminated paper construction, high performance gliders designed to fly well from hand launch or with a catapult. After cutting to shape and assembling each glider per these instructions, the gliders should have no trouble being tuned to fly straight and true. Each GoFly glider pays homage to an airplane that is historical, meaningful, or just plane fun. They are engineered to be balanced and ready for flight as soon as the glue is dry. About these instructions: These instructions are written to help you get the most from your glider building experience. Please read them! Within you will find tips and tricks on using glue, tuning your completed glider for flight, as well as detailed assembly instructions. These instructions show the use of both a glue stick and white Elmer s paper glue. The author recommends using the glue stick for large pieces (such as laminating the fuselage and wings), and using Elmers for structural joints such as attaching the wings to the fuselage. White glue is prone to warping large surfaces. Each glue is noted where used. Note: shown is the Nate Saint Piper PA-14 kit. With small changes/omissions, all of the GoFly gliders will follow a similar assembly sequence. Tools and materials required: These kits do not require fancy tools or hard to find glue. You will need: Glue(s) - Inceptus recommends a craft-quality glue stick and simple white glue. See Tips and Tricks - Glue Notes for more info. Scissors Razor or X-acto knife. Two big books (optional) A US dime or paperclip (depending on the model) Assembly time: approx 1.5 hours, less for competent crafters. Page 1 of 11
General assembly instructions All of the GoFly glider kits are designed to be assembled in much the same manner. In a general sense, the following instructions will apply to all the GoFly glider line. For aircraft without wing struts or wheels/landing gear, simply omit those steps. 1. Cut out rough shapes around each piece. This allows easier precision cutting than if each piece was precision cut from the whole sheet. 2. Precision-cut each piece, following the solid lines. a. For aircraft with wing struts, a razor blade works well to cut the wing strut recess in the fuselage pieces. b. Don t cut out the weight chamber (sized for a dime or paperclip) yet. 3. Assemble the wing strut laminations (if a y strut) OR - Glue and fold the wing struts (if a straight strut). 4. Assemble the first few layers of the fuselage (each piece weight chamber in it) using the glue stick. a. Each piece of the airplane has a number. Except for wing parts, even numbered parts assemble to the RIGHT of the center (#1) piece. Odd parts assemble to the left of the #1 piece. b. All of the GoFly kits are labeled in similar manner. 5. Now cut out the weight chamber. You will likely need to cut from each side of the fuselage to cut the shape free. 6. Glue the wing struts into their recesses. 7. Put on one side of the outer fuselage skin. 8. Load the dime or paperclip. 9. Capture the weight with the final fuselage skin. 10. Clamp the fuselage between two large books and set aside. 11. Assemble the wing pieces. 12. Clamp the wing into two large books and set aside. You may use the same two books as the fuselage, there will be more than enough room. 13. After 10 minutes of clamp time or so, pull the fuselage from the book and fold the wing flanges, struts, landing gear, and horizontal stabilizer flanges using a ruler or credit card. 14. Attach the wheels and horizontal stabilizer (this can be done at any time after folding). 15. Attach the wing (this can be done at any time after folding). 16. Glue the struts to the bottom of the wings, using the location marks as a guide. It is more important to have a wing that is well aligned and straight to the fuselage than to have the struts line up perfectly with the guide marks. 17. Let the whole aircraft cure for an hour at room temperature before attempting flight. This should prevent separation of the glued parts. Page 2 of 11
Detailed Illustrated Instructions 1. First, rough-cut the outlined shapes out of the sheets of cardstock. a. Precision is not important - you are simply doing a rough cut to free each piece from its neighbors - this will permit much easier cutout. 2. Your pile of parts should look like the picture to the right when done. 3. Now carefully cut out the parts, following the solid line perimeter of each piece. Page 3 of 11
(For aircraft with one-piece horizontal stabilizers ONLY) 4. The horizontal stabilizer pieces require special attention. 5. Cut each side of the thin slit in the middle of each piece. DO NOT cut all the way to the other side of the pieces! 6. Once each side of the slit is cut, simply bend the little sliver up and tear it out by hand. 7. Aircraft with 2-piece struts: Assemble the wing struts using the glue stick or white glue and set aside to dry. 8. Aircraft with one-piece spars: Crease the wing spars with a suitable tool - a Sharpie marker actually makes a great creasing utensil. 9. Apply a little bead of White Glue onto one side of the spar. 10. RE-CREASE the spar closed, making sure to apply sufficient pressure to make the piece stick to itself permanently. This will likely require more than one pass with the tool. Page 4 of 11
11. Finish cutting the tighter details. A box knife or scalpel can make it easier to cut the blind ends of the cut pieces, such as the strut pockets as shown. 12. Apply glue stick to each fuselage piece, working your way out one at a time from the middle piece (#1). STOP at the pieces with the strut recess do not glue on the layers outside of these pieces. a. Avoid applying glue to the wing and horizontal stabilizer flanges. You don t want to glue those to the fuselage! 13. Cut out the weight chamber from the partially completed fuselage. a. The dime weight chamber is shown. Page 5 of 11
b. You will need to cut several times from the top, then flip the piece over and cut from the back. c. Pop out the weight chamber plug piece. 14. Glue in the struts in the recesses provided using white glue. 15. Glue on ONE of the final fuselage pieces. 16. Drop the weight in place. a. The dime weight is shown. Page 6 of 11
17. Assemble the final fuselage skin to the fuselage using the glue stick, trapping the weight inside. 18. Assemble the wing and tail laminations with the glue stick (if any). 19. Clamp the laminations in between two large books. 20. Using a reasonably crisp straight edge (metal ruler, protractor, drafting square), pre-crease each fold on the pieces. 21. All bends marked with dashed lines fold TOWARDS you. 22. All bends marked with dotted lines fold AWAY from you. 23. The wing and horizontal stabilizer flanges will require particular attention. Use your straight edge to push behind the flange and then fold it down. Page 7 of 11
24. Attach the wheels using white glue. 25. Attach the horizontal stabilizer using white glue. a. Your aircraft may have two sides or one large piece. 26. Use the dihedral gauge included in the kit to set the dihedral (how much the wing bends in the middle) of the wing. 27. Glue on the wing using white glue. a. It s very important the wing be glued on straight the line in the middle of the wing should be closely aligned with the long axis of the fuselage. Page 8 of 11
28. Glue the struts (if any) to the wing so that the dihedral of the wing is maintained, and so that the wing is not leaning to one side relative to the fuselage when viewed from the front. Use white glue. a. If you ve centered the wing carefully, the struts should glue in the same position (mirrored, of course) on each side of the wing. 29. Set your airplane somewhere safe for it to cure. Don t worry if the landing gear, wings, and tail warp a little during the drying process. a. Once the airplane has cured, straightening it will be much more effective. Until the glue cures, any straightening you do will likely be lost. 30. Your airplane is ready for flying after the glue has fully cured. It is best to wait at least 2 hours at room temperature. 31. Test fly your airplane over soft, dry surfaces at first - asphalt or rough concrete is very hard on paper airplanes! Carpet, hardwood, or smooth polished concrete are acceptable surfaces. Dry grass is the best. Page 9 of 11
Tips, Tricks, and Notes: Don t assemble the wings and fuselage to each other until the glue in each subassembly has had a chance to dry. Glues and Gluing: Not all glues are created equal. Inceptus recommends a quality craft glue stick and Elmer s White Glue. Scotch and Elmers both make a glue stick that applies purple, then dries clear. This makes it very easy to visually see where to add glue for a consistent bond. The school-grade glue sticks work OK, but you must pay extra special attention to make sure you get an even coat over the entire piece. Use the glue stick for flat lamination (fuselage pieces, wings and horizontal stabilizer) and white glue for joints (gluing the wing to the fuselage, wheels to the landing gear etc.) If any of the pieces delaminate a little after assembly, put a bead of White Glue on the gap, then work the glue into the gap with a scrap of paper, then press together firmly. Glues of any type react very favorably to firm pressure to help them set. Use a round dowel-like object (Body of a Sharpie marker, some pen caps) and draw it along the piece while pressing down. This will focus your pressure progressively along the piece being glued, which will dramatically improve the initial set. This is the only way to get the wing struts to glue reliably. For the mounting of the wings and horizontal stabilizer to the fuselage in particular, use your fingertips to clamp tightly on a section of the joint for a couple of seconds, moving on to pinch the rest of the joint a finger-pinch at a time. This will help ensure a sturdy joint. Don t sweat minor warps and twists to the model while the glue is drying. Wait until the glue has fully cured, then work your way around the surfaces straightening and tweaking as you go. While the design will absorb significant cutting error, for maximum performance of the flying model take care to make sure the centerline of the wing is well aligned with the fuselage and is level - one wingtip is not significantly higher than another when viewed from the front, with the fuselage straight up and down. For aircraft using a paperclip weight, the fuselage will pooch out a little bit around the paperclip when using a plastic-coated paperclip. This will not affect the flight performance of the finished aircraft. Uncoated paperclips will not noticeably deform the fuselage. You need not cut out the tiniest details near the folds - those are reliefs cut for your convenience, allowing a slight overcut without affecting the function and strength of your airplane. Page 10 of 11
General flight tips: Prior to the first flight, look at your finished and cured airplane straight on. You should see just the edges of the wings and tail. If surfaces are twisted, you will see the top/bottom or either side - this will cause the aircraft to fly in an undesirable manner. Get it as straight as you can before you start throwing it. These replica aircraft are particularly sensitive to a warped fuselage. If the aircraft stubbornly refuses to fly straight, start by bending the fuselage opposite the direction of turn i.e., if it wants to turn right, bend the fuselage (behind the wing) to the left. Indoors is not a great place to fly your GoFly gliders - they fly fast enough to hurt themselves, especially during initial testing flights. An ideal test flight area is a large, dry, grassy lawn or field. Gusty and very windy conditions are obviously not ideal. Practice flying the MAF indoor airplane also available FREE at www.inceptusdesign.com/maf_indoor_pp.pdf, getting a feel for tuning the airplane for straight flight. Once you can fold and fly that airplane confidently, you will be better prepared to tune and fly your GoFly gliders. All airplanes seem to fly best when thrown from a certain grip. Your GoFly glider seems to behave best when grasped between thumb and fingers on the fuselage, just behind the wing, and thrown with more of a push than a toss. A simple catapult can be built using a mailing rubber band (very large diameter with a thin profile) and a stout pencil. When launching the aircraft with a catapult, take care that the aircraft flies well without it first! Hook the rubber band behind the front wheel or hook (depending on the model), grasping the aircraft at the tail with the thumb and forefinger of the opposite hand. Aim the aircraft into the wind with a slight bank away from you and a slight incline up into the air. Pull, and RELEASE! For builder help, please feel free to contact Jeff Fouche at jeff.f@inceptusdesign.com. These instructions are at http://inceptusdesign.com/gofly Instructions.pdf Rev Description Date A Initial Release 12/13/12 B Update for new changes to airplane, graphics 1/2/13 C D Numerous updates for better glue, remove black backgrounds for reduced printer ink consumption Plethora of updates for additional construction options, new graphics, better formatting. 1/10/13 3/9/13 Page 11 of 11