J-3 Cub Rudder
Spline
I was making the cardboard template this morning to bend the three 1/32" X 3/32" balsa tail pieces around when I realized that these were not 1/8" thick. Mike Midkiff said to make the tail structural members out of 1/16" X 1/8" and stand them on edge with 1/8" dimension in the vertical. I do have a good balsa stripper shown below so I stripped out three new pieces of 1/24" X 1/8" balsa to make the new 1/8" square splines with so they will match the 1/16" X 1/8" structural members.
I traced a paper pattern off the plan
and used it to make the card board template shown below.
This shows the check of the card board
template with the rudder plan. Wax was rubbed around the edges of the card
board template to keep the balsa spline from sticking to it.
After soaking the three 1/24" X 1/8"
balsa strips in hot water for about hour, I put Titebond between the three
strips and formed the spline around the card board form, pinning balsa
pieces against the spline to hold its shape while it dries
overnight..................Tandy
