"Raiden Gloster Gladiator" Topic

A friend gave me 4 planes to assemble for him. They come with a piece of wire for the struts. Does anyone know the length they should be. I don't want to cut it wrong and come up short. Trying to hold the wing in position and get a measurement is tough,

IIRC the outboard (wing tip)struts are 8 mm, the inboard (from the fuselage) are 2 mm.

The wire cuts easily with an x-acto knife, but before you cut tape the wire (lengthwise) to the cutting board with Scotch tape. This way when you make the cuts you don't have to go searching for a tiny piece of wire that shot across the room. Sadly, yes, this is the voice of experience speaking.

I found it easier to glue the inboard struts to the fuselage, the outboard struts to the upper wing, then glue the upper wing assembly to the lower wing and fuselage. Before that sets press down and forward very gently on the upper wing so that the outboard struts have the proper forward cant.

Hope this helps, good luck!

Thanks for the information.

I-94 has a new version that no longer requires cutting wire. I assembled a bunch of the older ones and they are truly a pain. The new ones assemble much easier.

I always replace the thin wires with pieces of paperclip. Its stronger and looks better.

Fatman

Thankyew highlandcatfrog, Fatman. I have a couple of the boogers to build, and your advice sounds useful.

I second the paperclip suggestion. I use paperclips for all my WWII biplanes struts.

Phil

highlandcatfrog & DOUGKL:

I remember them to be 6mm and 2.5mm, not 8mm & 2mm. The 2.5 is especially clear, as I first cut them only 2mm long, MUCH to my regret. I looked for the remaining Glds in my pewter pile to check, but could not find them.

—Rolando