Leader (oz14426)

About this Plan

Leader. Radio control aerobatic model. Wingspan 1.5m for 35 - 46 engines.

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Quote: "Some notes on the foam wing: The full wingspan is 1500 mm. Half span is 750 mm. At the wing tip there is a 20 mm block of balsa therefore half foam wing span is 730 mm. The root profile is on the plan (251 mm). The tip profile is about 84% of the wingroot profile (211 mm).
If you place the wingtip profile on the same center line and center of gravity of wingroot profile, you'll get a half wing tapered at the leading edge, the trailing edge, top and bottom exactly like the original wing.
Dihedral is on the plan.
Good job!"

Update 9/3/2023: Added kit instructions, thanks to Pit.

Quote (google-translated from the Italian): "Assembly instructions for the Leader Plane. Since there are two versions of this kit, we give below the instructions for assembling the box of the completely disassembled aircraft, sending back those who bought the box with the fuselage already assembled and the wings finished to those few final notions contained in these instructions.

First of all, check the correspondence to the drawing of the pre-worked pieces, if any imperfections are found, correct them with a sandpaper pad to bring the particular section within the limits of the drawing.

Assembly: Fuselage: Spread the two sides n. 7 and glued on them with cellulose or vinyl glues the pieces n. 8-9-10-11-12-13. Glued the frames n. 2-3-6 taking care of their perpendicularity to the same. At this point, glue the remaining side to the block thus obtained, taking care of its alignment with the other and inserting piece no. 18 and holding everything in place with clamps, pins and clothespins.

Now using a line drawn on the work plane and indicating the midline of the model, rest the fuselage on the plane itself in line with the drawn line. Hold it in position with weights and straight with square cells, close and glue the fuselage in the tail part and keep it blocked with clips. Check that during drying the plotted midline corresponds to the midline of the model.

When the glue is dry, prepare piece no. 14 with the break relative to the used engine and glue it to pieces no. 13. Also glue block n. 15, piece no. 16, funds no. 21-22-23-24-31, spines no. 20-25, the inner piece of trolley no. 17 and piece no. 19.

At this point, round off the fuselage and bring it to the sections indicated in the drawing. Remember that the time spent on rounding and smoothing will allow you to have a lighter fuselage and better aesthetics. The piece n.26 that the hardwood support is to be glued in the fuselage with the undercarriage leg, as it would prevent perfect smoothing of the same, will be glued back to the undercarriage leg at the end of the work.

Wings: Glue the pieces n. 36-37-39. On the central sections of piece no. 38 (which you will detach from the ailerons} make the opening for the passage of the tubes for the movement of the same and remove a part of it in the center to allow our particular joints to be mounted and glue them to the wings together with the tubes (see details in plan) .

At this point, sand the wings according to the profile indicated on the side of the fuselage, glue the half-wings together according to the dieiro indicated using epoxy glues, bandage the central part with the glass tees contained in the 3rd box and glue it with glues epoxies.

Sand everything, apply the reinforcement n. 40, make a hole to insert pawl no. 11. Fit the wing in its housing on the fuselage, check its aseect and perpendicularity to it, above all check that pawl n. 41 does not strain in its housing or force the wing on its seat in the fuselage.

With a 2mm tip, make the holes for the passage of the screws for 1 fixing the wing by drilling at the same time the pieces n. 40-19-18. Enlarge the holes in the wing up to bring them to the diameter of the screws and block the wing on the fuselage by gluing piece n. 41 at the same time. Be careful that it does not glue itself to frame n. 3 by interposing a sheet of transparent plastic..."

Update 9/3/2023: Added kit review from RCM&E, April 1982, thank to RFJ.

Quote: "Review: Merati Models Leader, by Bill Burkinshaw.

IT COMES AS QUITE a surprise to open a kit box and find a quick build kit that doesn't incorporate a fibre glass fuselage, but has the equivalent in balsa and ply. The Merati 'Leader' is a .25 - .40 size shoulder wing sports aerobatic model for four function R/C featuring a degree of prefabrication which would be unheard of in high labour cost countries such as our own.

Assembly: Once over the surprise of a ready-built balsa fuselage, further examination reveals other interesting features, first of which is the engine mount - a hefty plywood plate which slots into an accurately milled slot in the fuselage nose, neatly trapping the formed undercarriage noseleg in place with a hardwood block. Once this engine mount is fitted and a few additional reinforcements glued in place, the nose section is complete.

A plywood wing mounting plate must next be drilled for the wing retainer screws, the wings are held in place by the traditional dowel at the front. In this instance, large sheet metal screws go into the ply plate at the rear. I would have preferred captive nuts and bolts, but this is only a minor niggle.

Most of the shaping of the sheet-balsa tailplane had been done, so only a few minutes' work was necessary before this was ready to glue into place, followed quickly by the fin parts.

Main undercarriage is of the torque reaction type, with hardwood (beech) blocks already installed in the fuselage only needing holes drilling for the vertical portions.

With the fuselage three parts complete, the wings were clamouring for attention and deserving it too! Foam cores with what appears to be a Poplar veneer skin forms the basis of the wing, but with balsa tip blocks fitted and shaped, trailing edges and ailerons fitted and shaped, and the whole fine-sanded ready for joining. Two razor saw cuts released the ailerons, which needed only a minor amount of finishing before hinging. Aileron operating torque rods are fitted into tubes already installed, and in fact about the only thing that needed to be done to the wing halves before joining was a cut-out for the aileron servo.

Wings are joined using epoxy then the joint reinforced with either epoxy or polyester and the glass bandage provided. Back to the fuselage and with the wing fitted into place, the long vac-formed cockpit and fairing could be trimmed and fitted into place, the rear half remaining on the wing, the front fitted to the fuselage.

Finishing: The former part of the 'carve and sand to shape' instruction was not necessary with the 'Leader,' some form of spindle moulding had been carried out on all areas needing shaping and rubbing over with two grades of glass paper produced the basis for a good finish. Wings were covered with heatshrink film and the fuselage covered with Modelspan tissue then spray painted and fuel proofed..."

Supplementary file notes

Instructions.
Review.

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