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The components are finished and ready for assembly. I have verified that both rolls of yellow Ultracote were labeled "Cub Yellow", but they are definitely different shades of yellow. I covered the tail feathers, floats, and engine pod and pylon in the darker shade and the fuse and wing top in the lighter one. What the heck...it's slightly noticable, but, still, it's an interesting contrast
After I finally received my crystal in the mail, I completed the final assembly. Here are photos of the final steps and a few photos of the small details.
Here’s the fuselage again with the front hatch and the tail feathers temporarily fitted in place.
And here is a top and bottom view of the wing.
I installed a switch/charge jack mounting set (from Great Planes) in the left side below the wing. It's about 1 1/2" long. I printed a reminder of the polarity of the charge port and taped it above the port. I like the pull/push on/off switch and the charge port which has a cover that hopefully will keep out the water.
I was told of a method of making “gaskets” to help keep out water, so I tried it on the hatch. First, protect the area with vinyl tape. I used electrical tape for this. Then put a small bead of flexible caulk where the hatch sits. Wait for the caulk to start to get tacky, cover with saran wrap and press the hatch in place. This will flatten the bead of caulk which will hopefully seal out water. I secured the hatch with the screws and left the hatch in place for several hours, then removed it and peeled away the saran wrap and tape. Voila, a flexible gasket seal. On the left is the opening masked with tape and the bead of clear caulk applied (before drying, it is white). On the right is the hatch in place for the caulk to “set”.
To seal around the tail feathers, I used the clear caulk again, running a bead completely around the bottom edge of the vertical stabilizer and in front and under the horizontal stabilizer. In the photo, it appears white, but turns clear when dry and is unnoticeable.
I was concerned that the 8”-9” length of goldenrod to the tail feathers might bend under pressure, so I made supports from balsa and rod tubing to help keep them straight. There is one support on each side of the fuse. This is the underside view of the rudder pushrod support.
This is the topside view of the rudder pushrod support.
Once I connected and tested the servos, I found that my throttle servo worked in reverse of the other planes and I didn’t want to have to open the TX and reverse the throw every time I flew the seaplane. As I didn't have the height beneath the hatch to turn the arm up, I rotated the linkage on the carb 180 degrees and bent the linkage wire to connect it.
Here you can better see the linkage from the servo to the throttle. Unlike control surfaces, the throttle doesn't put any pressure on the pushrod, so I’m not worried about the linkage wire "unbending".
My pencil soldering iron was just the right diameter to burn a hole at an angle through the top of the fuse just behind the wing to install a piece of pushrod tubing for the antenna to run through to exit the plane. I connected the end of the antenna wire to the top of the vertical stabilizer and put a dab of the caulking in the end of the tube to keep out water. This photo also shows the foam gasket I installed under the wing to help keep out water.
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