Ken, I will upload the scans with a ruler.
I had some free time to work on my Crusader today and she is ready for paint. The first thing I had to do was free the parts from the die cut balsa sheets and do my best to sand to shape. The plans then have you apply sanding sealer so I used 3 coats of Brodak balsa sealer. The 1/8 play that is inserted into the wing is a tad thicker than the 1/8 balsa requiring sanding. The plans are pretty good with the measurements and everything fits nice and loose. I am finishing applying all the fillets with white glue and I am waiting on my Krylon Acryli Quick to arrive. The plans call for light gray so I am going with Pewter Gray since that is the lightest gray. I was going to use Gloss white but I think the light gray will look better, that is what people use for the Enterprise and model jet liners. I am not going to use any primer to keep the weight down, just shoot the top coat and apply the decals. The weight of the glider is 1.5oz ready for paint. All and all a fun challenging build especially without laser cutting.
I finished my Estes Crusader, just had to wait for the Krylon Acryli Quick Pewter Gray to arrive. This was a fun build and cannot wait to fly her, I think the glider will do well. I kept the weight down by using 3 coats of Brodak sealer for grain free balsa, no fillers, no primer just shot light coats of Pewter gray. The balsa wood was pretty heavy making for a tail heavy glider. I did not glue the nose in until she was all painted and balanced out and some nose clay was needed. The test glide is pretty nice after she was balanced. The decals were old but no major issues, now onto the next build. Sorry about the pictures, I do not have my normal camera.
I have my nice camera and was able to get some close up pictures showing how well the Brodak Balsa sealer does at sealing the balsa with no primer or fillers. Also test glided the glider and she did very well. The final weight of the glider with clay added is under 2oz. I built the newer version of the Scissor Wing Transport a few years ago and now I am thinking maybe I will build the all wood version next.
I have one of these that I built in the late 80s that I still launch occasionally and I have found that the fin on the internal pod tends to hit the ground first and break off at the joint where it is glued to the BT-20 tube. I finally reinforced mine with some extra balsa but I haven’t launched it yet to try it out. A larger streamer or a small parachute might help as well.