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Now we move on to the side tunnels, or chines. Each comes in four pieces, excluding connectors. The two keys here are scoring in the right places and pre-shaping the pieces into the rounded V cross-section. As with the fuselage, we will NOT be cutting out the slots for the wings or horizontal stabilizers.
We’ll begin by laminating the end pieces, Parts 13 and 22, to cardboard. Once that is done, I use the point of a compass to make a hole in each one where we will later be inserting the jettison tubes. Once it is dry, we’ll cut off the tabs. We’ll score the lines on pieces 14 and 23, and on parts 16 and 25, we’ll score the fold lines up to the first cut, just forward of the wing slots — which, again, we won’t be cutting out. Once all the tunnel pieces are assembled and the end pieces attached, we’ll be using a knitting needle or small brass tube to form a bend to make the rounded V shape.
I then cut thin strips of cereal box cardboard and glue them to the inside of the tunnels, about 3mm from the edge. These will provide some rigidity.
Once the tunnels are formed we’ll glue them to the fuselage. Since the national insignias have to line up, that’s where we’ll start the gluing. I usually glue the top of one tunnel, then glue the top of the other tunnel. By the time I’ve done this, the bottom of the first tunnel is ready to be glued. Then I glue the other bottom.
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