Pepsi Chipmunk

[AVC]

I know that this is more a winter job, and that with this weather I should be down the strip flying as much as I can, but to be honest, the weekend was too hot, even for a Spaniard, so I decided to spend Saturday trying to bring my Pepsi to decent conditions.

And why I'm sharing this? Basically, to encourage me to finish the job before the winter comes again!

A bit of history. The model is an Apache aviation which I bought some 8 years ago, when Apache was still around. The kit is very straightforward, just a bit over-engineered in some areas but it comes together very nicely.

Funny enough, I bought it in UK when I lived in Spain, so it was shipped there. I built it there but I only flew it twice before moving to UK, so I brought it back to his homeland, as a proper model and not just a bunch of wood.

The second flight ended up in a dead stick. I wasn't familiar with the plane, in particular how well she glides, so I ended up floating the whole runway, crossing a road and landing on a field at the other side of the road. From where I was, I couldn't see the field as it was lower than the road, so it was really a blind landing. The result was:

- two holes in the underneath of the wing, where the landing gear bent and the fairing went into the wing.

- hit in the leading edge hit (young tree which refused to move)

- elevator tip broken

So, all in all, not bad at all, considering that I landed by telepathic communication (not even "by ear"...), but soon later I needed to start packing to move to UK, and since I moved here, I've never got around to repair it, even if it was tiny things.

As for the engine, I replaced it, but the one it has now (MVVS 26 v2) has only been tested on the ground, some six years ago, and it was second hand by then, so probably it will need some work also. Just in case, I've bought a Walbro WT repair kit from Just Engines.

Anyway, here's a pic of the model, I will post the work done this weekend, should anybody found it somehow interesting or useful. Of course, advices are most welcome

[AVC]

First thing first. The easies job was the elevator tip, so I tackled it straightaway. The good news is that it was a "clean fracture" and I didn't miss any of the little bits of wood, so it was as simple as to expoy the broker tip in place

 

Next will be to replace the missing covering, and to re-stretch the rest of covering; after sic years in the garage, it looks a bit tatty, but I hope that some ironing will amend it.

And on the subject of covering, I used Monokote at the time, but I can't find it in UK, and I wouldn't like to re-do the whole covering, or ordering again in US (GBP-USD fx + Customs = expensive!), so if anybody knows where could I buy monokote on this side of the pond, I'd appreciate

Edited By AVC on 02/07/2018 16:12:48

[AVC]

The next bit was the one in the leading edge. I don't have any pic of the "before" but it was basically like a diagonal wide cut, so what I did was to protect the surrounding with cello tape, and to remove all damaged wood

Next, I filled up the hole with a piece of balsa of similar density, and glued it with Gorilla wood glue

Finally, a bit of sanding, and it's ready for covering (same issue with Monokote as above...)

[AVC]

Finally, I repaired the two holes on the wing's covering, caused by the landing gear fairings. As before, I removed the damaged wood, and tried to make a rectangle as "rectangle" as possible

Then, I cut a rectangle of wood as similar as possible to the one in the wing, from a sheet of same size as the wing covering, and added some support rails to the wing to glue this piece on. I added different supports for each wing, as the size of the whole was slightly different and it made more sense.

And finally, glued the rectangles of covering to the support rails

A bit of sanding, and ready for covering

[AVC]

As an aside job, my little one had been all day asking me to build a Sopwith Camel as the one that he had in his book of WWI planes, so I used some scrap balsa and the time between glue curing and next steps, to do something that remotely looks like a Camel...

I must admit that the propeller, which is the best part of the plane, is my son's job

[AVC]

Next step now is to have a look to the engine, and for this I will for sure need some help, so I will be asking questions soon!

[J D 8]

A fellow club member has one of these,been his every week hack for many a year. Great flyer,had a whoopsy or two but still going strong.

[Rich too]

Nice I love this plane and scheme.

[AVC]

Thanks Rich, It is a nice plane indeed. I remember I saw it first time some 17-18 years ago, in a review of the Ohio RC kit, imported in UK by Apache aviation, which later because the manufacturer when Ohio went out of business.

This weekend I'll tackle the engine, and see if I can get it ready for Sunday (even without monokote...)

[Tim Flyer]

I’m another admirer of the Pepsi Chipmunk. It’s on my list for a future build. I saw the kit on SLEC website and it looks like very nice scale club flyer. You are doing a great job fixing it too AVC and well done on the Camel!

Edited By Tim Harris 1 on 03/07/2018 09:09:40

[AVC]

Haha thanks Tim.

The Super Chipmunk is a great kit, I really encourage you to build it, and if you decide to do it, I have a lot of photos of my building, should they help. The kit sold by Slec is the same (a bit more expensive than when it was Apache, though...). In their website there is a mistake, by the way: the wingspan is not 73 inches, it's actually 79 (or 2 meters)

I'm planning to build the Art Scholl version, using the plans of the Pepsi and modifying the rudder/fin.

Edited By AVC on 03/07/2018 10:54:31