Jump to content

The Annual Dark Nights Fix-up.


MattyB
 Share

Recommended Posts

  • 2 weeks later...

Thought i would just update my Kyosho Spit blog, taking so much time this becoming not a 'Dark Nights' project but a Light Nights as well, however despite other things getting in the way some progress has been made with what i felt was always a huge negative withe the original kit, namely the wing fairings witch were pitifully small on the original kit so given the extent of the repair it was out with some 3 views and work out an approximate version to suit. 

Started by bolting the wing in situ and clamping some 1/64 ply acroos the wing seat and creating a template for the shape, these were then glued and clamped by the wing and webs set to give support for the top sheeting that will make the curved profile. A bit of filler and then ready for more glass cloth work. Linds

 

026.jpg

027.jpg

028.jpg

029.jpg

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Just to prove this is still ongoing a further update, fuz and wing now covered and primed with outline panel lines drawn in place

031.jpg.539555edffb8082b784073fc56f2e5b4.jpg

I have some trim tape on order to apply then will over paint silver to start to create ridges and add some other surface details

I also got the engine back in place, bagged and taped to keep it clean

032.jpg.f21d632b4a3d8ede5cd58fdb365c1b9b.jpg

and finally a quick test fit of the canopy and cowl. The cowl still requires a little work but a minor task compared to what has been done so far, will it fly this year? well still hoping as i have a couple of other projects i need to get out the way.

033.jpg.01771339274be682b16314052577ed95.jpg

Linds

031.jpg

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Now accumulating things ready for Winter 2021!

 

On the list so far:

 

  • Strip and tidy-up the small Hawes Tucano
  • Put lighter stuff in the CrackWing
  • Fix the Blade 150 heli
  • EHawk 1500 has a warp that needs fixing
  • DR1 needs covering
  • Spit still needs repainting
  • From a leaving club member, I acquired:
    • Small pylon racer airframe that needs stripping, recovering and fitting out
    • A Peter Rake Moraine-Saulnier Type G that needs a fuselage rear end rebuild, covering and fitting out.

And two new aircraft to finish:

  • P-47
  • Spacewalker.

Should keep me busy!

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice one GG. ? I do love a list. ?

Personally I have an Excel spreadsheet with intricate colour coding, bursting with information and as sad as it is possible to be, essentially it's a to-do list on steroids. Some jobs have been on there for more than ten years. ?

 

My attempts to get with the Dark Nights fix up were a bit of a curate's egg. Yes, I got three models fixed up -two completed by the April deadline (well the end April deadline) and the third finished save for painting. However none of those models have actually flown since their fix up. The MiniAstrohog got as close as being lined up on the runway, having her final preflights, when flicking to high rates for take off revealed a flexible snake issue - now refixed.

 

It's a belting initiative though and I've really enjoyed the thread.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lol. My to do list is in multiple places - my phone (comments from flying sessions), a very simple Excel spreadsheet that probably gets looked at as often as we get a sunny, calm day from dawn to dusk, and my head. Sadly, as I get older, my list in my head seems to get less and less reliable! I'm sure that when I go pottering in an hour or so, I'll see more things to add......

 

But yes, this thread has been a great initiative. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Well the Mini Astro Hog got her long awaited Post 2020 Dark Nights Fix-Up electric maiden today. I'm pleased to say that the model kept all of the impeccable manners in the air that she exhibited in her glow inclination and is a joy to fly. The Bowden Cable replacement of the floppy elevator snake was so successful that the wee model is capable of doing push-ups on the ground with judicious application of down elevator - I think I'd forgotten to put the nylon tail skid back on!

 

I think that there might be an in-flight picture or two to come, but my attempts at a hatcam video were not a great success, the MiniAstroHog coming out very mini indeed -a mere dot -and the dizzy high angle view of the horizon doesn't make for comfortable viewing.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I suppose that my Big Guff might qualify. The fuselage and tailplane were burned on 14th February when an unsupervised LiPo exploded in my workshop and set fire to the red model which you can see in my avatar so I built a new fuselage and my clubmate Guy Auvieux made the tailplane, fin and rudder for me. The nose is over 1" (2.5cms) longer than it should be owing to a building error on my part. 

 

i am wating for calmer weather before flying it.

Finished (1).JPG

Finished (2).JPG

Finished (4).JPG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...
  • 8 months later...
On 27/09/2020 at 21:59, John Wagg said:

Last flown around 1994 ( and crashed). Fuselage and bottom wing damaged etc. At the time repaired the fuselage and built a new bottom wing. (original wings were foam).   Then packed in flying. Started again this year. Repaired my Southerner 60 and built a Quaker Flash for training on. Now want something a bit more exciting to fly. 

/sites/3/images/member_albums/183470/876991.jpg/sites/3/images/member_albums/183470/876992.jpgGot around this week to glassing the bottom wing joint and fitted a servo. Fitted ailerons and recovered the fin. 3 servos fitted inside and elevator rod fitted. Now needs re-covering and tidying etc.

Have to decide which motor to fit. (40-60 2 or 4 stroke) and sort out a new cowl and canopy.

44" span Galaxy Models "Domino"

 

Edited By John Wagg on 27/09/2020 21:10:391880166870_Dominp4.thumb.jpg.cce617588e7ae3dc10d5bdd7bdd89989.jpg1889077292_Domino3.thumb.jpg.125a6678ff12390c8e8803e7eef42b3c.jpg

Edited By John Wagg on 27/09/2020 21:17:06

Dark nights fix-up. ??    21 months fix-up. ( really 28 years ) Actually a reason for the current delay is building other models. 

Original cowl had cheeks to hide side mounted (or inverted) motor .

There is a fibreglass cowl version available but I'm not paying £23 for one. Not fussed about keeping it authentic.

Irvine 53 mounted vertical for ease of operation. Found a canopy in the garage which I maybe acquired for original refurbishment .

Not flown yet, still plucking up courage as I'm completely out of practice.

 

[ This is one of my models that I needed wing mount screws for which are obsolete.  A couple of guys of the Forum came to my rescue and supplied me with the  necessary. Very much appreciated and saved me some hassle ]

 

 

Edited by John Wagg
  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 20/11/2020 at 21:21, jeff2wings said:

Bit more done on the swinger, wings stripped and recovered and servo mounting repaired, fuselage being prepared for spraying, when that's done I will leave it to fully harden before it's fuel proofed ,so then l will be back to that fokker again!

/sites/3/images/member_albums/90363/881594.jpg

/sites/3/images/member_albums/90363/881595.jpg

 

Here is (some considerable time later!!!) The end result of all that filling and rubbing down, not yet flown but will be very soon ?

20220415_102535.jpg

20220415_102448.jpg

  • Like 9
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Well, another of the Dark Night's Fix Up aeroplanes finally made an all too brief return to the air yesterday. The HVP Modellbau Henschel Hs129 got her Phoenix From The Ashes moment, but sadly it didn't last long. I maybe should have waited for a slightly less windy day, but the 10mph wind was straight up and down the strip so I thought I'd just go for it.

 

One motor was reluctant to start up and it took a second opening of the throttle for it to burst into life. However the Henschel tracked nice and straight across the field before fairly leaping off the ground, in what it turned out was a very steep climb out. Then she dropped a little, before getting to the field boundary,  recommencing the climb out. At that point it all went very wrong, the model dropped her left wing and rolled hard left, coming back towards the field and rolled in hard, smashing both motor mounts, severing the port wing, pulling the two wing mounting bolts through the centre section and giving the nose an extra crease.  As they say "Damage Was Limited To The Entire Airframe".

 

Various candidates for the cause emerged - did that reluctant motor stop working? Did a gust of wind under the wing take it? Personally I favour a fault on the transmitter by the idiot holding it. Looking at Derek's pictures the climb out seems implausibly steep and I reckon the model just stalled, violently dropping the wing. Interestingly though it looks like Unteroffizer Prune was at least trying to tame that, as there is clearly a touch of down elevator being applied.

 

Surveying the wreckage on the bench and following an excellent suggestion by Derek, I've removed the motors, ESCs, retracts, wiring loom and just left the aileron servos in the wing. It goes back together okay and the nacelles do as well, I think if I strip back the balsa wing sheeting around the break, insert a couple of short carbon spars from underneath and resheet the wing it's repairable. The fuselage has some superficial damage to the nose and one elevator control horn has gone. I hope that the HS129 might fly again on the slope - she'll be a lot lighter without all the electric gubbins and retracts in the wing.

16thjuly22-23.thumb.jpg.98a247451a085e4917b0c30ec59898ff.jpg16thjuly22-24.thumb.jpg.05206d412ef0f8ada869b20d13541177.jpg16thjuly22-25.thumb.jpg.096541e821d79abbe6c6b2b58f45d14d.jpg16thjuly22-26.thumb.jpg.2ae774e0fa22c6881c36805460d24113.jpg16thjuly22-27.thumb.jpg.9f92048706ea87d4b9c9e8601ff648b1.jpg

  • Like 1
  • Sad 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's a shame - nice looking plane. Well, it was!

 

My entry for the fix-up is also in pieces (SFM SE5). Whilst climbing, the lump of lead at the front broke away and trundles down the fuselage....... both wings broken, fuselage in a few pieces. It's about 5th in line for it's 3rd rebuild........

 

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

She'll fly again. The damage is worse than the last crash and I don't have the heart to rebuild those motor boxes again, but I do like the idea of trying her as a PSS model - having to take the wing off to change the batteries has been a real hassle, especially with multiple connections for the wiring loom, retracts and ailerons.  I might start a Dark Nights 2022 Fix-Up Thread. 🙂

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Funny how some planes get rebuilt several times, whilst others get binned with less damage.....

 

For a 2022 fix up I'd have:

 

  • Afore mentioned SE5
  • 10cc Ultrastick 
  • Small unnamed leccy pylon racer style jobby
  • Fokker DVII
  • Tiny pre WW1 job whose name I can't remember.

And must finish my Seagull P47 kit.......

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can count the number of completely binned aeroplanes on one hand, but would need more than that to count the damaged airframes that need a fix up. Some of them have been on the shelf for several years, even one's still in bubble wrap from when we moved to Scotland ten years ago. 😄

 

I'll wait for the dark nights to start coming in, before starting another thread, but I found this thread an excellent initiative to move some airframes from the "damaged" Category 3 status to Airworthy.

 

Some possible candidates, on top of the Hs129 would be

 

Krick Klemm 25 -crashed in 2015 due to stretching the flight out just too long and losing power a long way from the strip.

Balsacraft Hurricane - crashed in 2001, stripped and repaired soon after and has been waiting for repainting since then.

Flair Magnatilla - only crashed a few weeks ago - didn't connect the ailerons and needs the rear fuselage rebuilding.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I only realised this morning that I had already contributed to this thread, my first post having been written on 20th February 2021.

 

A clubmate built the tailplane of my Big Guff and I built a second fuselage after the originals had been destroyed when an unsupervised LiPo exploded. The price of Oratex being what it is I decided to re-cover the fuselage in orange. Once I'd finished the job someone gave me two metres of Red Oratex. Isn't it always the way! Pictures below of the model in its old and new colour schemes. I preferred it in red but the original was orange.

 

I repaired the Baron only for the wing to come off again while practicing for La Coupe Des Barons' pylon race. I had removed the Russian WW1 cockades and substituted Ukrainian ones. I was forced to use my reserve Baron in the competition which is not so pleasant to fly and I crashed out of the competition in first round!

 

The Uproar and the WOT 4 XL have remained unrepaired. I am currently building a DB Sport & Scale Skyrider as a surprise present for my partner. She wanted to finish our Super 60 in purple and pink but I wasn't having any of that! The Skyrider is a different proposition. I am also building a vintage model called a Guidato and helping a clubmate to build a Peter Russell STOL.  

Maiden Flight 3.jpg

Maiden Flight.jpg

Gueret Fly-In Oct 2021 (1).jpg

Gueret Fly-In Oct 2021 (5).jpg

Gueret Fly-In Oct 2021 (7).jpg

Baron ready for La Coupe..JPG

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Random question... In a concerted attempt to get some of my own fixed up for 2023(!) I am thinking of relaunching this in September - do you want a new thread guys, or shall we just continue this one and ask the Mods to update the title and post #1?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...