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The Annual Dark Nights Fix-up.


MattyB
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One completed?. E-fair had a broken wing:

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Almost all the bits were there and fitted back together. A few small bits added and it was all straight (ish). The trailing edge has a bit of a wave to it but not too much.

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Covered and the lettering transferred from the salvaged film.

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I thought that putting the film over film would either show up darker, or have lots of bubbles, or just go horribly wrong and crease. It actually send on very well.

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I thought the motor was also dead, but it was just the spinner had pushed back and jammed against the nose. I got a new motor anyway, and a new prop. A 480 brushed rather than a 400 as there is lead in the canopy, so the weight might as well be motor. Nominally the same diameter, but actually just slightly fatter, so I had to make a new cowl. I made it longer as well to leave the back of the motor in the same place on the fuselage, and again help the CG.

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I liked the striped cross grained balsa, so I could not bear to cover it in white.

It pulls much less current than the old motor. I hope that is because it is new and that it has still got enough go.

It now balances without the battery, so I can lose the lead ?.

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I don't know where my words went from my post, so here is:

Yes the T.N. 46" Spit is finished. Has it's new .28 motor in it, second motor i've had powder coated black because it suits the dark scheme. Motor ran up yesterday for the first time in about 10 years and ran a treat.

Plane has retracts now, managed to quite literally shoe horn them in, there is nothing above them except the top 1/4" spar and top sheeting. To be in any vaguely scaleish location and look, I had to take out the bottom spar for about 3 rib bays, and subsequently plug the gap with another spar further forward. Made legs to suit including a coil, and running out of space, so no gear doors.

Robbed the tailwheel off a foamie, (which i dont need to taxi, so that got replaced with a wire skid). 

Originally i built a rudder, ( i think the plan didn't have a working rudder), but then realised it didn't need it, so secured the rudder and removed the servo. Now hopefully with proper takeoffs in future, i reinstated the rudder, and replaced the 3003 servo (37g) on the elevator with 2x 18g servos for R&E, so no net gain there.

Paint is household latex/acrylic test pot in a shade that i liked, not particularly matched to anything. Stripes also painted. Markings i got my local signwriter to whip up.

Due to the glow fuel, i spent some time trying to find a fuelproofer, (even tried spraying epoxy resin but couldn't get a finish i was happy with), but found some one pot chemical/solvent resistant product that seemed to hold up to tests, so the whole plane got a coat, and an extra coat in the areas specifically likely to get fuel/exhaust contact. Seems to be holding up well after engine runs and grubby fingerprints the other day.

Would have attempted flight the day the photos were taken, but taxiing proved the strip is too rough for her wheels, so flight may have to wait for some other time at some other location.

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I posted on 17th September that I would repair my vintage aerobatic model, a Chris Olsen Uproar. From late September to late December I was living in Somerset with my partner so no work was possible on the Uproar. We built a Ben Buckle Super 60 together instead and I'm under strict instructions not to fly it until she's able to come to France and she can fly it on the buddy box.

 

She must be psychic! Since my return to France I've crashed one of my Barons, a simple three-channel French trainer, when the wing came off in a test flight completely wrecking the fuselage.

 

Then I accidentally set fire to my Big Guff vintage model when an unsupervised charging LiPo exploded beneath it. The Big Guff then set fire to my WOT 4 XL! For those who have n't already read about it, full details of the LiPo fire here: https://www.modelflying.co.uk/forums/index.php?/topic/47237-charging-lipos-a-lesson-learned-the-hard-way-and-how-the-big-guff-met-its-end/#comments  

 

So now I've got four models to repair!

 

I've made a start on the Uproar and Baron and a club member has offered to rebuild the tail surfaces of the Big Guff for me. I hadn't intended rebuiding the Big Guff straight away but it was such a popular model at club meetings that I have been persuaded to rebuild it as soon as I can. SLEC are shortly going to get a big order for 1/32" balsa.

 

I'll post pictures of the repairs later but for now some pictures of the models in their prime and what is left of the Big Guff and WOT 4 XL after the fire.

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Motors arrived from Hobbyking in the week, so started on the motor mounting on the Henschel, marking out and making the motor mount plates and fixing the first one. It's going to need some work with the wiring to fit the ESCs into the mounts and leave room for the retracts. Might have to go on to of the motor mount box, or along one side.

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Got the motor mounts done for the Henschel and printed up one of the dummy motors, which is just 7mm thick - it looks like that might just be too thick, for the prop adaptor and will need to be 3-5mm thick instead. I beefed up the motor front to sides joint with some epoxy and carbon fibre tows. That will need sanding back a bit, as it's a bit messy at the moment.

Unfortunately, I'm getting a bit worried about the tail surfaces, which have got a lot of flex in them. More than I've ever had on a model. Will have to think about that and decide whether to start again from scratch,

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The Chilli Breeze is nearly airworthy again: Still needs work on the port wing leading edge, Undercart replacing and motor/avionics reinstalling but the fuselage is fixed and recovered after some splicing new wood in and recovering. 

Some trim for the "canopy" and some go faster stripes are clearly called for as well. I reckon that she'll be ready for the 29th March ?

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Could do with a bit of advice as I've never come across this before. The replacement tail for the Henschel is remarkably flexible and the horizontal stabiliser easily deforms at the tips by more than 10mm up and down. That can't be right and I'm now contemplating cutting it out of the fibreglass fuselage into which it is firmly epoxied and replacing it with something more robust. I can only think that the original stabiliser was weapons grade balsa, but it did break in the crash. I certainly don't remember it being this flexible though.

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   After weeks of horrible weather, high winds, heavy rain, cold and a bit of snow even a morning of freezing rain.? Today is a beauty here on the West Wales coast.

  Time to test fly the fixed up Easy Pigeon. Went away like a good un, just a bit of trim adjustment and a tad more lead in the nose I recon.  Motor is one recovered from a crashed Multiplex Shark found on our club flying field last November.  120 watt at 12.5 amp using the Pigeon's original prop is plenty. 

 Pic's a bit rubbish as I was flying with one hand and trying to line up camera with he other.?

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Slowly but surely getting there with the Henschel Hs129 retracts. I couldn't use the same mounting poiints and leg length as the fixed gear, as the wheels would have come out through the upper skin at the trailing edge when retracted. So much jiggery pokery required to get a compromise position, with the leg on the leading edge when down,, bringing the leg forward 20mm or so.

That will allow a shorter leg and moved the wheel forward when retracted to clear the trailing edge. I worked out whereabout the wheel could sit in the nacelle, inset into the wing, but without penetrating the top skin of the wing and that's where it ended up. I'll put a little glass cloth and epoxy inside the wheel wells and hope that I haven't compromised the integrity of the wing.

Edited by leccyflyer
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On 23/02/2021 at 18:40, J D 8 said:

If you feel it is to flexible it probably is. Even the tail plane of the Easy Pigeon [ a slow flyer ] I am fixing up does not flex anywhere near that much. 

  Could you perhaps insert a carbon rod spar ?  Just an idea. ?

I'm going to at least give that a try, though it's quite thin balsa sheet - I did think to trim off the sanded leading edge and put a flat carbon strip from tip to tip.

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Getting closer to the end of these fix ups with the Mini AstroHog done, save for the registration letters, The Kyosho Spitfire done save for the painting and the Henschel coming up to the painting stage too - one of the bigger things being getting the retracts in - they are now more or less in place, I just want to tidy up the wheel wells and get the nacelles back on. I'll put some piccies up over the weekend.

 

So with a few weeks left I've started prepping up a couple of other repairs - I secured a very little used Parkzone Spitfire, as my much loved original was looking a bit battle worn and I'd be very sad if I didn't have a Parkzone Spitfire. She'll be treated to some filler on the bigger bits of damage, a new oil cooler scoop, replacement pilot and a repaint.

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Done some more trimming flights with the Easy Pigeon today and have it flying nicely, thrust line change would be difficult with this model because of the plastic fuselage so I have elevator throttle mix set so at full power it goes up like the proverbial homesick angel. Something I doubt happened with the original [heavy] power set up, Others who have flown the original set up may say different.  Fly's level at cruse and quickly settles into a steady glide as power comes off.

        Just one more thing to sort. I would like to set the brake to work on the motor so the prop folds but do not know the bleep sequence for the motor which came from a Multiplex Shark. Is the bleep set up sequence generic, the same as other motors ? Or are Multiplex motors type specific ?  Thanks for any info. John.

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Half a day in the workshop today - bit of painting, refixed the nacelles on the Henschel and then set to trying to stiffen up the horizontal stabiliser. I figured that a carbon rod reinforcement as a spar laid into the balsa wasn't going to work - horizontal directional drilling is tricky enough with decent biostratigraphic geosteering and that's with a 12 1/4" borehole in a reservoir 50m thck. Trying to do that in a sheet of 1/8th balsa for a 3mm carbon rod wasn't going to work.

So I went with plan B which was to cut back the leading edge by a mm, to give a flat surface. cut a small slot in the fuselage sides at the front of the horizonal stabiliser, threaded a length of carbon fibre strip along the leading edge, from tip to tip and epoxied that in place, securing with tape. That seems to have stiffened up the horizontal stabiliser a lot.

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I am getting through mending my models. It seems I only had one with nothing that needed attention. I shall not have them all fixed up by the time we are allowed out again. Even without flying I managed to add another fix-up to my list by hitting a wing mirror on a gatepost.

The bits did go flying, so maybe it can count here ?.

Amazingly the mirror itself was unharmed, but the plastic casing has needed some jigsaw puzzling and three different glues so far.

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Coming together now.

 

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Got the dummy engines in the Henschel, fitted the cowls and put the model back together for the first time since the repairs. With a3s1p 3300mah pack the balance is pretty much spot on with the gear dow, so might need a bit of lead up front when I check the balance with the gear up - the wheels are a fair way behind the CG when they are retracted.,

Really just painting of the repaired sections left to do now. The motor mounts and retract installation was fiddly, the repairs less so. I experimented with using some laminating film on the old damaged tail surfaces, as the film is probably better to take paint. I'll need to wait until non-essential shops reopen, in order to get the right paint colours mixed, as I don't have Luftwaffe desert camouflage colours in stock.

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Just about got the Henschel Hs129b refurb done - just a bit of painting over the repaired buts when I can get the right paint colours mixed at B&Q, I still need to do some motor tests, starting with a pair of spare contra rotating props from my PZ Mosquito, with the option of moving to a pair of 9x5" E-Max props in the first instance. 

 

I'll also wait for a few flights before deciding whether to fit undercarriage doors. I've seen folks arrange the doors with elastic bands, so that the retract leg closes the doors and it would be nice to have them on there.

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Not quite old airframes, but it's what has been keeping me busy for the dark of winter...

 

Two 40 Surpasses, fresh bearings all round, valve gap set and they run like butter. Clearly too easy...

 

Two 46 SF-P, put together from four (!) motors of varying tidiness, plus bearings and o rings swapped. Both run lovely. Pipe (novarossi 50350) on the first one is being bench run to get the length set for target prop, 11x8.

 

Two 61 SF-P, again from a collection of four second hand units. First has run, the second has just had a bearing swap but should go just as well as the first does. 

 

Last two early irvine 46s. The first has been in the family since new and once had an embarrassing encounter with terra firma but a dead mk1 40 donated a front end which sorted most problems. Runs like a (very noisy) watch. The second is a mish mash of spares from the popular auction site. Yet to run.

 

Got another 46SF-P to assemble from the leftovers, maybe another 61, neither will be tidy but both should run.

 

Long live glow!

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