Wot 4 Jigsaw

[Geoff S]

It happens from time to time - I wrecked my lovely ARTF Wot 4 (balsa) on take off a week or so ago.  Not sure why, but I like to take off in a scale-like way with a reasonably shallow climb out.  Unfortunately, the shallowness was excessive and it hit the ground at speed with bits of wood flying hither and yon.  It's taken me until now to bite the bullet and look at the damage.

 

As is often the case on these sad occasions, not as bad as I thought (I was originally going to bin the lot after rescuing the components - moto, esc, receiver etc).  The wing is only slightly damaged - just a minor tear in the covering and one wing tip, nothing critical.  Motor, cowl and firewall came off in one piece and are otherwise OK as I assume other electronic components are, but I'll check, undercarriage is undamaged as is (as usual) all the tail parts.  So it's just the fuselage that is totally unrepairable.  A new fuselage used to be available as a spare (about £80) but no longer. It shouldn't be beyond the wit of man to make a new fuselage, even if the 'man' is the inept creature that is me.

 

So, with the aid of copious CA and a fair bit of masking tape I reassembled the bits into something like its original shape so I could make a pattern - thus:

 

 

And ...

 

Doesn't look very pretty, does it?  However, the basic outline is there, and I was able to draw round it and make 2 new sides.  The harder bit is the 3mm ply sort-of doublers, which I'm still thinking about.  There's a big area of heavy (and expensive) birch ply. Most is discarded in the CNC cutting of the original but I don't have that luxury.  I think I'm going to use 3mm light ply with a few holes cut out with a hole saw.  I want to keep the overall thickness so what formers are usable will still fit - mostly the firewall.

 

This is as far I've got.

 

 

Perhaps my Wottie will fly again even though I'm still cursing my total incompetence.

 

Edited March 6 by Geoff S

[Shaun Walsh]

https://www.elitemodelsonline.co.uk/Aircraft/Aircraft-Spares/Electric-Aircraft-Spares/Max-Thrust/Max-Thrust-Riot/15676-/MAX-T-RIOT-1-A-Max-Thrust-Riot-Fuselage-With-No-Decals

[Geoff S]

1 minute ago, Shaun Walsh said:

https://www.elitemodelsonline.co.uk/Aircraft/Aircraft-Spares/Electric-Aircraft-Spares/Max-Thrust/Max-Thrust-Riot/15676-/MAX-T-RIOT-1-A-Max-Thrust-Riot-Fuselage-With-No-Decals

 

A foamie Riot fuselage won't work too well with a Wot 4 wing and empennage let alone the 4s Foxy motor/esc combination 🙂

[Shaun Walsh]

3 minutes ago, Geoff S said:

 

A foamie Riot fuselage won't work too well with a Wot 4 wing and empennage let alone the 4s Foxy motor/esc combination 🙂

Damn it, I searched for the balsa version 🤦‍♂️

[Caveman]

Hi Geoff, when I subtly reshaped the nose of my Multiplex Funcub so that no longer had the strength or shape to be functional, I decided to replace it.

 

However, it was during the depths of the Covid epidemic and no-one had stock of a suitable replacement. So I decided to discard the fuselage completely and re-utilise all the electrics, the wings and tail and build a new fuselage from scratch.

 

I carefully measured the remains of the original fuselage and drew up a plan for its replacement.

 

As I had a large sheet of 3mm lite-ply in stock I used this for the sides and the bulkheads, balsa for the top and bottom sheeting and 6mm ply for the firewall.

 

Inevitably the finished fuselage is a little heavier than the old foam one, but the 'new' one flies just as well as the original.

 

 

It was well worth the effort and is a pleasure to fly - I think you're doing the right thing!

 

GDB

 

PS The wings have been through a few traumas as well - perhaps it's time to build some new ones 😁

[Geoff S]

I've had a Fun Cub for years and it must have had 100s of flights.  In fact, I flew it the day I totalled the Wot 4.  I'm just trying to make sure the relative wing/tail plane angles remain the same on my replacement fuselage  At least I started out with a balsa fuselage 🙂

 

The only real problem I've had with the FunCub is keeping the aileron and flap horns glued to the wing. They're always coming loose and I even had to resort to inletting a piece of ply for one aileron hinge.  It even survived losing the battery when I did a bunt  - it landed inverted and unharmed 🙂

[i12fly]

Geoff, I've got a bare Wot 4 balsa fuselage, it is one from a kit build model and looks heavier than the ARTF version. It fits the wing profile of the ARTF version. It came with an item I got on ebay so if you want it you can have it (free....). I'm only a couple of miles from you.

[Geoff S]

9 minutes ago, i12fly said:

Geoff, I've got a bare Wot 4 balsa fuselage, it is one from a kit build model and looks heavier than the ARTF version. It fits the wing profile of the ARTF version. It came with an item I got on ebay so if you want it you can have it (free....). I'm only a couple of miles from you.

 

PM sent.

[Geoff S]

A little progress on solving my instant jigsaw.  Not much to show for a week's worth of effort but I'm near having a kit of parts to re-create the shattered fuselage.

 

 

So two reasonably exact mirror image fuselage sides and nearly a full set of formers, battery and servo trays. The firewall, battery tray and wing bolt former are survivors of the crash and keen to be re-used.  The longerons are 3mm balsa.  The top one, being straight is easy but the elegantly curved bottom is a bit of a wood-waster but worth the improved appearance which typifies the Wottie fuselage to my mind.  The doublers are 3mm Liteply which I think (hope?) will successfully replace the CNC cut birch ply originals. 

 

The top and bottom sheeting for the rear of the fuselage will be 1.5mm balsa as the original ARTF one with some reinforcement where the original formers were.  I'm just going to use 6mm square balsa cross pieces rather than try to reproduce the ply formers.  I needed extra weight at the tail to get the CoG where I wanted it so, whilst being careful, I'm not being too worried about rear weight.  It still needs to be strong enough for my landing technique 🙂  I can't believe it's taken me so long to do so little  - but I guess it's par for the course 🙂

 

I fetched the bare fuselage that i12fly offered me (it turns out he lives only around 2 miles away - I've met him a few times but didn't realise he was such a near neighbour).  It's obviously never been completed or flown but it didn't suit the wing without a lot of modification, so I'm pressing on with my build.  Apparently it was given to him, so, in my turn, I'll pass it on to someone who'll complete it - or return it 🙂  Thanks Ian.

[Geoff S]

I've been beavering away with my new Wot 4 Mk2 fuselage and getting near to completion.  The wing fits OK and the tail components are glued in.  The tailplane is more or less parallel to the wing (more 'more' than less!) and its incidence relative to the wing is 1 deg positive, which is the same as an old Wot 4 Mk 3 I dragged out the loft to take to a swap meet on Sunday (it didn't sell! - Now on eBay)

 

 

 

The fuselage seems to be fairly light - hopefully not at the expense of strength. The sides are 3mm balsa and the doublers 3mm Liteply, lightened further, as can be seen in the pictures.

 

 

The battery tray has been extended from my original because I had to put weight on the tail when the battery couldn't be slid further back.  The battery position will be fixed with foam pieces at the front and back (the front to protect from protruding motor-mount bolts.

 

Here's the area under the wing, which will be home to the elevator and rudder servos - and possibly the receiver. 

 

 

The under side will be sheeted once the closed loop rudder and elevator push rod are installed

 

 

Onwards and (hopefully) upwards.  The now no longer ARTF Wot 4 will fly again!

[Geoff S]

Fixed the damaged wing tip this evening.

 

Before:

 

 

... and after.  Not perfect but once covered it'll not be seen.  Rather than 3mm birch ply I used what's becoming a favourite material, 3mm Liteply

 

 

The hard bit will be to cover the bit next to the aileron end (which is still attached - for some reason the other one pulled out the hinges), but, no doubt, it'll go in somehow. 

 

It's radio/servo installation and covering the repairs and the new fuselage, mostly to do.  Perhaps I should wash off some mud, too.

[Geoff S]

Well, it's almost ready to test fly (again) when the weather improves - so not this weekend, I suppose.  We're lucky that the Ashbourne airfield site is flyable with a tarmac runway because our 'new' site is almost submerged.

 

So, I've gone from this :

 

 

To this, with a few weeks of labour and anguish :

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The CoG is just about where it was originally but it weighs 15 grams more, which is disappointing as I was hoping for lighter.  The fuselage is just about all new except for the firewall, cowl, spinner, wing bolt mount and undercarriage.  The fin/rudder and tailplane/elevator were almost unscathed. The salvaged parts were little more than dirty, which is a benefit of the ground's being so soft and water-logged off the runway itself.  I was able to salvage the covering enough to make patterns for the 'windows' but the yellow/red/orange decoration was a lost cause.  To give some visibility I added some chequered covering, which looks reasonable, I think.

 

I will spend an hour or so setting up/checking the throws but, apart from that, it's ready to go.