A buddy of mine picked up the Hangar 9 Cub in the background, and also owns the Hangar 9 Arrow trainer in front of it. Both are glow, the Arrow is 2 stroke and the Cub is 4 stroke. He got the Cub at a swap meet last weekend and fired it up for the first time today. It ran well, but then we couldn't get the fuel to siphon out completely once he was done testing. The seller said he ran it less than 3 weeks ago and it had about 1/2 tank of fuel when my buddy got it. That got me thinking, so I picked it up and tilted it forward and back, and I could hear a faint "clunk" from the nose. I figured the fuel clunk in the tank came off, which would be an easy fix. Since his time is pretty limited and he's still learning to fix his toys, I took it home with me to do a quick project for a friend.
Off came the prop nut, prop, cowl, and a crossbar glued in to keep the tank in place. The tank then slid out easily, and the clunk was indeed the problem. In fact, the fuel line holding the clunk broke in half! So new line was installed and everything put back in place - total time about 90 minutes. While I had it, I also tightened the wires on the tail stabilizers (the detail on this 80" span plane are very well done!), re-sealed a couple areas where the covering was coming loose, balanced the prop, fixed a couple pieces of wood around the top hatch, and put the battery on the charger to cycle it a few times. It didn't come with the connectors to attach the wing struts to the bottom of the fuselage, but that's all he needs to get it in the air. It should be a nice flying plane!
The Arrow, on the other hand, will require a bit more work. Earlier this year it came in for a landing at a "slightly" too steep angle. Another guy started the repairs, but has too many other distractions right now so I told him I'd give it a shot. So far I think the only thing that it still needs is a new gas tank, which was ordered today. The one I've got for it right now is just too big to fit without some pretty major internal surgery, so we're going with a little smaller 8 ounce tank to feed the Evolution engine.
While the damage may look pretty severe, it should be a pretty easy fix. The left side of the fuselage is fine, so all I need to cut is a new right side, new bottom, and new firewall. The firewall is the most complex piece as it's got to have a number of holes cut in the right spots for the motor mount screws, the nose wheel, etc. Covering will also be re-done to match as much as possible, based on what colors I've got on-hand. The plane is a little rough so close-enough will be good-enough!
Even though the engine took a direct ground hit, it doesn't appear to have any damage other than a broken prop. It still rotates smoothly, but I'll still do a bit of disassembly and inspection just to be sure.
Off came the prop nut, prop, cowl, and a crossbar glued in to keep the tank in place. The tank then slid out easily, and the clunk was indeed the problem. In fact, the fuel line holding the clunk broke in half! So new line was installed and everything put back in place - total time about 90 minutes. While I had it, I also tightened the wires on the tail stabilizers (the detail on this 80" span plane are very well done!), re-sealed a couple areas where the covering was coming loose, balanced the prop, fixed a couple pieces of wood around the top hatch, and put the battery on the charger to cycle it a few times. It didn't come with the connectors to attach the wing struts to the bottom of the fuselage, but that's all he needs to get it in the air. It should be a nice flying plane!
The Arrow, on the other hand, will require a bit more work. Earlier this year it came in for a landing at a "slightly" too steep angle. Another guy started the repairs, but has too many other distractions right now so I told him I'd give it a shot. So far I think the only thing that it still needs is a new gas tank, which was ordered today. The one I've got for it right now is just too big to fit without some pretty major internal surgery, so we're going with a little smaller 8 ounce tank to feed the Evolution engine.
While the damage may look pretty severe, it should be a pretty easy fix. The left side of the fuselage is fine, so all I need to cut is a new right side, new bottom, and new firewall. The firewall is the most complex piece as it's got to have a number of holes cut in the right spots for the motor mount screws, the nose wheel, etc. Covering will also be re-done to match as much as possible, based on what colors I've got on-hand. The plane is a little rough so close-enough will be good-enough!
Even though the engine took a direct ground hit, it doesn't appear to have any damage other than a broken prop. It still rotates smoothly, but I'll still do a bit of disassembly and inspection just to be sure.