Hai-Lee
Old and Bold RC PILOT
I was recently gifted an old foamie Spitfire, (Brand unknown),
The poor old bird had a wooden beam mount for its motor and the mount to fit the motor to the boom was broken. A previous attempt at a repair using Epoxy and plastic ties had been a failure totally.
There was a wing tip missing, possibly lost in a crash.
The canopy/hatch had lost its magnet and would not secure properly.
The landing gear had been ripped out of the foam where it was mounted and the previous repair a "Lake" of epoxy was horrific as was the after market tail wheel glued to the rudder.
The wing LE hold downs for connection to the fuselage was ripped out and severely damaged!
The rudder was detached and on its last legs and the Ailerons are both lack rigidity or a rigid connection to the torque rods. The vertical fin also had a crack at its base though the fin was still attached.
Finally the poor old bird had a large Qty of lead and steel weights epoxied in the fuselage in an attempt to balance the bird after all of the previous repair work.
Here is the bird partially repaired.
First repair was to clean up the hole where the undercarriage was fitted and to insert and glue in some Foam Board scraps from which the paper has been removed. Sand the foam to profile before fitting the undercarriage holder. Fit the holder and then the undercarriage main wheels when the glue and sanding are complete. Here is the repaired undercarriage fitment.
Next was the missing wing tip! I used a couple pieces of FB scrap, (minus paper), that were glued together to give adequate thickness. I trimmed the damaged wing minimally and cut the scrap FB bits to the appropriate wing outline using the opposite wing tip as a template. Then trim the FB to fit the trimmed wing and to give the correct wing tip outline. After gluing on the FB pieces to the wing I sanded it to approximate wing profile! See below; Top and then bottom!
For the motor I removed the damaged beam mount and found a 4 hole mount on an old damaged modern motor that I could trim down slightly and fit to the original motor. I then used a piece of aluminium angle 25mm, 3mm thick, to make a clamp mount to fit over the wooden beam. I trimmed the beam back to allow for the new mount depth requirements and it is ready to go. See below; (More construction details can be supplied if required - it was very simple to make).
The rudder had the tail wheel removed from it and the damaged hinges removed. The old hinge holes were plugged with Scrap FB and the other holes and missing pieces were replaced with scrap FB also.
The rudder, (Tail wheel side).
The non tail wheel side!
MORE LATER and possibly the Maiden flight video!
Have fun!
The poor old bird had a wooden beam mount for its motor and the mount to fit the motor to the boom was broken. A previous attempt at a repair using Epoxy and plastic ties had been a failure totally.
There was a wing tip missing, possibly lost in a crash.
The canopy/hatch had lost its magnet and would not secure properly.
The landing gear had been ripped out of the foam where it was mounted and the previous repair a "Lake" of epoxy was horrific as was the after market tail wheel glued to the rudder.
The wing LE hold downs for connection to the fuselage was ripped out and severely damaged!
The rudder was detached and on its last legs and the Ailerons are both lack rigidity or a rigid connection to the torque rods. The vertical fin also had a crack at its base though the fin was still attached.
Finally the poor old bird had a large Qty of lead and steel weights epoxied in the fuselage in an attempt to balance the bird after all of the previous repair work.
Here is the bird partially repaired.
First repair was to clean up the hole where the undercarriage was fitted and to insert and glue in some Foam Board scraps from which the paper has been removed. Sand the foam to profile before fitting the undercarriage holder. Fit the holder and then the undercarriage main wheels when the glue and sanding are complete. Here is the repaired undercarriage fitment.
Next was the missing wing tip! I used a couple pieces of FB scrap, (minus paper), that were glued together to give adequate thickness. I trimmed the damaged wing minimally and cut the scrap FB bits to the appropriate wing outline using the opposite wing tip as a template. Then trim the FB to fit the trimmed wing and to give the correct wing tip outline. After gluing on the FB pieces to the wing I sanded it to approximate wing profile! See below; Top and then bottom!
For the motor I removed the damaged beam mount and found a 4 hole mount on an old damaged modern motor that I could trim down slightly and fit to the original motor. I then used a piece of aluminium angle 25mm, 3mm thick, to make a clamp mount to fit over the wooden beam. I trimmed the beam back to allow for the new mount depth requirements and it is ready to go. See below; (More construction details can be supplied if required - it was very simple to make).
The rudder had the tail wheel removed from it and the damaged hinges removed. The old hinge holes were plugged with Scrap FB and the other holes and missing pieces were replaced with scrap FB also.
The rudder, (Tail wheel side).
The non tail wheel side!
MORE LATER and possibly the Maiden flight video!
Have fun!