Yup, I'm starting yet another project. The work on the big L-19 has slowed down now that flying season is approaching and there is no way it'll be ready to fly this year. Plus, the other planes needing work are piling up and I want more large flyable planks for the season. I'll come back to it from time to time, but for now I want to get some other projects finished. The 1/4 scale Cub is approaching the finish line, the detail work on the 1/4 scale Pietenpol is also almost finished, and I've now got the electronics to update another 1/4 scale Cub (Clipped Wing version).
This Sig Kadet Senior I got from an estate sale a few weeks ago. The picture posted in the advertisement looked promising, but when I got there and was able to see it in person I found it was pretty rough. It's got some years on it and there has been nose and tail damage. The vertical stabilizer was a bit wobbly, the nitro engine was seized, and covering was janky. But for the price it was worth trying to save it. Plus, Sig still makes the kit so all necessary parts would be available. Some items I knew were going to be needed, so an order was placed with Sig for the following:
So here is the Senior as I bought it. From this angle plus a generous helping of distance it looks pretty good! Oh, but wait...
Lets get a closer look at the fuselage.
The engine is seized, no idea if it can be salvaged yet, but I don't fly nitro so it doesn't matter much.
The windshield is fairly "aged"...
The pilot looks like he's taking time off from the Italian restaurant he manages.
The tail looks OK. Covering is a bit beat up and there are plenty of patches.
With the covering removed (mostly) I'm finding all kinds of repair work done at the tail. There are also a few broken glue joints which need to be addressed. This is about what I was expecting, and why I ordered the replacement tail feathers from Sig. These could be patched fairly easily, but gluing together some fresh balsa will be MUCH easier than screwing around with exhaust-soaked old stuff. There is also quite a bit of epoxy holding the horizontal stab in place. Replacing the pieces with new and using less glue should also decrease weight at the tail.
The horizontal stab has the most damage. Again, it'd be fairly easy to repair the breaks, but a new piece will be easy to build and will be much stronger.
There was some damage at the nose which was repaired some years ago. I'm not sure what the builder did, but the covering on the patch doesn't want to come off. As with the Astro-Hog rebuild I did last year, the plan is to cut off the sides of the nose (which surrounded the engine) so I can prep it for an electric conversion. Once that is done I'll re-build it around the new power plant.
This Sig Kadet Senior I got from an estate sale a few weeks ago. The picture posted in the advertisement looked promising, but when I got there and was able to see it in person I found it was pretty rough. It's got some years on it and there has been nose and tail damage. The vertical stabilizer was a bit wobbly, the nitro engine was seized, and covering was janky. But for the price it was worth trying to save it. Plus, Sig still makes the kit so all necessary parts would be available. Some items I knew were going to be needed, so an order was placed with Sig for the following:
- New windshield
- New side windows (simple flat plastic sheet)
- New landing gear (just in case)
- New tail feathers
- New hardware kit
So here is the Senior as I bought it. From this angle plus a generous helping of distance it looks pretty good! Oh, but wait...
Lets get a closer look at the fuselage.
The engine is seized, no idea if it can be salvaged yet, but I don't fly nitro so it doesn't matter much.
The windshield is fairly "aged"...
The pilot looks like he's taking time off from the Italian restaurant he manages.
The tail looks OK. Covering is a bit beat up and there are plenty of patches.
With the covering removed (mostly) I'm finding all kinds of repair work done at the tail. There are also a few broken glue joints which need to be addressed. This is about what I was expecting, and why I ordered the replacement tail feathers from Sig. These could be patched fairly easily, but gluing together some fresh balsa will be MUCH easier than screwing around with exhaust-soaked old stuff. There is also quite a bit of epoxy holding the horizontal stab in place. Replacing the pieces with new and using less glue should also decrease weight at the tail.
The horizontal stab has the most damage. Again, it'd be fairly easy to repair the breaks, but a new piece will be easy to build and will be much stronger.
There was some damage at the nose which was repaired some years ago. I'm not sure what the builder did, but the covering on the patch doesn't want to come off. As with the Astro-Hog rebuild I did last year, the plan is to cut off the sides of the nose (which surrounded the engine) so I can prep it for an electric conversion. Once that is done I'll re-build it around the new power plant.