Thunder Tiger 40 Rebuild Project

Pilot-294

Senior Member
Yes the motor is the original, just a replacement mount from the first crash. Not sure if the guy before me ever broke it in but I know I was the first to attempt flight with it
 

earthsciteach

Moderator
Moderator
She's back on wheels! The hardest part is done. Nose is rebuilt. From here on out, I have to epoxy the horizontal and vertical stabilizers in place, mount the engine and fuel tank, and remount the servo in the wing. She is getting close to airworthy!
 

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  • Wheels!.JPG
    Wheels!.JPG
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earthsciteach

Moderator
Moderator
I'm epoxying the horizontal stabilizer in place. Once that sets up, I'll do the same for the vertical stab. Not far to go now!
 

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  • horz stab.JPG
    horz stab.JPG
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earthsciteach

Moderator
Moderator
Once the epoxy set up, the horz stab was not level. I removed it and am working on leveling it. I thought the horz stab might have a twist in it, but that is not the case. The orange and yellow on one side create an illusion of a twist.
 

Pilot-294

Senior Member
its odd, i know i didn't do the worlds best job covering it. i should have disassembled it and fully re-covered it. but i didn't wanna take the time with it since i felt i would just wreck it again lol. don't fuss terribly about getting it 100% level as the elevator has a twist in it anyways, close enough should be good enough since the wing has dihedral it will most likely counter a small offset in the horizontal stab. but I'm glad your taking your time and doing a better job than i did haha :)
 

earthsciteach

Moderator
Moderator
Woah, hold on there! If is was doing a better job, I would have totally rebuilt the horizontal stabilizer. I'm just trying to do the minimum to get it back in the air without incurring the teasing and taunting of my fellow fliers.

I think the best course of action at this point is to shave the tail end of the fuse with the radial arm saw at school. That will square it up!
 

earthsciteach

Moderator
Moderator
I decided against that because I'm worried that the vertical stab won't seat properly if I trim it down. I just epoxied a Starbuck's coffee stirrer to one side of the fuselage as a shim. That just about gets it level. I love Starbuck's coffee stirrers!
 

Pilot-294

Senior Member
that is for sure you do... and you know what i just realized? i was just at starbucks and got 0 stirrers... that was stupid... hahaha
 

earthsciteach

Moderator
Moderator
I asked the manager of the 'bucks I visit every morning if I could buy a box of them. She said no because they aren't allowed to sell any of their proprietary stuff. I replied, "So, you're just going to make me steal them from you?" She wasn't sure what to say to that!