Supercub crash at about 30mph

[kul]

Hello,
Today seemed like a nice day to fly my supercub so I went out to a field with my brother to fly it. I let him fly the cub first and because the wind was calm he wanted to try flying it upside down. Well he managed to turn the cub upside down with a half loop but suddenly the wind picked up and he wasn't able to turn the cub over again. The cub plummeted down at a high speed and crashed into the ground. After an inspection of it, I saw that the wing snapped into 2. The propeller completed broke, the cowl cracked into 2, the battery box fell out, one of the sides of the fuselage cracked. I then came home and tested the electronics along with the engine, luckiley they worked fine and seemed to be undamaged. Well now I want to fix the cub, I already orded a new cowl and propeller but want to fix the broken foam parts myself. Should I orded a new wing or will I be able to fix it with glue? If so, can someone recommend me a good epoxy to glue the wing in addition to the fuselage. Is gorilla glue good for glueing foam or should I use another epoxy?

Kul

[admiralev]

gorilla glue will work, but a 12 minute epoxy would be better. you can pick one up at any hardware store. i went out in the prevailing winds today too...just too anxious. broke my cowl, prop, and ripped out my landing gear (im so sick of fixing this). your not the only one...

[kul]

Aug 9, 2008 21:43:58 GMT 1 @admiralev said:

gorilla glue will work, but a 12 minute epoxy would be better. you can pick one up at any hardware store. i went out in the prevailing winds today too...just too anxious. broke my cowl, prop, and ripped out my landing gear (im so sick of fixing this). your not the only one...

Hey,
Can you please recommend me an epoxy? I was going to buy one from amazon, but they all had mixed reviews so I didn't know which one to order. Can you tell me which one you use and have good experience with. I also broke a few cowls and 4 props already, its annoying and starting to get costly to replace them. And how did you rip out your landing gear? Did they just fall off or did they break off from the attachment next to the batterybox?
Thanks,
Kul

[flydiver]

Don't like breaking parts? Quit crashing.... ;D
Until you can do that you expect it should just crash and never break?

My buddy coined a phrase that comes to mind-crash fatigue.
It happens when the excitement and enthusiasm of flying starts to wear a bit thin with the expense and hassle of repair.
Happens to about everyone.

You are working too hard. Get a 10-15" 2 part epoxy at the hardware store. Mixed reviews on something like Amazon is probably more an indicator of ignorance working with glue than a reliable test of the product.

FWIW I modestly disagree about the use of Gorilla glue-it's a great product for this foam BUT, old GG is brown and ugly. There is a newer white on and Sumo glue is functionally identical and is white.

Those glues FOAM in action. That helps fill in cracks but is also a variable to deal with. The set is initiated with external liquid and I generally start it with a drop of Elmer's white glue, mix it up, apply, and fix the parts.

For a broken wing I'd cut a groove (maybe 2) across the break and embed carbon rod or bamboo skewers to reinforce. Make sure to laterally balance after and DO NOT get the wing warped during repair.

BUT-epoxy will work quite well also for this. Learning to fly (repair) you'll learn WAY more about glue and tape than you EVER imagined. Think of it as a side benefit.

Tape the stupid cowl up-just use fiber reinforced tape. They're crap anyway.

Consider getting prop saver and using it. Use DOUBLE bands if you do-the Cub is too powerful for single bands.

Ditch the expensive PZ prop. Do some reading on props here:
www.ampaviators.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=38&Itemid=27

There are several articles on props, a couple on Cubs, and many more of interest to new fliers. Do some reading-you'll not regret it.

I know you don't want to hear it, but, the Cub is your first plane, right? It's expendable. You are very likely to completely trash it before you finally can fly reliably. I know folks that just started to buy 2 of everything. First one to learn on and ruin, hopefully the 2nd one to keep.

fly

[kul]

Aug 11, 2008 20:49:34 GMT 1 flydiver said:

Don't like breaking parts? Quit crashing.... ;D
Until you can do that you expect it should just crash and never break?

My buddy coined a phrase that comes to mind-crash fatigue.
It happens when the excitement and enthusiasm of flying starts to wear a bit thin with the expense and hassle of repair.
Happens to about everyone.

You are working too hard. Get a 10-15" 2 part epoxy at the hardware store. Mixed reviews on something like Amazon is probably more an indicator of ignorance working with glue than a reliable test of the product.

FWIW I modestly disagree about the use of Gorilla glue-it's a great product for this foam BUT, old GG is brown and ugly. There is a newer white on and Sumo glue is functionally identical and is white.

Those glues FOAM in action. That helps fill in cracks but is also a variable to deal with. The set is initiated with external liquid and I generally start it with a drop of Elmer's white glue, mix it up, apply, and fix the parts.

For a broken wing I'd cut a groove (maybe 2) across the break and embed carbon rod or bamboo skewers to reinforce. Make sure to laterally balance after and DO NOT get the wing warped during repair.

BUT-epoxy will work quite well also for this. Learning to fly (repair) you'll learn WAY more about glue and tape than you EVER imagined. Think of it as a side benefit.

Tape the stupid cowl up-just use fiber reinforced tape. They're crap anyway.

Consider getting prop saver and using it. Use DOUBLE bands if you do-the Cub is too powerful for single bands.

Ditch the expensive PZ prop. Do some reading on props here:
www.ampaviators.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=38&Itemid=27

There are several articles on props, a couple on Cubs, and many more of interest to new fliers. Do some reading-you'll not regret it.

I know you don't want to hear it, but, the Cub is your first plane, right? It's expendable. You are very likely to completely trash it before you finally can fly reliably. I know folks that just started to buy 2 of everything. First one to learn on and ruin, hopefully the 2nd one to keep.

fly

Hey thanks for the info, I'll just go to homedepot later this week and get epoxy and a rod for the wings . The cowl on the cub I think is beyond repair, it cracked into 2 and has many other cracks along the 2 parts. I also already ordered another stock prop but for the next one, ill read the prop section and choose another one.

Well the cub is my first true rc plane. I had first bought some airhog rc plane for $20. It was a waste of $20, the plane was small and struggled to pull up and I had never had an enjoyable flight. I then decided to see if there were any other affordable planes and I saw that the supercub was one of the best trainer planes for only $150, so i bought it. I and my brother, were able to fly it fine and land, even do a loop and stalls but. My bro however wanted to try upside down flight during a windy day. He was able to do it fine but the plane lost altitude and then because the stock supercub doesn't have ailerons, there was no way to recover succesfuly 10' off the ground. He only had 2 options, to pull down or fly straight into a car in the parking lot. I also wanted to buy the supercub to learn to fly and then get a better plane. I have my eye on the new Parkzone corsair thats soon to be released.

[flydiver]

HD won't have carbon rod. You can get bamboo skewers (for BBQ and the like) at most larger food stores. While you are there spend some time looking at ALL the wonderful tapes and ALL the wonderful glues. Catalogue it for future reference. You'll need it.
Double sided sticky tape and GOOD Velcro are really valuable too.

There are only a few of the AirHogs that fly. The rest are crap. Best one (if the one you get is decent) is the little biplane. They are kind of a hoot.

fly