Sad, my first flights- Picures

[sonmar]

Hi Guys,

It’s my pleasure to join you, I’m a newbie to RC plains.

Today, Received my (first) new RTF SC , I assembled it in about 2 hours, then went directly to the nearest park , the weather was perfect. I did three flights, longest one took about 40 seconds and then the RC fell down. Here is the results of the forth flight.

Infact I read enough about what I have to do, and I have spent reasonable time training in the Flying-Model-Simulator (FMS). Flying in the simulator seemed too easy for me, even if the wind speed is 17 mph. But at the real, I found the situations different. the main reason for the damage was that the SC turns left by default (despite that I mad trims to make sure everything is alright) , and as you know when the plane turns it goes down.


The engine, elevator, rudder are working, but as you can see the plastic head, one of the struts, and the back part of the main body are damaged.

Here is my questions:

1- Do RC shops have parts for every damaged item?
2- For the body, would it better to tape or glue it instead of buying a new one?
3- Do you recommend that taking my broken SC to a shop, buy the needed parts, and ask the person there to assemble the RC.
4- Is there anyone lives in Edinburgh, Scotland, (or nearby) and would like to offer help.

Would appreciate your help.

[financemgr71108]

looks like more damage than really is alot is repairable with strapping tape and a good glue such as gorillia glue or a safe epoxy. might be able to put cowl back together with 5 minute epoxy,note if you replace it line new one with strapping tape on the inside of cowl. those cowls are very flimsy. one thing i noticed in picture looks like you only put 2 rubber bands on wing,did not see bands crisscrossing the wing. have to really secure wing because of it's great lift. but overall it is repairable in my humble opinion

[05prostock]

Ouch! Looks like you had a blast!


I would suggest using some 5 minute epoxy for the tail section. My Cub broke in the exact same place. I mixed up some 5 minute epoxy that you can get at your local hardware store and glued it back on. After the epoxy dried I also taped it with clear packaging tape for extra support in that area.

Correct me if I'm wrong but it looks like the motor brace totally stripped the screws and panel off. There are a few options. One would be to buy a new body for $20, however, I wouldn't do that. If you tinker around with it I'm sure you can figure out a way to secure it whether it be epoxy or even making a new brace for it that's alot stronger.

As for taking it to a hobby shop... I would just order the parts from hobbyzone or a reputable website based in Scotland. You could go to your hobby shop where they could do it for you but parts there would probably be more expensive *(plus labor)* and replacing the parts is pretty easy so I'd just stick with an online shop.


Hope this helps and you're in the air again soon.

-Gavin

[cybersoft]

sonmar, nice pictures, poor plane :-)

My tail has been off about 5 times in 4 months, it's easy to repair with epoxy resin.

The wing strut is repairable with a lighter in about 30 seconds and would be much stronger than standard.

sellotape would fix your cowl, i've done mine with it and they have been great. I think wonderland are out of stock just now.

It looks like your firewall has broken the locator pins off, if not then it'll repair with epoxy too.

All in, you're looking at about 45 minutes work and you could be flying again in around 2 hours. That's letting the epoxy harden enough to fly, but I'd leave it overnight.

Don't give it to a shop, they will just fleece you, if you're really struggling with it, I'd give you a help, I'm just at the north side of the bridge.

[cjg]

You can get replacement parts, although mine was just as damaged as that, but 5 minute epoxy on the tail, on the nose, and secured with clear plastic packing tape should put you back in business.

the plane shouldn't pull to either side if properly trimmed. I can take my hand off the controls in level flight. Adjust the rudder pushrods (turnbuckle in back) to get the trim centered if you radio trim won't give enough movement.

[sonmar]

You gave me excellent feedbacks. Thanks to all of you, your comments were really helpful.

financemgr71108
I put the 4 rubber bands on wing, I took the pics after I removed 3 of them. however, in all the flights I did, one or 2 of the rubber bands fell when the plane crashes the ground


05prostock
Yes, you are right, the motor brace stripped the screws and panel off. I’ve just looked at the motor brace, and thought, it could be figured out, but what I think is not easy to do is that fixing the motor with the body.

cybersoft
This Is Very Kind of You. I’ll repair it, but will never fly unless I meet you, so you could supervise me. Will coordinate with you after I repair the SC.

cjg
when the nose of ur RC was broken, did it strip the screws and panel?

[05prostock]

If you get the urge, fiberglass your cowl. I fiberglassed mine with a very thin coat and then painted it and it looks just like new, except a lot stronger. It still allows the cowl to bend but it won't let it break; yet....

As for the motor brace that has been stripped, I would pick up some long thin screws and run them all of the way through to the other side where the servos/receiver is/are and secure it with a light piece of wood (possibly balsa) with tiny washers. Or you could just start epoxying away and make it permanant..hehe

[sonmar]

I repaired it, didn’t buy any part. I only used super glue, silicon, and tape.

Everything seems alright, but haven’t flown.

Thanks to all of you guys.