Strutless Mod

[gaximus]

I'm new to flying, and had some issues with the struts, I broke them in a crash.  I decided to make my own out of some jewelry wire.  They worked good, but I didn't adjust the tension correctly and was getting some really bad flight characteristics.  After several more crashes, when they broke again, I said screw it and flew it without any struts at all, and it flew so much better. 

After joining this awesome site, and reading some posts about strengthening the wing and flying without any struts I decided to do this too.
Earlier today I decided to fly a few easy flights without the struts and before the strengthening.  I was just doing touch-n-goes and doing really good,  So I decided to try landing from the left.  I nailed a light pole that I was sure I would clear.  It broke my wing into two pieces.  

Here is what I did to reinforce the wing.  First I glued the two pieces back together using hot glue.

I got a few pieces of 3/8"*3/8"*24" pieces of bass wood from hobby lobby.
I had found the balancing point under the wings, by using a couple of ink pens and balancing the entire craft on the points.  The point were a about 2 inches back from the leading edge of the wing and an inch from the fuselage.  I used the points to balance it after I adding cameras to it.  I laid the wooden rods down and went right over the balancing points and traced them with a pen. 

Photo 1: laying the stick out to trace it, Sorry this photo is not clear.

I used a razor blade to cut out a square grove that went from about 3" from the tip through the middle and out to the other tip.  I cut both sides of the groove first then cut at a steep angle to cut out a triangle shaped piece.  I then used the square rod to "scrape" out the rest of the groove, this part gets messy.


Photo 2: Pulling out the triangle shaped piece. 


Photo 3:  Using the rod to scrape out the rest of the groove.

I then placed the rod in the groove. Do to the dihedral of the wing the rod come out of the wing at the middle.  I traced a line on rod where it needed to be cut, then cut one the line using a hack saw(I didn't want to loose the dihedral because I never plan on going with ailerons)  Then I did the same thing with the right side of the wing, making sure to line them up.


Photo 4: Placing the rod in the wing


Photo 5:  Where the rod sticks out, and needs to be cut.


Photo 6:   Right and left side rods in place right side not cut yet.

I then placed smaller rods next to the left and right rods and traced them to be cut out(See Photo 6).
I cut them out and Placed the smaller rods next to the right and left rod.  


Photo 7:  Right and left rods cut and small rods connecting them.

I then placed a heavy bead of gorilla glue in the grooves and a light coating on the sides of all the rods.  I pushed in the left and right rods with the glue then put the shorter rods next to them.  I filled any gaps with gorilla glue.


Photo 8:  Close up of the glued parts.


Photo 9:  Whole wing finished.

I then waited for the glue to dry and cut off the excess.  Then placed a piece of packing taping covering the whole groove.  

I will do a test flight tomorrow and update how it flies.  I wish I had used 3 sided aluminum channels instead of the wooden rods, the weight would be close to the same, but I could use the opening to route wires for wing tip lights.

[gaximus]

So I flew it today and it flew just like before with no problems. I did a couple of high speed dive and pulled out hard and the wings bearly even flexed.  It was a bit windy torward the end and stuck it in the top of a 60+ foot tree.  Any advice on how to get it down?  I've been trying to use a long piece sting attached to a tennis ball and a hand held tennis ball launcher(to play catch with dogs).  I've gotten close but ran out of light.

[flydiver]

Nice mod. It should 'weather' well.

Apparently you haven't learned that you are 3D challenged. I have the same problem. After putting my plane in trees x2 that I was SURE I was going to miss by over 20 feet I now stay 50+ feet away from EVERYTHING.

Getting planes out of trees is a rite of passage. Some pilgrimages 'fail' so be prepared for that. That's pretty high.
Your device is not very accurate. A bow and arrow or a wrist rocket (slingshot) seem to be preferred for that kind of height. I was relatively lucky, I was able to climb and get mine down.
Here's a place for more ideas:
www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=54409

Stories - my buddy treed his Cub. It was only about 15' up but in a thorny tree with dense skinny branches. Not a good climbing candidate. Of all things a large fork lift comes lumbering down the road doing some nearby construction. I was able to talk him into a lift up and pluck the Cub out of the tree with almost no hassle or damage. That's the only time I've ever seen one in 5 years of flying there.

Another buddy treed his Cub up like 50-60 feet in a tall cottonwood. He works for Comcast cable installation. He called and there was a truck in the area. They came by with a cherry picker and plucked it out for him easily. Otherwise it was a goner if the weather didn't knock it down.

Last story - yet another buddy flying by himself trees his glider way up. He thinks he can climb but is concerned about the safety so goes home for some rope, an hour errand. When he gets back the plane is gone. Asking around some folks had noticed kids climb the tree and get what they thought was their plane out of it.
All these incidents are in a large multi-use park that has some baseball/soccer fields little used pending upgrade (money ran out so far). We are allowed to fly if no one else is using it.

[gaximus]

So after 2 days of throwing rocks, tennis balls and shooting arrows at it, it finally came down.  I bought a cheep kids bow and arrow set. It wasn't powerful enough to get the arrow and string over the plane.   Luckily a neibor came by with a real bow and got the string wrapped around the branch that the plane was in. I was then able to shake it down.  One of the arrows did go threw the wing. 


i took an arrow to the knee wing

[coupe1942]

I love the creativity and ingenuity of people. I guess you can say he only "winged" you though. :-)

[iandhunt]

my neighboR, a year ago, decide to help me get my super Cub out of a tree. He brought his bow and arrow from home and we shot the wing of my SuperCub with an arrow that had a string attached to the back. However, the string came loose upon the very first tug so it remained in the tree for another month until the tree had an unfortunate incident with a chainsaw.

[mkflanagan]

Cool mod! This sight is full of good info. My cub lived in Tree for about 2 months before a good storm got it down. I had to replace the esc and battery and she's flying again.