NHDuke

I have recently decided to get back into flying after about 12 years. I began flying with my grandfather and stopped when he passed. He left me a bunch of airplanes and all of the accessories. I have been going through and inspecting everything, and it all looks pretty good.

Is it possible for the planes to be too old to safely fly? I am worried about the life of the glue. Should I be? All of the plane were covered with Monokote.

Also, I'm wondering what to do about the engines. There are at least 5 or 6 of them, all under .90 I think. All of the ones that I have turned over turn over pretty smooth. Some of them even have compression. I imagine that the ones that don't must just be dry?
Is there a proper procedure for bringing an old engine back to life?

I have already purchased my new radio (futaba 7CAP) and will be joining the local club soon.

Any help would greatly be appreciated.

Thanks!

rajul

My Feedback: (58)

Get an experienced club member to inspect them for you. I have seen planes over 15 years old still flying great

DBCherry

My Feedback: (4)

The airplanes sound as though they're fine. The engines, if properly maintained (and the fact that they turn over makes me think they were) are probably still in decent shape.

As Mike said, have an experienced club member check things out, but it sounds promising.
Dennis-

BillyGoat

I have a plane that is 19 years old; the airframe is just as structurally sound as the day I built it, much of the Monokote is original too.

Are any of these engines 4 stroke? If so and they lack compression it could be a valve is stuck open.

I acquired an OS 90fs a couple years back that hadn’t been touched in well over a decade. This engine wouldn’t turn over with any amount of force against the prop, the carb barrel wouldn’t even move. I gave it liberal doses of WD-40 everywhere and kept doing so when things started to move. It turned out to be a great running engine.

Add a couple drops of an after run oil down the glow plug hole in a 4 stroke or in the carb on a 2 stroke and turn the crank over several times.

If you get good compression should be ready to go, just may need new glow plugs.

scottrc

I too have a few planes that have been constantly flown every year for 15 or more years. Every season, I go through and give each plane a good inspection. A well maintained plane could last many years. However, these planes endure a lot of vibration which will cause stress on all the joints and control surfaces. Give everything a good tug and twist to see if any glue joints may be ready to fail. If you feel anything loose, or hear pops and creaks when applying pressure, you may need to inspect further. If you are still unsure, better to strip the covering, check, and recover than get up into the air and have the wings fall off. I learned that lesson once when I was given an old plane, got it up in the air, and it disinigrated.

Engines too will last many many years if maintained properly. Sonds like your grandfather took good care of his stuff so enjoy.

About the only thing that gets outdated are radios. And you are replacing those.

NHDuke

Thanks guys for all of the responses and help.

Is there anything (other than the radios) that you can think of that might "go bad" after so many years? I found a pile of propellers, some Masterscrew and some were from Sig. All of them were plastic. None of them felt stiff or brittle.

If I do decide to rework any of the planes, what glue is best today? I can remember my grandfather talking poorly about CA glue many years ago, but it had just come out then. Anyone have any suggestions of a type and make. FYI, all of the planes are balsa kits. None of them were ARF.

I'm going to start my retraining on a Sig Kadet Jr. I just found out they don't even make them anymore! I was hoping to find a wing kit. I have two of them, only one wing!

Thanks again for the help.

DBCherry

My Feedback: (4)

At the least, you should probably replace all the fuel lines, and probably the tanks too. The tubing will likely have gotten stiff or brittle, and the clunks (the weighted protion inside the tank) may have corroded.

Battery packs will need to be replaced, but you'll get a transmitter pack and one receiver pack with your new radio.

Not sure about the props without seeing them, many of the old ones were nylon and may not hold up to the loads the engines will place on them. They're cheap though, and a club member should know when they see them.

Keep asking about the Kadet Jr wing. You'll find one eventually. Or you could ask if someone has a wing plan, and you could build your own.
Dennis-

proptop

My Feedback: (8)

Sounds like just about everything's been covered, so far...Just a little amusing (maybe) story I'll relate though. Last year a good old friend put me in charge of his model "estate" and tutoring his grand-son. We were looking at some of his planes when a bunch of acorns fell out and rolled onto the floor. We cleaned a nest out of the fuselage and thought all was cool, until we taxied out and the wooden pushrods (elev. and rud.) broke just before takeoff! Turns out they had been chewed almost all the way thru...Oh, and rodent urine [:'(] is really bad for glue joints, etc.

CaptainGlo

Was wondering about servos. Do they get too old for use?

Thanks.

proptop

My Feedback: (8)

I'd suppose it depends on how old they are...there are a few older guys in our club that use old servos (1980's vintage) but they are in slower, trainer type planes. If they're not worn out (pot, motor) or haven't been crashed too hard (gears, case) they MIGHT be o.k. Sometimes if a servo hasn't been used for some time, it can be jittery for a while, until it gets loosened up a bit. Personally, I don't think it's worth loosing a plane, or the safety risk when servos are so inexpensive ( at least the std. ones).
Also, if the plane(s) are stored in a garage where the temp. and humidity can fluctuate wildly you can have problems. That might not be a problem for some of you, but in central N.Y. we get below zero in winter and 90+ in summer. Makes me wonder about the glue joints, electronics, etc. of those planes, but the guys I've talked to who do it (hang their planes from the garage ceiling) don't seem to want to know about it or care? Maybe they don't have the room for them anywhere else? That's where the rodent problem I mentioned enters the picture...

NHDuke

Good question ezgoer..I forgot about those. As I was going through more of the stuff today, I noticed that one of the flight packs was airtronics. I think this set must be at least 12-15 years old. Anybody want to buy some vintage servos....just kidding of course.

It's amazing the stuff that I am finding and the memories that I'm digging up. I really appreciate all of the help from everyone, nice people here.

One of the planes he had built, and never flown as far as I can tell, is a bi-plane. It's in perfect condition. I was wondering how hard they might be to fly. Obviously, not the plane to be retrained on, but man I would love to see this one fly. I have not found the box or the plans that he used, and there is not an engine in the plane. Anyone know how to figure out what size motor should be in a plane? It's about the size (wing span) of a normal .40-.60 I would guess. I'm just wondering if that type of plane requires more power than normal.

Sorry about all of the questions.

Sean

Cyclic Hardover

My Feedback: (3)

You know I grew up in Laconia. Its been 30 years since I left but I always go back and vist family and friends. There is a guy named Armand Cote. His kids and i were buds and he is darn near 80 and still flying at the airport. He is probably one of the longest flyers in the area. Very nice guy if you ever get a chance to meet him

CaptainGlo

Yeah. I saw a perfectly good (& beautiful) plane go down just because of a $15 servo. Ain't worth it.

NHDuke

Does anyone have a good way of properly testing a servo to determine if it's still good? Be a shame to throw out a bunch of good servos.

A question on the engines, should I re-break them in? Is there a need to? I'm planning on, at the least, bench testing a couple this week, but I don't want to hurt them by doing so. Anything I should worry about?


Sean

Tommygun

My Feedback: (2)

I acquired an old Sig Liberty sport bipe from some kid around the corner back when we were in high school. It was his dads, and he had built it in the early 70's. I put all new bb servos with a computer radio in it; the elevator was set up to split individually for tight torque rolls. I bought a Saito .91 for her, and bolted it in. The plane flew great; really great on the maiden flight. A couple of months later, I did a wild lomcevac, and noticed something wasn't right. Both right wings broke to form a 45 degree angle. I thought it was going in for sure, but with full aileron deflection I was able to bring it down for a 3 point landing. Haven't fixed it since. I guess the point is be careful with some of the air loads on a plane if its REALLY old. I have a 1990 Great Planes Ultrasport, and it still takes anything I can dish out.

proptop

My Feedback: (8)

Sean, it's pretty hard to describe just what to look for and listen for. If you can have a few experienced people check them out and observe their operation, that'd probably be the best and easiest. Look for smoothness of operation, and listen for noisy gears for a start. Also, check the wires and connectors and make sure they're in good condition (no corrosion or bad insulation) and check for obvious cracks in the cases and broken mounting tabs, etc. (you know, signs of a crash) You might have an illegal receiver too, if it was made before 1991 and not narrow band. You might be better off getting some new equipment, but that's impossable to say over the internet, so that's where "hands on" experienced flyers really are the best way to go...
As far as the engines go, you should pull the backplates off and look for rust, and check to see if the ball bearings are spinning freely (if so equipped) and get them loosened up a bit before you run them. If you're not sure of just how to do that, go to the glow engines forum and post a question there. If the engine has been broken-in, it doesn't need to be done again, but if you aren't sure of how new or old it is it wouldn't hurt to treat it as if it were new and take it easy on it for awhile.

BillHarris

My two favorite planes are a 1972 Oly 99 and a 1973 Windfree sailplane that I bought from an estate sale. The monokote was old and brittle so I removed it and went over the glue joints with this CA. I installed new avionics, though: I'd hate risking a plane with a radio failure. The Windfree came with a Kraft Brick rx/servo unit. I hunted up a Kraft Brick case and installed a current Hitec Rx and servos and made a "faux-brick". I still have the old Kraft brick intact.

--Bill

ZAGNUT

My Feedback: (1)

if the engines haven't been run in a long time it's a good idea to take the backplate off and look for corrosion/rust on the rear bearing and crank. if you see some then it's not a big deal to get new bearings from a local supplier (about $10 for a pair) and pop them in. if you try and run an engine with rusty, skidding balls the damage that may be done will be far more expensive.

i have plenty of 15-20 year old servos that are still in great shape, most are coreless with ball bearings. it depends more on how much they were used and not so much on how old they are. kinda like a how honey bee's life is based on distance flown rather than time


dave

JoeAirPort

My Feedback: (41)

Old or new, gotta be checked routinely.

Live Wire

Just like Old Farts, They move slower and can't do the tricks. Most are as good as the new but have to be checked out. Check the plane and the gear before you fly, and if you are as old as the plane have a spotter.

NHDuke

Rc Outlaw - I'm only 32...with 20/20 vision...I'll be YOUR spotter

Zagnut and Proptop - took your advice and pulled the back plate off of a couple of them. One Enya 40X looked real bad. Looked like the balls in the cage were frozen solid. Bearing job on that one for sure. But I've read that getting parts for the Enya's isn't easy.

There is a Super Tigre 46G21 in the bunch that looks like it is brand new. I pulled the back plate off of that one, even though she felt really smooth, and everything looked ok. Couldn't really see much with the crank in the way, but it looked really clean. I really don't think this motor has been run.

I have a few more to go through and check out. But so far things are looking promising.

I started to do some heavy checks on the control surfaces, looking for bad hinges. Found too many bad CA hinges. They were on the planes that I personally built about 10 years ago. The planes that my grandfather built have what look to be the normal style plastic hinge. They all feel great.

I have not put any of the old servos to power yet. Should be interesting to see what happens to them. I know that some of them were not used much (they were mine, and I didn't really fly all that much)

Ordered a new wing kit for the Kadet MarkII today as well as plans for the Kadet Jr! Need to build a wing for one of them as well.(yup, Sig had them for me for just a few bucks!)

I have noticed through all of this that most of the damage that I have seen to all of the stuff has come from poor handling over the years. I really should have been more involved in keeping this stuff safe. Live and learn.

Sean

ZAGNUT

My Feedback: (1)

ball bearings are a standard off the shelf item so if all the other parts are good you'll have a very nice long lasting engine, enyas are GOOD!

check your area for a bearing supplier or find one on-line. should cost around $10 for the pair so don't be fooled into paying more (boca). there is a member here that sells bearing sets for even less but i can't remember who...


dave