MHawker

My Feedback: (16)

Here we go, fellows. Your first issue.

I have an old Cap 20L. It's an all fiberglass fus'. I bought this plane used and it seems to have some stress cracks along the front edge where the horizontal stab goes into the fuse'.

The bad part is this plane has a great paint job I'd hate to screw up. But I don't see any other way.

What are my choices?

Thanks,

Mike- I'll try to post some pics if you need them.

rpmtech

My Feedback: (6)

If your lucky, can you access the back side where the cracks are?
If so the go in there with a towel wetted with some Acetone and clean the area. then thouroughly scuff the inside around the fractures with 80 grit sandpaper, and once again repeat the cleaning with some Acetone.

Stick down some tape over the outside of the fractures, to prevent any resin from seeping through to the outside finish.
Wet out some small pieces of cloth with epoxy and stick em'
over the cracks on the inside. smooth them out and that should do the trick.

Always clean the heck out of any glass surface before attempting a repair, if you dont get it clean enough all scuffing it up will do is embed the grime into the surface, and you wont get a reliable bond.

rpmtech

My Feedback: (6)

Or of theres no way to get inside, I hope you can get matching paint. If they arent serious structural stress cracks you might be better off leaving them alone. Otherwise you need to do everything on the outside and there is no magic thing to really do without some sanding, filling and touch up paint.

MHawker

My Feedback: (16)

Thanks for the response. I don't think I would have thought to put tape on the outside to prevent seepage.

I don't have a way to get inside yet, but I may end up putting a servo back there, so I will have some access then.

It's such a shame. It's supposedly Jeff Tracy's Cap 20L which was the first composite plane to compete in the TOC. It was on the cover of the June 1979 RC Model Builder. I hate to mess it up, but I'd rather repaint then spend the time picking up the pieces when it comes apart in the air.

I'll watch the cracks for the time being. Thanks again! I'm glad this forum was started.

Mike

Mike James

I've seen these on so many planes.... Of course, some are actually cracked from flight loads, but:

I think a lot of these are the result of simply banging the tail into doors and walls when loading and unloading the model, (Pattern and IMAC-type models are typically large) and that's why they sometimes go unnoticed by the owner. He's thinking, "I never crashed or landed hard", and so doesn't inspect the model often.

Anyway, the suggested methods for fixing it in the previous posts are good ones.

rpmtech

My Feedback: (6)

Hi Mike, How is the King Air project coming?