GPutt33

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This has been one of my favorite planes to just go out and fly. OS-160 on the nose gave me ALL the power I ever needed or wanted. I still don't know what happened. All indications would have said I had an servo wire reversed in the wing due to the snap roll it did on take off, BUT, the wing blew off and took the 6" servo extensions out of the Rx with it. They were all color coded and were correct. The servo's all worked after we hooked the battery back up and tried everything ??? May never figure this one out.

Anyhow, it busted up the fuselage pretty good, and the wing in different places through out. I have the fuselage put back together and it may be better then before AND I only gained 2.4 oz's somehow...........

The wing shouldn't be as bad to put back together as the fuselage was. The only thing not quite like it was will be some of the Ultracote. I bought what said Translucent, but after I started putting it on it turned out Transparent, but actually I think it looks kind of cool [8D] I think folks wanting to learn to fly or just know what's under all of those pretty colors will be able to look inside this one and see exactly how a plane is put together.

I'll post more when the wing gets put back together and mounted on the plane.

Roo Man

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Great job on the fuse.

Gary

GPutt33

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Thanks - After going through two big boxes of balsa I can't believe I can only find two pieces of LE, and they aren't quite the right size or shape. At least that has given me a little more time to clean up the tore up areas of the wing and have decided on how to make the repairs so they are as strong as before but still light (I hope). Will be in Casper this weekend so I will if they have the LE I need. I will then be taking the whole next week of for a little R&R out of town, so don't give up on the rebuild pics or status, I'll be back soon.

GPutt33

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Continuing with the wing. After removing more covering off the bottom (all of it) I found more pieces cracked. I was then fooling around with the wing dowel blocks and discovered the one I thought had survived had actually busted the dowel off about 1/2" deep so I am completely rebuilding the center section. LE, 3/32" lite ply, 1.5" balsa block, with another 3/32" piece on the back. Worst part of that will be getting the holes lined up for drilling in the new wing dowels. Also got two of the outboard ribs cut, shaped and epoxied in. Going to Calgary for a week of R&R to see some friends so she'll be sitting for a few weekends now.

AA5BY

Good job and report on the rebuild. Yep... likely a pair of the wires were mis-connected or the transmitter on wrong plane. I've colored tape on each of the four leads also. My routine is to combine a control surface check in conjunction with pulling out the transmitter antenna and the check is not just an observation that the surfaces are moving but a mental affirmation that each control surface direction is proper. IMO, it is a must do effort with transmitters that contain several models. We've talked at our field about the necessity with several other who practice the same discipline. And.... there is the occasional discovery in the check that they are on the wrong model.

Two other issues are pulling antennas out and getting frequency pins. Some modelers that have both 2.4 and 72 transmitters have forgotten to pull out the antennas of the 72 stuff or get frequency pins. We now require a pin for 2.4 to try to limit that mistake. We've had crashes due to failure to pull out an antenna by owners who have both 2.4 and 72 transmitters.

With the USL discontinued and so highly valued by many pilots, there are some heroic rebuilds taking place. I had one roost in the top of an oak tree with reverse damage of yours as the wing had greater damage. My rebuild was done shortly after the first discontinuance. When the USL was offered again for a short while... I laid one back. Sure... I feel guilty sometimes about having two of them when they are in demand... but not guilty enough to give it up.

GPutt33

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Well back from vacation (it was great by the way). Actually I do the same thing, and color code all of the servo wires that need connected every flight. What was wierd about this one was when the wing came off it didn't pull a single pair apart, but rather pulled them all straight out of the Rx. Everyone of them was color matched perfectly. The other thing is I fly the JR 2.4 with the model match and so you can't go up unless you have it on the correct plane (which is a really nice function of the JR radios). So we are still scratching our heads abit about what happened.

I stopped at Central Hobbies in Billings yesterday on the way through and picked up a few more pieces I need to do a few upgrades while I'm at it.

AA5BY - If you EVER get to feeling TOO guilty about having a new USL in the box on the bench please let me know

AA5BY

Yep... a mystery. And... having a lot of time on an USL, there simply is nothing much in the way of unpredictable flight from them.

GPutt33

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Well I hope you all had a Great Thanksgiving! Ours was great. We jumped in the Jeep, headed up through all of the snow to the top of the north end of the Big Horn Mountains and met some great friends of ours from the other side of the mountain at a lodge called Bear Lodge. They had a fantastic buffet!! Turkey cut so thick it looked like you got a whole breast, a great Wyoming Prime Rib and a huge ham as well. Enough of the other fixings it took two plates [8D]

Finally able to start putting a little bit more time in the shop. Now that the shop is 100% insulated and with the little oil bath heater going I was able to keep it right around 65 deg F. even though the actual outside air temp last week was around -15 during the night with highs for about 3 days between -10 and +5. Last year I would have abandon shop during the cold snap and hustled all the glues, epoxies, etc inside the house.

I got the LE in each section ready for re-sheeting. I'll do the two outside tips first (the glue is drying on the first replaced sheet over the area below as I type this). I had the wing on the fuselage awhile back and it fit like a glove still. The critical part for me will be redrilling the holes for the dowels in the leading edge so they line up with the existing holes in the fuselage. ANY HELPFUL HINTS WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED

Roo Man

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When making cabinets, I found a dowell hole locator that should do your job for you. It is a small tool that goes into the hole you have with a shoulder so it won't go through and a centered point that will mark the oposing pc to insure proper alignment. These come in various sizes usually starting at 1/4" and going up in 1/8 or 1/16 increments, can't remember which. If you have a different size hole, you might be able to turn one down to fit.

Gary

GPutt33

My Feedback: (2)

Thanks Roo Man - I was kind of thinking about this and thought about making about what I think your talking about. I was going to take a very short piece of dowel like I'm going to use, put a point on it, and then turn down the other end to put a washer over so it wouldn't fall through the hole in the back. I might stop by HD tomorrow just to check and see if they have one like I need already made. I'll let you know how it works.

chandley43231

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great job  wile you havethe fuse open did you reinforce the fire wall there never seens to be enough supeort uo there on those hanger 9 ss   keep up the great work 

GPutt33

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Yep, I reinforced the firewall and everything in between to the tail that looked like it needed it. Still only gained a little over 3 oz's.

So here is an update. I have got all the sheeting replaced top and bottom as well as re-installing the wing hold down dowels. I couldn't find the right size of arrow in my stash to keep it light and strong so I just ended up using a couple of pieces of those fiberglass driveway markers with the reflective tape at the top. The black bags you see me using came out of my old dive belt. These black ones are each 10 lb's, and then I've got 7.5 lb and 5 lb bags as well. These are great with the lead shot in them because they are heavy enough to bend the sheeting and shape themselves to the wings curvature. A little wax paper to protect them and it's done. The wing is now whole again. Now starts the sanding, filling, and prep work for covering it. Next pictures should be it complete and whole again. The wing fits into the wing saddle of the fuselage like a glove. Once the covering is on I'll weigh the wing to see how much weight I picked up, but I don't think it will be to bad.

I'd kind of like to get this little project over. I have an AW S2 Super Cub sitting in the box and on black Friday I ordered every other piece I needed to complete from nose to tail and it's all now in................

Ok - I am trying to reload the pictures, the first time had two of them show up so large it took 2 minutes to scroll to the right to see the edge............[X(]

GPutt33

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Well, the re-covering begins. Wing tip done. I think it'll all turn out pretty good. The clear Ultracote should let you see through the bottom of the wing pretty well (like the fuselage turned out). I have the BRIGHT NEON colored strips to go on the bottom. They aren't exactly the same as the old colors but close. She'll just have some character now

GPutt33

My Feedback: (2)

I am SO close Wing is re-covered. New servo's installed w/HD servo arms. New carbon fiber w/titanium threaded rod ends w/HD DuBro ball links. CG is right at 4 1/8" with the battery moved to where the receiver was before. Throws re-set on all of the control surfaces. All that's left is the lateral balance since I know I have one wing tip heavier due to added re-construction I had to do. A little weight and then one wing tip to recover and I will be ready to re-maiden her [8D]

For some reason I can't post pics tonight, so I'll try later.

If you'd rather see the rebuild pics now you can see them on my little RC Home Page - [link=http://gputt33.multiply.com/photos/album/82/Ultra_Stick_Lite-120_-_The_Crash_and_Rebuild_OOHHH_the_Humanity_]GPutts RC Home Page - Lite 120 Rebuild[/link]

scooterinvegas

My Feedback: (1)

Get the Lite back in the air where she likes to be

GPutt33

My Feedback: (2)

Well as of tonight the re-build is 100% complete The wingtip took 3 - .357 mag 158 grain semi-wadcutters to balance (1.6 ozs) to get the lateral balance back. This was actually quite a bit more weight then I expected it to....... Wing tips both recovered. Had two small repairs in coating on the bottom of the horizontal stab. I ordered a new HiTec Digital servo for the elevators which should be in about Friday, but that will only take a few minutes to change out and reset the center and throws on it. Now all I need is some decent weather, but since were in Northern Wyoming, and we are going under a winter weather warning starting tomorrow, it may be Spring before I go out again.............. Ah well, the bench is now cleaned off and wanting me to un-box the AeroWorks S2 Super Cub, but that will be another thread

I'll post a few pictures of the re-maiden on here whenever it happens.

Hope you all enjoyed the re-build of a GREAT plane

Happy New Year

AA5BY

Congrats on the completion and a job well done. Hope it provides a great many more hours of flight enjoyment.

I did a major rebuild on an USL as well... put it into the top of a large oak tree... one limb completely sheared through the right wing. It got flown a great deal prior to and has been flown a lot since the rebuild as its the favorite plane in the hanger to take to the field though not the favorite flyer.

Mine has a Zenoah G-20 so is very economical to fly, easy to start and needs very little clean up... plus easy setup and takedown and a very versatile flight envelope make it a really fun plane.

Thanks for sharing the rebuild.

GPutt33

My Feedback: (2)

Well I finally got to go out today and re-maiden the Lite-120. I actually think it flew better then before the crash. Same engine, bigger servo's, carbon fiber and titanium connenting arms, new receiver and switch.

A few pictures of before the flight, and one of the Big Horns that's our backdrop at the Field.

I'm afraid no picture of it in flight to prove, but my brother did take video and it's posted on YouTube.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWFVVfifrV4[/youtube]