joco1

wrecked my nexstar last nite and tore the belly ! im a newbie and never tried repair work before any suggestions?[img][/img]

joco1

also i would like to repair as quickly and easily as possible so i can get back to flying!

tlgibson97

If I was going to fix that I would cut the skin and covering out to the the next solid supporting structure (stringers, bulkheads, etc.) cleaning up the hole so it isnt ragged. I would splice in what looks like the broken stringer, reskin it, and put a covering patch over it.

Nexstars are pretty rugged. You could probably fly iy with just some covering or tape over the hole but I would want to do a good repair so there arent any doubts. You could also reinforce any splices just for good measure but a small repair like that probably wouldnt be necessary.

This advice is just coming from what I see in the photos so anyone with any nextar experience may be able to help more. generally in a repair if you replace whtever is broken and the joints are good then you shouldnt have any trouble.

nothinbetr2do

for a band-aid, you could put a peice of clear packing tape on it. it would fly ok. but to do it right, do like tlgibson97 said oh sorry, didn't see at first. you mentioned tape

joco1

when you say splice in how do you mean i have some1\4 inch plywood but i dont know how to fit it in flush! dont mean to sound stupid (but i guess i am) but what are stringers and bulkheads?

BadSplice

My Feedback: (1)

stringers are the small squar pieces of bulsa running down the length of the plane. Bulkheads are the thin ply pieces that fit horizontally across the body.
I would not use 1/4" ply.... really heavy and hard to shape. get some bulsa, cut off the broken ends of the stringers, then glue in new sections, then put some thin bulsa sheeting over the hole, sand, and cover.
Voila!

meaden

Like patching a hole in a boat. From the outside

RC MANIAC119

My Feedback: (14)

Just put some Duct Tape on it, and go fly!

I don't see any reason to tear into it, just to fix a few stringers, unless you just want to learn how to repair it. I don't see any structure damage in your photo to warrant ripping it apart!!

Tape it up....and go fly it!!

gadgetophile

Fitting it in flush is not too hard.

Think of it like making your own jigsaw: clean up the edges of the holes, make sure you have something to support the new balsa (new stringers and/or cut the hole bigger so you have something on the edge of the hole). Then cut your missing jigsaw piece out of fresh ply sheeting, fit it in place, glue and sand!

Looking at the pictures, you'll probably want to enlarge the hole towards the rear of the plane so that you can juuuuust see the edge of the bulkhead that I can see in the picture. Don't cut past the bulkhead because that will mean the rear sheeting won't have support. You may not want to go as far forward as the next bulkhead, but if it's less than an inch or so forward of the hole I'd suggest enlarging the hole forward that far.

Mr67Stang

Okay, no one else has asked. How did you do this? I have never seen crash damage like this... And I have seen several Nexstars crash. Looks like the wife got ahold of it with a ball peen hammer[:@]

Reguardless, I would repair the stringers so you don't have a weak spot in the event of a hard landing... or a series of them that may start a stress crack that could lead to flight failure.

joco1

upon take off the wind played some games wih me(newbie remember) and it came down on the only piece of farm equipment in 14 miles!

CGRetired

My Feedback: (1)

How did you do that?

That's a round section of the fuselage. You will have to fit a piece of balsa in and bend it to shape. First, remove covering from a good bit of area around the damage, to extend well past the formers. You can bend the balsa to shape by soaking it in warm water and then bending it to shape then letting it dry. Then proceed as shown above by Stang. Make sure you fit the formers inside the fuselage and CA them back in place. Try not to over use glues, though. Unless there is some structural damage, I would stick with CA. Clean the surface with light sanding, blow the dust away, and just use enough CA to bond any broken sections.

When done, sand it lightly, blow off the dust, and reapply covering and go flying.

shakey44

My Feedback: (3)

I did just this on my Nexstar and have about 50 flights on it since the repair. Only took about 2 hours start to finish.

edberg

I would just slap a piece of covering on it, but that's just me.

joco1

what type of covering would you recomend to use?

MP3_tilaco

When you are learning ussualy you will crash your model, just cover with Monokote.

joco1

so how do you apply the covering i see where you need a heat iron and other items is it a big job?

troposcuba

hey stang, nice diagrams. just in case anyone was curious, that is a "scarf" joint. stronger than a straight cut would be, but if it sees any strong load in any direction, it is a good idea to put a doubler over the scarf joint. basic structural repair.

to expand on Mr67stang's diagram, that would be a good way to splice the stringer. then cut out the balsa sheeting to a nice symetrical shape and insert a filler that matches the cutout. again a strong and easy way to put in the filler would be to put a couple small doublers in at the edges of the filler first. then all you have to do is lay the filler into the hole and glue it right on the doublers at the edge of the hole.

sorry i don't have any diagrams, it is a bit difficult to explain verbally.

wait a minute i just figured out how to steal mrstang's diagram. see the added parts for an explanation of the doublers i was talking about.

BadSplice

My Feedback: (1)

You should only need the Iron for covering that if you replace the sheeting. I like to cut out the patch to be round, because corners peel up easier. then just tack on one side with the iron, stretch the covering across the repair area, and tack the rest of it down starting from one side and going across till its all sealed.

PiccoLino

I have a question related to the pictures of the damage.
Since I don't know this model (Nexstar), what is that device between the landing gear and the hole?
It looks like a knot with two screws on it. What could it be possibly for?
Thanks for satisfying my curiosity.

joco1

it is the sensor for the afs system