Well we got our first ding today. The Super Tigre .90 has been very cantankerous since day one, for that matter it was cantankerous on the last model I was on. It spent a winter on a test stand until I had some confidence in it again before I put it on the stuka. On flight 16 I had an engine out on takeoff and had to land in a alfalfa field. The alfalfa grabbed the landing gear and pulled it in hard as I was attempting to flair. Both landing gear were removed from the wing, and in doing so it removed the outer wing panels. In addition the on the nose smack that was caused loosened up the fire wall.

The fire wall is two sheets of 1/8 Lt ply with balsa filets between it and the box. I looked for the kind of glue used and could not tell what it was. Could tell that the fire wall parts had been fuel proofed prior to assembly. I assumed it was thin CA'ed into place because I could not find a trace of glue to look at. I also replaced the engine with old reliable Fox .74 Eagle 1.

The block with the torsion anchor was broken out of the wing and the main spar to the outer wing was broken. The torsion anchor block was glued in with some sort of white glue, not hot melt, and it broke away from the rib doublers cleanly, which makes me wonder how well the glue was suited to the application. The glue held very well to the main spar box right behind it removing parts of it. All of the parts have been fit back together using epoxy on the fire wall and torsion block and thin CA on the sheeting and it went back together like a jig saw puzzle. I tacked the outer wing panels inplace with thick CA, verify they are located correctly remove the covering on either side of the joint and glass it for strength.

Bottom of cowl got abused pretty badly but is still useable. Will get a winters worth of flying on it then decide on the new cowl.

I will write again once I see how this covering is to use in recovering those areas I just described.

Joe