I have an Aerobird Challenger that has been through hell, high winds, slope
soaring, thermaling, crashes, trees and more than a few smooth flights and
good landings. I would guess 250+ flights easy!!

But over time the poor bird has degraded in the quality of its flight. It
lives in my car in the original box. In the heat of the summer and the cold of
the NY winter it sits in the car, ever ready to take to the sky. It rarely
gets the kind of "tune up" that my other planes get. Tonight it got a good
going over. I share my work as it might be helpful to you.

Good old Polyethylene!

The body is polyethylene, a plastic that can be molded when it is hot. This is
the body or the pod of the plane. If your body/fuselage had become dented,
twisted and somewhat out of true, try some heat!

The nose of mine was slightly offset to the right.

I also noticed that on the last few flights I needed more and more up trim to
keep the plane flying.

It also had a dented or bashed in nose, from a hard hit.

To check the tail allignment I laid the fuse and boom on a flat board in such
a way that the two orange screws on the tail could hang off the board. I
discovered that the rear of the fuselage, where the boom comes into the body,
was slightly drooped. The boom was mounted solidly so that was not the
problem. The body was bent. What to do?

Find the heat gun!

I heated the fuselage area all around the boom, going forward half way and up
half way. I got it hot to the touch but did not melt it. The plastic becomes
more pliable when it is hot. After I heated it, I clamped the boom to the
board so that it, and the body, were flat, V tail in normal flying position,
and let the fuselage cool. Much of the bend was gone. I did it again. This
time, after the fuse cooled, all the "bow" was gone. The boom now projected
directly out from the back of the plane. The structure feels strong so I think
it will hold. I am sure it will fly better now.

The nose was dented from a hard knock. It looked bad and the indented nose
messes up the aerodynamics. I removed the nose foam and again heated the
plastic. When it was hot I took a sharpie marker and pushed the nose dent out
from the inside till the nose was smooth again. Use something rounded to do
this, not a sharp item or you might push right through.

Two problems fixed. I used some double sided tape to reset the nose foam.

Looking from nose to tail I could see that the body twisted to one side. Heat
gun again to both sides of the body. Got it hot, then twisted the body in the
opposite direction slightly past straight and held it for about a minute as
the plastic cooled. Twist was almost gone. So I repeated. Now the body is
straight and true.

So, if your Aerobird Challenger, Xtreme, Firebird whatever, T-Hawk or any of
the other polyethylene pod and boom planes, is a bit twisted, or banged in,
try a heat gun or a hair dryer. As the plastic gets hot it is more flexible
and you can undent it, or take a sag out or twist it back to true then hold it
while it cools.


Give it a try!!!
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