Boy, I hate to do this but here goes! At the field today, one of our member's with mega years of experience was flying his new "H9 .60 size ultra stick". He has flown this plane about 30 times and it does fly very well! On one flight he noticed a problem with throttle change and decided to bring it in. Immediately upon landing the firwall dropped off the plane!

Upon inspection, it appears that the firewall was poorly attached to the plane as the separation was very clean. He was using a Saito 100, which is the engine recommended for this plane by H9. He was very fortunate in this happening in such a manner as it will be a very easy fix! Point is, it shouldn't have happened in the first place. The "epoxy" appeared to be very soft, if it was epoxy!
Please inspect your planes guys.

Happy Flying!

LOOPMAN

WHEW!!
Thanks Loopman!
I was just this evening doing my "radio adjustments" on my new never flown US 60.
Will make sure I check out the firewall good!

Something else: Iwas checking my CG, my plane appears to be quite noseheavy(have a MDS .78 mounted), looks like I may have to add a rearward hatch, and move my 1100mah bat pack back.
Anyone else care to comment on how there balance came out?

Pud

Loopman,

Thanks for the insight. I will immediately pin my firewall with toothpics -- might even cut me a hatch and make sure the firewall is reinforced with angle stock inside.

Pud,

My US 60 is also nose heavy with the FA-100 Saito up front. I installed my 1300mah NIMH battery south of the servos and still had to add an oz of lead in the tail just in front of the horizontal stabilizer.

We had a guy at our field with a H9 40 size Ultra Stick. Three minutes into it's first flight the piece of wood that has the blind nuts for the wing hold down bolts came loose. Plane went straight in. Both plane and engine were a total loss. To H9's credit, they replaced the plane and engine. I also have the 40 size Ultra Stick and have re-enforced the wing hold down mount. I have flown the heck out of it for almost a year now with no problems.

Weak firewall -> fuse joints on Ultra Sticks are a known issue. Pin it with toothpicks (or dowels on the bigger birds) and epoxy and you'll not have any problems.

Hey guys,
thanks again for the heads up!
I checked out the firewall on my "still unflown" US 60 today.
It does have triangle stock on the sides at the firewall, but, just in case the glue may not be up to 'snuff, I drilled and pinned the firewall.
Also did my rear hatch mod, so I can move my battery back to try and get the CG back from the leading edge of my wing!(ok, it's not THAT bad, but it definitely is nose heavy!)
Man, I sure do LOVE these forums--the amount of help and knowledge here is just incredible!!
Pud