I bought my hurricane a month ago. What inspired me to buy it was watching Yuri Higugi at he Joe Nall flyin in May. He was torque rolling it at night time over the lake two feet from the water. Very impressive.

I finally put mine together and flew it this weekend. I'm using a brisson 2.4 what a great combo. This is one of the best 27% scale airplanes I have flown and I've flown them all.

There is one problem, the firewall pulled apart after the 3rd flight. I noticed it when I was going onto the 4th flight.

It did not look very strong when I assembled this kit, but I tried it anyway.

I'm thinking of drilling 3/16 dowel holes from the side frame to reinforce. Also I might put aluminum angle braces in the corner for added protection.

Any suggestions on how to reinforce the firewall, will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Luis

I have two Hurricanes, one with a 2.4 and the other with a 3.2, both Brisons. I have not had any firewall problems at all but you have me worried. Can you give more details on the failure? Did the triangle blocks in the corners split? Did the factory fiberglassing over the triangles fail or separate from the firewall? How hard did you push the plane on the previous flights {I push mine VERY hard}? Can you post a picture of the separation?

The triangle separated from the left side of firewall.
First flight was a feel out flight. Other two were hard, everything from blenders, walls, inverted snaps to torque rolls.
Will be posting photos later.

Thanks for the warning. My TS52 will be here soon and I was debating cutting the firewall back a 1/4 inch anyway to reduce the gap that I think that I am going to have between the spinner hub and the cowl. I've heard of using pins to secure the firewall from the side but don't know the details of how its done. I would like to know the best way to strengthen my firewall as well.

I take it you didn't lose the airplane. The firewall must not have completely let go.

Bozwth

Hello,

I also have the Hurricane with TS52. I moved the fire wall back 1/2 inch to get the clearance I needed for the cowl when using the Taurus motor mount. I used a 1/2 thick carbon balsa panel from http://www.acp-composites.com/. I installed the panel using 3/16 dowels and triangle stock. This did not add any weight.
I would recommend installing the rudder servo in the tray and not in the tail as moving the motor back will counter the weight of the TS.

Lenny.

Hey Diesel,

How many dowels did you use? Were they used on the sides only? How deep into the panel did you go with the dowels? How much did the carbon balsa panel cost? Did you use epoxy to adhere the triangle stock to the back side of the carbon balsa panel? How has it held up? You fitted the carbon balsa panel between the side braces like the original firewall? Did you use epoxy throughout when installing the panel and dowels? Or did you use fiberglass? Pro Bond Polyurethane?

As you can see, this is going to be a new undertaking for me. I hope reading this didn't make you dizzy!

Bozwth

Hey Bozwth.........I see your finally getting around to Hurricane......I finished my Lanier 30% Edge(pic in gallery) and did it's first flights a couple of weekends ago, weather has been crap since....put a pic in your gallery when your done, I'll check every so often.....Good luck.

Bozwth,

1. I used 3 dowels on each side only.

2. The dowels are inserted 1/2 into the fire wall.

3. The carbon balsa panel part# LP-26C was $10.00.

4. Yes I used 30min epoxy. I did drill a series of 1/16 holes in the panel under the triangle stock for better adhesion.

5. So far it has held up well. It seems very strong.

6. I did use epoxy on all surfaces.

7. It is fitted between the side braces.

8. I did use cloth over the triangle stock.

I also dilled the mount holes in the carbon fire wall installed dowels and then re-drilled so that the wall does not crush when tightening the mount bolts.
If you decide to go this route you will have to get a jig saw blade also from the carbon panel supplier part# T-01 $5.75.

Hope this helps.

Lenny.