viriiguy

And where oh where to start?

So I recently bought a home, with a big long paved driveway and a couple acres of clear tree free land off to the side.. Being out in the country, my neighbors have fairly large open yards as well.. So I am hoping to do a little flying at home as well as the local RC Airport.

So I started shopping on Craigslist and the otherday came across a gentleman getting out of the hobby. We stuck a deal and I drove out to his place to pick up his collection.. I still can't believe I fit it all in my Dodge Charger.... But, this is what I got.


I know what a couple of them are... MAybe you guys can help with the rest. In the back I know is a Big Stick.. Or Ugly Stick. .60 size. The Front left is a Tiger Trainer. The Small one is a LAzy Bee with a custom wing. I am not sure on the rest.

3 Of them have all the electronics in them.. 5 have motors. I also got a Futuba T6XA Controller, a box of various parts.. a bunch of new Balsa Wood and a couple gallons of Nitro fuel.

So yesterday I went to Hobby Town and bout a Field Box starter kit and ordered a battery charger for my Futuba.

Now none of the planes are air ready. They all have holes in the monokote or broken bits.. The Trainer I would REALLY like to get going.. As I am a newb. But all the coating is coming off of it and the fuselage is full of black mold ont he inside. The wing coating looks to be in good-ish shape and intact. So I hope to pull off the fuselage coating and try to clean up/kill the mold.

So, yea... I have my work cut out for me.. IT is all new to me.. But I think I can do it. However, I am going to have a LOT of questions I am sure.

So first things first... Any tips/pionters for salvaging my moldy trainer?
Any ideas what planes I have?
And is there a coating I can use that is cheaper than Monokote? I bought 6 foot of True Red to repair a small hole on the Big Stick, but that small amount was $20! I have looked online and found a few offerings that are a LOT cheaper than Monokote or Ultrakote.. But are any of them any good?

JohnBuckner

My Feedback: (1)

The tan colored airplane in the forground is a Top Flite Elder.

John

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

Just behind the Bee looks like a Kaos.

JohnBuckner

My Feedback: (1)

Ya may be GB. Viriiguy front views make identifying anything very difficult, a side view of the old sport pattern airplane behind the Bee would be helpful.

The yellow airplane in the rear with the high dihedral wing appears to be a faily modern generic traner with a modified wing without ailerons and the necessary added dihedral to operate with just rudder, elevator throttle.

Oh by the way Viriiguy, welcome to the forum[8D]

John

viriiguy

Thanks gang. I will get some side pics tomorrow when I get home from work. It is pouring rain at the moment.

The previous owner told me the one behind the Bee was rather old.. And it is covered in Silk, instead of plastic.

Minnreefer

As far as the mold go, a light solution of a little bleach water would work, or spray it on, then let it sit in the sun for a day or two. Depending on what you got, you may want or need to buy a new rx battery or a new transmitter battery.

Looks like you got a good deal on everything.

viriiguy

Thanks!
I was plannign on either trying Bleach or a Mold Stop agent I bought when we had some flooding in our home. I will give the bleach a shot. I have move of the covering stripped off the trainer body now. This weekend, I hope to spend some time completeing the disassembly.

I feel I did pretty good on the trade.. I gave the gentleman an Asus Android Tablet for everything. We were both happy with the deal

Rotten40851

My Feedback: (2)

I would Stay with the Ultracote or Monokote, it costa a bit more but the China cote stuff is real garbage. You get what you pay for. The cheap stuff will most likelypeel off. By the way if you see an ad for Ora cover, that is the same as Ultra cote.

viriiguy

Thanks Rotten.

JollyPopper

My Feedback: (6)

There appears to be a small (20 size or so?) airplane on the floor under the wing of the yellow trainer. What is that?

DadsToysBG

My Feedback: (35)

The trainer is a old Thundertigar trainer. they used sticky back covering. None of the covering will stick to it. Best use clear packing tape. Don't trust any of the batterys. Replace them all. Also look for a club close by for help.
Happy to see a new person starting out. Best of luck. Dennis

viriiguy

The one under the wing is an unfinished frame. No idea what it was supposed to be.. but I plan to work on it one of these days. It is in good shape, just not finished.

jester_s1

If the covering on the Tiger is coming off, just strip it and start fresh with Monokote or Ultracote. I had one of those planes and liked it. I used it to instruct students at the club. I called it my $30 airplane because I had $10 in the airframe and $20 in the OS engine. Sadly, my $30 airplane hit the only tree within 300 feet of my flying site and absolutely disintegrated. The show was nearly worth the $10 loss I incured after recovering all the guts and engine. The Tiger will make a good first plane (you're going to work with an instructor, right?) and the Ugly Stick will be a great one to step up into once you don't need the self righting characteristics of the trainer anymore.

For your other questions, don't try to use cheaper covering than mono or ultra cote. The $10-$12 you'll save per airplane will be more than made up for in the frustration of trying to get it to look right and then stripping it all back off and starting over. Without seeing your moldy airplane it's hard to say if it is salvageable, but I'd be inclined to just dumpster it. Mold means it's been wet or at least in a very humid environment, which can degrade the glue joints and warp the wood even if it didn't weaken the wood where the mold is. You'll spend $30 covering it plus your time and may still wind up with a plane that isn't airworthy. And, of course, there is the matter that black mold has a nasty habit of going airborne and spreading onto every edible surface it finds. Get that stuff in your walls and you could be several thousand dollars invested in saving that old airplane.

We can do a better job identifying your planes with a side view pic of each.

viriiguy

I was trying to strip the Trainer down today... It is the one full of black mold. It seems solid enough.. But it does have a considerable amount in it. The area where the electronics reside is probably 20-30% covered in black mold. I think what I will do is just spray it with bleach, patch the wings and fly it as is until it falls apart. At least that way I can use it to get some experience. I have the vinyl off most of the fuselage. The upper surfaces are for the most part intact.

Hawk131

What condition is the stick in, I would pick the stick as a trainer with a instructor, it is a great plane to learn and grow on.

viriiguy

The stick is in pretty good condition. It has several patches on the wings and needs one more.. It has an OS .60 engine on it as I understand. Looks to be sound. I need to sand the wood on the top of the fuselage down and apply new covering to it, but other than that, looks to be ready to go.

Hawk131

Heck, my stick has so many patches on it, it looks like it was shot with bird shot, I would patch it and fly it, is it a 40 or 60 Size, the 40 will have a 58" wing span. I love my stick, it went down on take off and broke the wing, easy fix; now I'm just in to my war birds right now. This a great plane, pardon the pun.. they used to use them as trainers back in the day, later when you get proficient its a good aerobatic plane as well, just looks like hell.

viriiguy

It is a 60 size according to the man I got it from. The thing is massive! I still can't believe I fit them all into my car! I got to his house and he said "You are going to need a bigger vehicle" I of coarse said.. Just watch me. Being the cocky little bugger that I am

Hawk131

I know what you mean, I did the same a few months ago, 5 40 size aerobatic planes. A 60 at you altitude should be fine, it won't scream, but good. We in the springs have to use maximum size engines because of the altitude. A OS 75 ax will be great later on. A stick was my first glow plane:-)

viriiguy

It was the look of the stick that sold me on the trade. HE had it, the trainer and the Top Flite Elder looking one listed in the ad.

Hawk131

I lived in Atlanta for 12 years I can relate, if its on a trainer, go for it, after it is gone I would hit it with some CA if anything feels lose, you may have to use the mold killer, if I remember some black molds are not healthy at all. Will this be your first flight, or have you flown before?

viriiguy

I have flown... but it was many many many years ago. And I was just a newb back then too. Went from the Cox Line controlled planes to a trainer back in the 80's. It was nothing fancy or fast... I vaguely remember it being Styrofoam. IT was the late 80's.

52larry52

My Feedback: (1)

To get the "stuck on" prop nut off, use an impact gun. Yes, an impact gun, either electric or air powered same as you might use to take the lug nuts off your car wheel. Sounds like brutal overkill and it is! But it will work. Be sure that you have the gun set in reverse before you pull the trigger, because the gun has enough power to do damage if you hit the trigger in a tightening direction. BTY the plane identified as a Top Flight Elder is a knockoff copy of an Elder that was sold by Horizon Hobby about 10-12 yrs ago. They were sold as an ARF (all real Elders will be kit built only) with the trim as seen on your airplane. I can't remember what name they called it but it's not a real Elder. It will be a good flyer after you fix the covering, just don't use Elder specs to set it up.

52larry52

My Feedback: (1)

OK, I couldn't stand it. I had to go down into the shop (just in my basement) to look up that Elder knockoff name. The summer 2003 Horizon Hobby catalog shows it on page 31 as a Seagull brand "Eindecker .46 ARF". Specs are 49" length, 63" wingspan, 6.5 lbs, and a price of $109.99. The description says "it's a semi-scale reproduction of the classic German warplane..." "...precovered in high quality printed PVC". I think that is sticky backed covering like is on your Tiger Trainer. Good buy overall, enjoy.

viriiguy

Thanks Larry!