Only a few days away from finishing my LT-40 and maybe a week away from my first training flight... and disaster strikes this afternoon!

I am building a kit, and had my OS .46 AX attached to the finished fuselage. This is my first kit, and will be my first R/C plane. I've been building this thing in my spare time since early January, after receiving it as a Christmas gift from my wife. I've been looking at getting into R/C since last summer (seriously thinking, that is - I've wanted to since I was a kid). Well, today, while ironing the final trim pieces of monokote onto my elevator, my fuselage which was sitting next to me on the workshop table was hit by a gust of wind and fell 4 feet straight down onto the cement - crankshaft first...

Well, not straight down.. The tail hit the wall, the fuselage hit a chair and another small table, it scraped itself along the wall behind my building table and THEN fell off the desk, straight down onto the crank shaft.

My heart sunk as I watched and thought about all the rebuilding I might have to do all over again. it must have hit the fuse at an angle, because it seemed to seperate along the fuselage side and bottom. Hard to tell, since it's covered.. but it seems I can "look forward" to having to recover the fuselage again after regluing/repairing... Unfortunately the worst damage is to the engine. The crankshaft doesn't turn more than 1/8 rotation.. what little it does turn causes a horrible scratching metal sound on the inside.

This is a brand new engine... never broken in (although, now BROKEN). This won't be covered under warranty, but I have no idea what do do with it.. $114, brand new. Now, after spending so much money on an engine, TX and RX, kit, building supplies, several rolls of monokote, field equipment, AMA fees, and club fees.... What should I do?? Send the engine in for repair, or just buy a cheaper engine? How long would it take to send the engine in, have it repaired and shipped back? So much for flying any time soon... [] I should probably take it back to the LHS where I bought it from and ask their advice, but I don't even feel like walking into a hobby shop at the moment..

Basically I'm looking for advice on how/where to repair or send it in for service, what the costs are, etc..

I should feel pi**ed off, but I just feel numb. I've had my first crash/repair job before I even touched a buddy box. In addition to the engine, I'm worried about any "hidden" damage or structural weakness that the fall might have caused that I can't see.
I almost feel like just selling off the rest of my equipment and calling it quits.. I don't know. I probably just need time to calm down.

I wouldn't be embarrassed. Gusts of wind aren't your fault. Once you get it in the air you'll have many more opportunities to do REALLY stupid stuff, so learn to laugh at yourself now!

I'd take it to your local hobby shop for a look. It's probably not a bad as you think. Keep your chin up. It's a great hobby. Once you get it up in the air you won't regret it.

wow a 4 ft drop and it did that???? i've dropped my plane on the crank shaft once and it didnt do any thing but it was a shorter drop anyway good luck fixing it........that is really sad I know how fun it was finishing my first plane and the anticipation to fly it.

Did you have a prop on the engine. If not put one on tighten it and see what happens,with out a prop the shaft can be pushed back in bearings and will bind on back platte.

i would take it to your lhs and see what they can do it's probley not bad at all

wow. i have seen planes go nose first at full bore into the ground and the engine survived. tough luck i guess. dont worry. it will all be behind you soon and you will have a blast flying. Look at what is to come, not what has been.

sean

Sounds simple enough, Take the backplate off the engine, should be 4 allen screws and gently tap the crank until it reseats, do be careful there is a gasket there that is very fragile. I bought a saito .91 4 stroke motor for $50 over the winter ( a $240 motor ) a fella had crashed it on a Ucando 3d nose in, I took the backplate off rapped it with the handle of a nutdriver a couple times and it popped back into place and I started it just last weekend and it's on an Ultimate Bipe kit I just finished. Runs smooth as anything. I don't think there is anything other than that goin on with yours. that short of an unpowered fall should not have hurt anything. I was building an A-10 scratch built kit over the winter, was doing something to it, can't remember, but it fell off the workbench and hit the ground and broke the tail off. crashed even before done ! Go figure, I at least should get em runnin before crashing !! Hope this helps and welcome to the hobby !

I wouls also suggest bringing it to the hobby shop. Chances are you didn't to too much damage.

A new crank is cheaper than a new engine. I doubt its that bad, however, I think airplanes are like cats, I had one survive a fall from 100' with just a broken engine mount, yet I totaled a trainer when it fell 6' from my ceiling.

mtisdale,
What hobby shop are you dealing with? If it's Hobby People most will just send it in. If you get over to Hobby House in Reseda or Hobby Zone in Gledale they can actually do something for you. I know Hobby House will have whatever parts you need ,if any, in stock and the knowledge to get you set straight.

As for the airframe, check it closer to see if anything is broken. If you have to peel back some covering do it to check for damage. Some CA/ epoxy and cover it back up and noone will ever notice. Repairs always seem worse untill you get in there and start putting it back together, besides it'll be good practice since it won't be the last repair to your trainer. Most importantly check the firewall.

Do you plan on flying it at the Basin? If so, I'd be glad to help you get started. Ask around for me (Richard Dragin). There are many others that can assist for free as well. Don't get help from anyone who charges for lessons at the Basin as most of them are hacks and not very good instructors (EXCEPT for Ron Russel but he just had back surgery).

Don't wuss out and give up now.

Hey BasinBum,

Thanks for the info (and everyone else). I bought my engine at Hobby People in Pasadena. Unlike another location I've been to, a couple of the guys at the Pasadena shop are pretty helpful and seem knowledgable. At any rate, I kind of assumed Hobby people might just send it in.

The other two shops I go to are Covina Hobby shop and Pegasus hobbies near clairmont. I've never been to hobby house or hobby zone. I'll see if I can locate them.

As for Fuselage damage, I looked at it more yesterday and surprisingly the tail wasn't damaged at all. I reinforced the vertical stabilizer and it looks like I must have done a good job! It and the hstab are fine, as for the rest of the fuselage. I'm still going to give it all another closer look today. I was very worried about the firewall, but there just don't seem to be any signs that it was damaged or loosened. I'm going to mention the pre-flight crash when I take it to the field though, and see if anyone else can spot any damage or weakness before it goes up. Are there any signs I should look for? It doesn't feel loose or looked cracked or unglued. I took the hatch off and checked in the fuel compartment area and behind the firewall.. seems fine.

Thanks for the offer. I'd love to take you up on it, but the basin is a little out of the way for me. Not much, but Whittier and Santa Fe dam are much closer. I'm planning on flying at whittier. (it's free with AMA membership, but I'm joining the club anyway - meetings are at El Monte airport, which is only 2 miles from here). Do you only fly at the Basin?

Eh.. I wasn't really thinking about selling off my stuff and quitting. I just wanted to sulk. Haha

I primarily fly at the Basin, hence the moniker. I was at Whittier yesterday and it is a fine place to fly. Ken who is in charge in the A.M is an excellent instructor, knowledgable and generally just a great guy.

I took the engine to Hobby House in Reseda. A guy by the name of Jay (store owner, maybe?) had a look at it. He just popped the backplate off and noticed that it had been knocked back against the plate. There was some scratching against the inside backplate (from both of us trying to turn the crankshaft) but he said it seemed fine and there should be no problem with it. It turns again like new, so it saved me a repair bill or a replaced engine. For the help he gave me, I ended up buying $37 of stuff in his shop.

Some time's you wonder if it pay's to answer a post. SORRY it got to me as it got to you!!!!

I was at Hobby House today getting some things around 1 o'clock or so. Were you checking out about then? If so I am pretty sure I saw you. If you are the guy I am thinking about, you had a very humble and relieved look on your face.

Outlaw,
He probably could have listened to you and saved the gas money but at least he found a really godd hobby store and the owner made a sale. Everybody wins.

Sorry, RC outlaw! You described the problem exactly.. In fact, the LHS guy said the same thing. "with no prop on, it can get pushed against the backplate".

Honestly, I'm not sure how I missed your post. I would have followed your advice! But like BasinBum said, I found a good hobby store.. hehe

Hehe.. That was probably me. The humbled and relieved look sounds about right.

Yeah, I think it was around 1 or so.. I was wearing a white shirt.. walked in with an OS engine box and engine in a zip-lock bag, walked out with the same, plus a bag full of extra items 30 minutes later.

Had you ever turned the engine over before this happend?

I thought I seen somewhere, or read something or someone told me, or I may have even dreamed it, but I thought I heard this happend to someone else and when they primed it with fuel it got enough lube to make the screaching sound go away.

By all means this is not definite, but I thought for sure I heard that somewhere. It may be worth a try before you send it in.

Something is very odd about it falling four feet and messing it up. The wings broke on my LT 40 and the plane hit the ground very very very hard. It resembled the sound of dynomite, lol. There was nothing left of the plane. It banged up the engine. But the crank shaft was fine. It still runs.