Iaquired a well used U-Can-Do 60 from a club sale. Irebuilt a Saito 91 that I got in the same sale and installed it. The plane was kind of rough looking, but it looked airworthy. The cowl was crunched and cut beyond repair, and the landing gear mount had been broken out an patched with three or four oz of Epoxy. Ipulled all the servos, checked them and put them back. Re-did the throttle linkage. Took it to the field Monday and had an awful time getting the engine to run, but once it started, and was tuned, it was great. Istill had some bench trim to do on the controls, and I called it a day.

Back out today and finished checking that every thing looked right, a little sub tirm on the elevator halfs, a little on the ailerons, Ready to go.

Oneleason I learned today was that the hinges with the plastic center and CAcloth out side don't hold up well. Three of the four on an alieron pulled right out of the wing, One still had some of the ca cloth on it with a very small amount of wood, but it fell off as soon as Itouched it.

Lesson #1, Don't use CAhinges, especailly this type unless you pin both sides. Maybe this was really lesson #2

On take off, just as it lifted, it started a slow roll to the left. Nothing would stop it and it got all of about three feet up before rolling in, and busting the fuselage in half at the front of the wings. What went wrong. My buddy's first question, "Did you check the throws". OFcourse I did. Pick up pieces and take the mess home to prepair it for the trash man tomorrow. Just as I got home, I realized, Ihadn't done a range check, and it was a new receiver. Dumb, dumb dumb.

Prior to stripping parts, my post crash ritual is to hook every thing back up and see what works and what doesn't. Humm Everything worked, but I found that my inability to correct the roll left was because the ailerons were reversed. The harder I tried to roll right the harder it rolled left.

Lesson #1 prefilght a new/repaired plane like you would for the kid that showed up at the field for the first time with his plane that he built. No matter how long you've been flying. Check everything on the pre-flight check list CAREFULLY. I got complacent and screwed up. I was lucky, do damage other than a broken fuselage and a broken porp. The whole plane less engine and receiver cost me $25, and I still have the servos, wing, tail, landing gear, motor mounts, etc. And a red face

Don

Don,

That is a Great reminder for the rest of us.


Bob

Now go pull up Tower and order you another one. This is one fun plane, glad you learned lesson, and not costing you to much.

Don,
Sorry for your discomfort.
4 oz of epoxy patched on the LG etc', sounds like the airplane did you a favor and prevented you from spending more effort, time and money into it...
I like CA hinges from Sig with a toothpick securing them, I learned how to use them and didnt have problem, but what ever works for you the best.

Alex

Alex, not much discomfort. I thought that I may have saved it from the trash bin and I figured the servos were worth the $25. I didn't realize I was gong to sent it to the bin so quick.

All I need is another project, but a good 3D wing. and tail feathers, all Ineed is a fuselage. HUMmmm how about a "Hots" type fuse with the stuff I have left.Should be fun. Lets see, that would be about #20 on my list of gonados. I'll mull it over for a while before assigning it a spot closer to the top.

The red face bothers me more than anything. I kind of pride myself for paying attention to details, and to miss one like this one is a great embarsment. but a lesson to be shared.

Don

Don, fixing a long over beaten airplane by somebody else is like wearing somebody else's dirty socks.
if it was flying several loops you would invest more into it to keep it flying.
if it would fly and cruash you would feel worse because the airplane seems OK but its really not, its your experience that made it fly and you would fight with it to keep it in the air.
crushing right from the start just made the described above process shorter and educational.

Think positive what is the next on that gonna do list?
Alex

Alex, I spent almost a week looking over this one and a couple others I bought. This one was the throw away one, but other than looking awful, it wasn't that bad, so I decided to fly it. I had a list of stuff to make it "look good" but I had this little grimlin on my shoulder saying "wait till you fly it and then order the stuff". For once, he kept me from blowing some money.

Next from the sale is the Twist 150. I don't think it was ever flown. The engine, a Saito 180 had some maintance issues that would have prevented it from being able to fly the plane, and the tires had never seen the runway. The only issue with this one other than the engine (which I've fixed) is that some of the lite ply is delaminating. I spent some time yesterday using a hot glue gun and my coveing iron to "re-laminate" what I cold get at to fix. Pull up the surface layer and squirt some hot glue under it, then use the iron to push it into place. Sure screwed up my sock, but I think it is going to hold things together OK. Monday I find out.

Don

Why is it delaminating was it wet?

You could probably build some sort of profile fuselage in an afternoon. It would likely fly well with that thick wing.

sorry to hear about your loss. I think one time or another we've all been guilty of skipping a proper pre-flight check. a few years ago I was out flying at a school yard, a guy walked up and started asking me about flying. he said he had a small plane and no matter how many times he tried he couldn't get it to fly. I told him to bring it down and I'd check it out for him. the plane was a little 3 ch park flyer cub. I guess because I thought the plane was a "beginner" plane I got complacent about doing a control surface check. needless to say I throttled up the plane and hand launched it. as the plane flew off, it started to bank a little to the left and drop the nose. as I tried to correct it's flight path the plane turned harder to the left and dive. before I could realize the plane had crashed. luckily it only cost him a prop. after the crash I checked the controls and both the elevator and rudder were reversed. I did get the plane flying but, I was embarrassed about the mistake. I knew better but took the simplicity of the plane for-granted. I can say... this hasn't happened again since.[sm=spinnyeyes.gif]

I wonder if the previous owner installed the CyA hinges correctly. I have had them on at least 20 planes and never had a problem, Q500's to 3D planes. Possibly they used regular CyA instead of thin?

Just badply. On one laywer let loose and I couldn't see any evidence of residual glue. THe skin layer is only about 0.010" thick, No strength at all. The skins probably accounted for a bout 15% to 20% of the total thickness, All the strength is across the surface grain. This is one of my pet peves about ARF's. Even the Sig 4*60 had fuselage sides that had little strength in the ply. At least it was full 1/8" though, this stuff is probably 2mm. It's lite all right, but no strength.

Don

The hinges seemed to be installed correctly, it's just that the center pulled out of the fuzzy outside. Ihad never seen it before. Iwould send you a photo, but the thash man just left with the parts.

Don

If installed properly the CA hinges often outlast the airplane. The hinge slot needs to be tight, the hinge itself needs to be clean before installation. Often times when guys are doing trial fits, the handle the hinge a bunch...crapping it up with oil from their fingers.

I've been using them for years without incident. Everynow and then I give the control surface a good tug just to check. I've never pulled one out.

Every time I take anything apart on my planes...i treat it as its the first time out. Its better to be safe than sorry. The money we spend on these planes can be just as painful as the time spent building or repairing, so why leave it to chance.

No doubt thats the right way to do it. Igot complaciant and it really bit me. Back to my check off list.

Don