repairs for beginners
 

after a crash a couple of weeks ago I decided to packup for the winter. I've decided to start repairing all my planes for next winter. this post will be the repair of a fellow cub mates that he gave me a while ago. Im doing this thread for those with needing help with repairs. These pics are the plane and all the puzzle pieces. if you have any comments tips or questions please chime in. The 1st thing im going to do is rip off the covering using a hobby knife in the vital areas and survey the damage.

RE: repairs for beginners
 

G'day Dave,
A little tip, use a hot iron to remove your covering, it will soften the glue & just peel off.
Not as dangerous as a hobby knife, to you or the wood underneath.

RE: repairs for beginners
 

you got a fine pile of balsa there dave good luck on the resurection.
I will second the motion use your iron to loosen the covering to preserve the balsa that is good sometimes you get chunks of covering when you peel it but with the iron it will lift off real nice and you might just have to CA some parts that otherwise might blow up with the covering when stripping it.

RE: repairs for beginners
 

my pile of balsa is bigger than yours.:D
venom

RE: repairs for beginners
 

Use a heat gun. Break up the repair into smaller sections so it won't feel so overwhelming. You'll also see progress sooner and that will be positive reinforcement for you. Take your time, study the damage and form a plan of attack. Don't just jump wildly into the middle of it. Save as much as you can, if nothing else they can be used as templates for replacement parts. You have a lot of work ahead but it can be done and you'll learn a lot along the way. Don't overdo it with the CA, hard to sand. Use wood glue.

RE: repairs for beginners
 

so due to temporary lack of balsa (used it up already this year). i started by mending some clean splits. i started by cutting about 3 quarters of the large split on the wing as seen in the first pic for 2 reasons 1. prevent further damage and it was split in some spots. 2nd i glued the long piece that is under the main spar in the pic there are a few dpros of CA that i will sand off. I then clamped it. in front of the aileron the crack was pretty easy, i ran some ca with a tooth pick then whiped off the excess with a paper towel. wit the 2 cracks on the fuse, adding clamps after each proceedures. I then glued the control rod guide into place. lastly i made a rib using some paper like card board. a file folder works well too, use this as a template to cut ribs with balsa.

RE: repairs for beginners
 

hey Dave for crack repair I do this, my LHS has these inexpensive little tips for thin CA that feed a small amount of glue into small areas so you don't soak all that 7$$ a bottle glue into the surrounding wood space.
then you don't have a slab of granite to sand, the tips work well and you don't have to cap your glue bottle every time you use it I even will go a couple of days then when it clogs I snip off a 2mm bit off the end and I am going again .

RE: repairs for beginners
 

Dave,
When you made the template rib, did you eyeball it and cut the general shape, then lay it up against the good rib to trace it, or do you have better way?

Greg S

RE: repairs for beginners
 

Good start Dave.

Could you do me a favor and reset the date on your camera though. Distracting to have it that far off.[:@]

RE: repairs for beginners
 

to cut the template for the rib I took a piece of scrap balsa put it to the end marked where it stoped cut it then marked each side (on a file folder) to give me the length I put it back in marked where the spars went through took it off marked it on the paper. i cut it a little larger than i thought it would be (the spar slots i cut smaller) then slowly trimed it down. till it fit. it also helps if you have even a broken rib
from the crash site. it will at least give you the starting shape. Be sure to use long scissors it will give you a better cut than those crapy short ones

as for the time ill try to remember to change it.

dave trimmer

RE: repairs for beginners
 

Ok, I follow now. Thanks :)

RE: repairs for beginners
 

no problem and thanks for your encourage ment guys.

last night I prepared the flight skin by cuting the oldflight skin off using the creases of the joints. make sure that your cuts are staright and smooth, this will make it easier in the future. next i added the front of a rib by making just the front (up to the spar ) and cut it out with a popsicle stick shape behind it (this is one piece). I glued this on and used elasticks as a clamp. then i glued 2 ribs together before I went to bed so they would be dry after school. its best to do this last at the end of the day to prevent strain on the plane

RE: repairs for beginners
 

Slow but steady progress - good.

Thanks for setting the date.:D

RE: repairs for beginners
 

I am working on a similar repair on an Avistar Dave.

I think I will follow your route and post a repair thread for it. I have 2 wings to repair (2 separate wings, long story, don't ask), need to glue in the firewall I cut last week after I drill the proper holes in it, and then reglue the rudder in (will probably put small verticle dowels into the rudder and the fuse to add some strength.

I don't have much time to work on it currently, so maybe during x-mas break I will get some done.

RE: repairs for beginners
 

Sneasle,

Add some triangular stock along the base of the rudder where it attaches - adds a tremendous amount of strength. I use that on a lot kits also while I'm building them up. I'll try to send you some pics later tonight.

Hogflyer

Edit: found a picture of using a piece of triangular stock to brace up a tail. This particular example is on a Balsa USA Stick 30, and the tail just butt joints to the top of the horizontal stab. The triangular stock is what provides the strength.

RE: repairs for beginners
 

I'm glad I can help, and just remember repairing takes time, be very patient, do a good job and have fun or it's not worth it.

so tonight i glued in the ribs and clamped them down, glued in what i call fish heads, which are just the fronts of broken ribs. and where the front of the rib is broken but can yet still fi in a full rib directly beside it.

I also started preping the flight skin by making sure there was a perfect fit all around. Lastly I fix a few craks i the fuse.

RE: repairs for beginners
 

my bigger models are temporarly broken [&o], so, thinking what i can do to save myself from going insane, i went and got out my firebird commander! (my only wing that came with it is broken.....in many pieces) so i decided to make my own wing! the box the commander came in had a large piece of styra foam on one of the sides. i cut that off and mounted it onto the plane.........this 41 inch piece of foam makes my plane fly faster, climb further and i didnt have to buy anything! it was a real shock to see a piece of the box that the plane came in fly....but it really does!

RE: repairs for beginners
 

wow thats great , maybe i'll try something different with my spad,

I'm sorry i haven't posted lately but im out for the count with the flu and will hope to continue tonight

RE: repairs for beginners
 

Since the store didn't have the balsa in the shape of the leading edge i purchased some hard wood and the size is perfect, i will shape it later.

RE: repairs for beginners
 

How about two thirty gal garbage bags and one new kit......... Not impossible to repair.. but difficult. Even if your time is worth nothing, there is more than esthetics involved, strength and alignment are the most important. I will look for continued photos....good luck to you!