tiger 2 restoration
 

A few weeks ago my friend and I took his tiger2 (Which hadn't been flown in a few years) to the field. After flying our trainers for a while we asked the instructor to take the tiger up cause we wanted to see how it flies. We got it tuned in on the bench and everything seemed ok. the instructor took it up and during the climb out the engine quit, No big deal he had done at least 4 deadsticks that day and this one was going very smooth. During the 180 degree final turn something went wrong with the radio causing a total loss of control and a 35 foot dive. good amount of damage to the front of the fuse. Not the instructors fault as we assured him that it had been properly range checked (we did it 2 days prior to flight). My buddy was not mad as the plane was given to him free, he decided all he wanted was the engine and radio and offered me the wreckage. After 4 weeks of work I finally have it flight ready. different radio and engine. and yes it will be range checked right before flight. the first pic is my buddy steve and the wreckage, the second was taken a few hours ago.

RE: tiger 2 restoration
 

The repairs look great. You did a great job. Please let us know how she flies. I'm glad that you didn't give up and throw it away. Many beginner's get discouraged after a crash and don't try to make the repairs, when in fact the repairs as nowhere near as hard as they thought they would be. So give yourself a pat on the back!!!! :D

Ken

RE: tiger 2 restoration
 

Thanks Ken, Hopefully sunday I will get her airborne. Actually it almost got thrown away the othe night. With my limited knowledge of fusealage repair I used balsa to bridge the breaks in the fuse and then covered it. After installing the engine and radio I went to start it up and the torque from the starter torqued the fuse and cracked all the bridges and tore the covering, so I went back into the workshop
tore off all the balsa and rebuilt all the repair sections with light ply, epoxy and went one step more with small wood screws. recovered
and started it up. much stronger now.

RE: tiger 2 restoration
 

Ok, here's a secret to repairs such as this. Popsicle sticks!!!! They are your friend!!!!!!! ;)

Ken

RE: tiger 2 restoration
 

Hi Overboard,

Did you guys check the battery? I mean did you put a load on it and see if it was good. Just checking volts or doing a simple range check isn't good enough on a battery thats a few years old. A bad battery can be good enough to get you in the air then fail.If it were me I would replace the RX battery.

Nice job on the repair.

Darren

RE: tiger 2 restoration
 

Daren, no we didn't check the battery nor did we do a proper range check, also the reciever that was in the plane when it crashed
had been through more than one hit. It has a new battery now and a new radio. I am still in the learning curve for airplanes and I am finding things out the hard way. well this was a good deal as the plane is mine now. Also my buddy junked that old radio and kept the servos only.

RE: tiger 2 restoration
 

I do hope that you're not going to use it again on the newly repaired plane. If the receiver has been involved in a crash it should be sent in for service prior to putting it in a plane to fly. A crash is a pretty violent event and can do lots of damage to receivers. Sending it in for service is cheap insurance to guard against another crash caused by radio failure.

Ken

RE: tiger 2 restoration
 

Ken, no the old futaba conquest came out and my buddy shelfed the TX, RX and battery, he only recycled the servos. as it is an old 4C radio we didn't think it would be woth repairing. The tiger has a newer Airtronics VG 600, New battery 1200nimh.

RE: tiger 2 restoration
 

I'm glad to see you repaired it too. The Tiger is one of my all-time favorite intermediate planes. You'll love it!

RE: tiger 2 restoration
 

Congrats on the repair. I agree that you will fall in love with the Tiger. I liked mine so much that when my Tiger 2 met its demise, I had to immediately start construction on a Tiger 60! I also really like the white on the fuse.

RE: tiger 2 restoration
 

Thanks minn I am glad I repaired it too. after looking at it for a week I said "I think I can fix it " now I am saying "I think I can fly it".

Kross I didn't want to buy anything for the repair so I used some white monokote left over from my trainer build. I wasn't happy with the original color scheme . I only ended up having to buy 6/32 blindnuts for the wing mounts

My wife was gracious enough to buy me a 7cap radio and a tiger 60 kit for christmas. so I will be starting that build soon.

RE: tiger 2 restoration
 

Oh, if you can fly a trainer, you can DEFINITELY fly the Tiger. I found it quite comfortable after my Avistar. My T2 was my first time flying a tail-dragger or a low-wing plane and the first time I'd done a maiden flight. I found it to be much easier to fly the Tiger than the Avistar. And, if you wound up with a flying plane for the price of a few blind nuts, you sure came out on the good end of that deal.

I've got a build thread going (albeit very slowly) on [link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=4997091]my Tiger 60[/link] feel free to join in.

RE: tiger 2 restoration
 

Well guy I got the tiger out on Sunday and it was GREAT. much more maneuverable than my trainer, inverted flight was awesome
snap rolls, stall turns into spins I loved it. I was having such a great time I forgot to charge my receiver pack. so I'll post the picks of the tiger 2 rerestoration soon. broke in the same spot as it did last time. I am not even angry though I just can't wait to get it back together. Oh and I am investing in a voltwatch.

RE: tiger 2 restoration
 

Thought i'd share a few more pics of my tiger, first one is when I got to field, second is after 2 flights, third was taken an hour ago. had to rebuild the front of the fuse again and some minor damage to the L.E. of the wing. after the holidays I will get to covering it. also on the tiger there is a piece of dowel that connects both halves of the elevator and I found out that was broken, I am adding servo controol horns and a double pushrod system so I don't have to uncover the tail feathers and also it will be alot stronger.

A quick question if I may, I had a tower.40 from my trainer in this plane and as it was alot of fun I would like to put it back in my trainer. Which engine should I get for the tiger? I was thinking of either the OS.46 ax, TT.46 pro or the tower .46, any suggestions or comments would be greatly appreciated.

RE: tiger 2 restoration
 

Without a doubt, theTT .46 is an incredible engine for the Tiger 2. I ran mine with an APC 11x5 prop and it would climb forever. I never had a dead stick and it was a pure joy to fly.

RE: tiger 2 restoration
 

Since the holidays are coming to a close I was able to get more of the tiger 2 rebuild done.

1. Fuselage bridged inside at all cracks
2. 2 oz sig cloth epoxied to outside of fuse for extra strength
3. moved throttle servo forward to reduce some of the tail weight and make more room for other controls
4. dual aileron pushrods installed using dubro heavy duty control horns and sullivan semi flexible pushrod
5. rudder pushrod changed to sullivan semi flexible pushrod
6. 2-56 bolt on ball ends used on servo horns.
7. new 1 peice hatch extending forward from dashboard area

RE: tiger 2 restoration
 

Allright, as the holidays are officially over i was able to get alot done on the tiger2 in the past few weeks, I also have my tiger 60 on the building table at the same time so progress has been slow. I am finally finished with all the repairs and the new radio installation, the Main gear is back on and the new tail gear is on too. All I need to do now is cover.

RE: tiger 2 restoration
 

Hey Chris.. you still want to use that OS 61 that I have? (for the Tiger 60) All you need to do is put in a front bearing, which I also have. It's the same engine that I had on my Tiger 60 a few years ago. Runs just fine, but as I said, needs that bearing replaced.

Meanwhile, you want an engine for the Tiger II? I also have an OS 46 and an OS 50 that I am not using right now, you are welcome to put either one on and see how it performs. You can decide to buy one of your own later on, this will be for you to test out and see what one you prefer.

Dick.

RE: tiger 2 restoration
 

I guess I should have gone to Straw yesterday (Saturday). Today's weather looks like a bust. Are you around on Wed or working? If the weather cooperates, I'll be out at Straw round 9'ish.

Dick.

RE: tiger 2 restoration
 

Here's a Tiger 60 that was crashed at our field in a mid-air three weeks ago....The rebuild is complete ! she flies great!

RE: tiger 2 restoration
 

looks awesome. I will be covering the tiger2 over the next week. I also have a tiger 60 in the works right now, 11 inch wing clip, tail dragger conversion using stock main gear moved forward.

RE: tiger 2 restoration
 

I really enjoyed my Tiger 60. I used a SuperTigre 75 on it, built as a taildragger with UCanDo 60 wheelpants. At first, I used flaperons on it, but didn't really need to. It was fun to do.

RE: tiger 2 restoration
 

Bingo I love it, rhowardsta I love that cowl with the inverted 4 stroke. Keep the tiger pics coming I can't get enough of them. Our club has a bunch of tigers I have 2 CGretired has 2 and one of our masters pattern guy is so into tigers he scratch built a tiger 2 with a balsa fuse and converted it to electric. the plane weighs about 2 pounds with evertything except batteries, the thing does precisicion aerobatics like a 2m pattern plane.

RE: tiger 2 restoration
 

Since we're chiming in about or tigers; here's mine. It's my beater plane only because it does whatever I ask it to with autority. Mods are: balsa cowl, taildragger, wheel pants, pull-and pull rudder. I can post the article detailing the balsa cowl process if interested.

RE: tiger 2 restoration
 

Yeah mods I would love to see that article. I am just curious if you know the approximate weight of that cowl.