Crashed the NexStar
 

Engine stall and dead stick landing on Sunday. Was able to bring it down leveled. But the right main gear ripped out and tore up the wood beneath the fuse. Sigh. Got some repair work to do now. :(

RE: Crashed the NexStar
 

Welcome to the hobby!;) I practice dead stick landings at least once every time I fly. Its good to practice them, but when they happen on their own, it's usually at the worst time! My Basla Nova died right after take off the other day and I had no choice but to set it down where it was and let it run into a fence. Tore the wing bolts out and broke the mounts, but it's good as new again. Bad glow plug was the reason the engine died. Hope you figure out why yours died and hopefully your next flight goes better!

RE: Crashed the NexStar
 

Clean it up real good. Get all fuel/exhaust residue off. Examine the broken area. Can you glue the broken pieces or will you have to cut new wood? This is what I've always done with all crash damage. Before I know it, I have it back together. My first Avistar was resurrected many times, maybe more times than it owed me.

RE: Crashed the NexStar
 

Which NexSTAR is this? The RTF or ARF? Reason I ask is because back when I was going through training, I did the exact same thing, but not in a dead-stick landing.. I landed quite hard and busted up the main gear.

Mine was the RTF version with the "plastic" locking main gear assembly.

What I ended up doing is putting it back together, piecing the sections of plastic locking mechanism together, put a re-inforcing piece of ply and then loaded it up with epoxy. It was never able to come apart after that, but it didn't break again, either.. even with the abuse I gave it.

CGr.

RE: Crashed the NexStar
 

something to be sure of when rebuilding the gear area is to make there isn't any slop in the system so the gear locks in firmly, I did the same basic thing when I ripped my gear out, after I rebuilt the area it was too loose, and the gear wouldn't stay locked in, had to tear it apart, and rebuild it again so it worked properly.

I just used the gear leg as a spacer it worked like a charm.

RE: Crashed the NexStar
 

It's the ARF version with the metal landing gear. Fortunately, the plastic plate lock mechanism that the gears snaps into was intact. So I cleaned up all the wood. Then placed a section of 1/4 inch ply with epoxy where the old 1/8 inch wood panel above the gear used to be. Then I reinforced it with triangle stock on both sides of the bulkhead. Now I just need to patch up the fuselage and should be good to go.

I'm not sure why the engine stalled. It's an OS 46 FX. It was screaming along and then just stalled. I think the prop may be a little small and the engine overheated. So I picked up a larger prop a the LHS this week. Hopefully i'm back up in the air this weekend.

RE: Crashed the NexStar
 

A larger prop won't make it run cooler, probably hotter. Use an 11x5 and manage the throttle.( be sure you have a nice smoke trail) Maybe you had a lean run cuased by something in the tank or fuel line. See if you engine starts and runs.