rcfan450

So I already have the Aero-works 35cc Extra 260, it's a fun plane. Because I have liked it so much a flying buddy bought the 35cc Extra 300 and put a DLE-55 in it. It flew awesome, just like mine - but only for 8 flights. On the 8th flight he hit a powerline coming in for a landing. It appears, from the wreckage, that the prop hit the lines first, which then glanced into the wing a little. Either way, the plane nose dived straight into the ground, only 8' away from some poor guy riding his bicycle by that simply stopped to watch the action. He got action!

It was a big blow to the guys ego as he had put his heart and soul into building that plane. He was pretty discouraged and ended up just giving me the wreckage a few months later. A new fuse is around $300 - a new ARF kit is $499. He figured it wasn't worth it.

I bought $40 worth of plywood and had at it.

I kept track of my time for the heck of it. It took me 27.5 hours to rebuild the fuse.

I started by ripping out all the broken parts.

I carefully cut out the fiberglass section that holds the wing tube so I could re-use it.

I then spent 15 hours piecing together things (luckily the guy kept every little piece of ply and balsa from the wreckage, that helped a ton), measuring, drawing, re-measuring, drawing some more (in AutoCAD), sent emails to Aero-works begging for CAD files, no luck there understandably, measuring, drawing.... ya, that took forever. End result though was two pretty sweet templates for the major fuse components that hold the firewall and engine mount.

I then glued the templates to some plywood and jigsawed them out.

It still took a little trimming here and there but overall I think I got an almost perfect match of the correct components, within +/- 2mm anyways. I know I got the correct angle on the engine mount, that's the important part.

Well long story short, it took me a long time but I feel very comfortable putting a gas motor back on the frame. It is stronger than stock for sure. The only parts I didn't completely replace with new parts was the top pieces that the canopy sits on. They don't seem to do much for structural strength - and I was lucky enough to find all the parts and piece them back together with CA and a thin film of epoxy over the entire area. It is very strong now, just shows some evidence of a crash.

Oh ya, best/worst part of the rebuild - it cost me $250 for stitches, I should have just bought a new fuse to begin with and saved myself the trouble. I slipped while doing a little trimming on the firewall and walla... 8 stitches. That was kinda cool though, I could see a couple tendons, a vein, etc. I got real lucky I barely missed all the important stuff.

Below are pictures from the beginning to end.

I still have a few more hours fixing the wings, but they aren't damaged that bad. I need a new cowl too.

I'm posting this provide a little encouragement for some of you that may be contemplating throwing out your crashed plane. With a little patience, and loving wife that lets you live in the basement for a few weeks, you can fix your plane.

rcfan450

Here's the rest of the pics

rcfan450

Sorry, I don't know why RCU made most the pics big, I uploaded them all the same way.

rcfan450

and the rest of the pics

basman

Rcfan awewsome work sad loss for the previous owner good for you!!!!!!!!!!! Dle 55 ?????????? how did it handle the power and I noticed a lead weight on the firewall ..............even with a 55 up front ?

If it flies as good as it's big brother ( 50cc ) you have an awesome plane on your hands.

I am signed up keep us posted .............cheers Brian

rcfan450

The previous owner felt the plane was tail heavy even with the 55 and even with 2.25" stand offs. He was more into IMAC stuff though. I'm more of a 3D guy, don't mind a little IMAC every now and then, but my 260 is about 1/4" behind CG and I think it's pretty good. It is tail heavy though, I worry about a dead stick cause if I'm not close to anything I can land on, it'll definitely stall out before I can get it back. But in over 130+ flights, that hasn't happend to me yet. I've got the DL-50 on my 260. I think the plane flies great. Knife edge is almost a perfect one-stick operation.

jperkinstrades

My Feedback: (25)

Are you ready to sell ?

rcfan450

Hmm... tempted to put my Da in it... tempted to make it electric... tempted to keep for an extra when I kill the others

tempted to sell isn't on my list yet.....

SeamusG

rcfan - have you asked Aeroworks about matching paint for your covering?

rcfan450

nope

rcfan450

I am declaring my rebuild officially done at 31 hours. It took me another 3.5 hours today to fix and recover the wings. They weren't too bad.

I didn't have any of the gay baby blue color in ultracote so I had to get a little creative to cover up a spot on the front of the wing. I gave it a silver "splash". If it wasn't for that, you couldn't even tell this plane had been crashed - and actually the splash doesn't let you know it was crashed, it just reminds me that it was.

I didn't have any orange ultracote either so I changed the design on the bottom of the wings from solid square to orange outlines of squares.

I think it looks pretty sweet if I must say so myself.

Let's see if RCU will let me upload the latest pics now...

rcfan450

PS - My list of things to get this thing in the air is small. Need one more servo, a cowl (though I'll fly it w/o if I have to), some tygon tubing, and a receiver. My goal is to have in the air over Christmas break.

rcfan450

My plane is done. It is 3/8" tail heavy, just like my 260. I guess I need a heavy spinner if I decide to put one on.

I named the plane "Stitch" for reasons noted above...

Super08

My Feedback: (2)

Nice work [8D]

rcfan450

Thanks, it took a long stinkin time and wasn't easy. I'm quite proud of how it turned out though. Can't wait to fly it.

airborne2.4

Nice build[8D]

fthumma

There's a lot of satisfaction in getting a bent bird back in the air. Your work looks terrific. I know you'll feel even better after you fly it!

stroker280

My Feedback: (3)

Good story and good job on the rebuild. Hope your hand is doing much better.

Jeff

Roo Man

My Feedback: (1)

Yes, great job. Sorry about the cut hope it's better by now.

Gary

rcfan450

The cut is fine now thanks guys. (looks nasty, but I have plenty of scares so no biggy there).

I finally took the plane to go fly it the other day... and forgot to bring gas! I was rather disappointed to say the least. Maybe tomorrow I will finally be able to fly it.

JCWTPA

Do you still have the drawings to repair the firewall and tank area? I find my self in the same position. The side walls are intact and I have clean breaks outs on all the internal sections. Not enough left to repair or template from.

Thanks,
[email protected]
jw

rcfan450

I hope so, I will look when I get home from work today. Sorry about your boo boo

rcfan450

Not sure if it will upload but I have a PDF (PRINT ON YOUR PRINTER WITH NO SCALING) of the side frames. If I had CAD of the firewall I don't know what I did with it as I can't find the CAD I used to create the sidewalls either. Actually looking back at my original post it looks like I did the firewall by hand. Wish I would have drawn that up as well for ya. Good luck and post some rebuild pics for us.