RCU Forums - Refurbishing a shed find - TWM Super Sport Senior 90

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Refurbishing a shed find - TWM Super Sport Senior 90

A friend found an old airframe of The World Models - Super Sport Senior 90 that was lying in someones shed for many years. He took it, and after a year or so lying in his own shed (with minor attempt to do some re-covering), he asked me if I am interested...
Well, why not... It will make an interesting refurbishment project. The aeroplane seems to have nice dimensions, and if it looks right, it is probably fly right. Now that this project is finished I thought that I may share it here:

After thorough cleaning, the photos below show the starting point:

The covering throughout was in very poor condition. TWM is using "Toughlon" covering material which do not age well. The "new" covering was a Hobby King" material which is also not great.
The canopy had a minor crack
Minor finger crushing of the fuselage sheeting in the front section
Tail skid arrangement in lieu of tail wheel
Modification to a tail servo for the elevators
Cowl already cut - Not an issue as I did not use a cowl

I decided to start with the fuselage. Stripping the covering was a much more challenging task then anticipated. The Hobby King yellow was leaving large amounts of yellow residual sticky goo. I had to return the now clear plastic that actually came off, heat it with the iron on top of the goo which made it stick back, and re-peal. The Toughlon covering was as bad and required the same technique. The Red covering was particularly awful to remove and I used Acetone to remove some of the leftover goo.
As to the canopy, I glued a pre cured fiberglass on the inside and it seems to do the trick stopping the crack from expending further. I did not bother to remove the covering from the fuselage in the section under the canopy.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...8ddf86bf82.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...f957dacdc6.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...ed220c0846.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...6564585fc2.jpg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...10f5372b52.jpg

Cheers,
Eran

The re-covering was done by using Monokote. Bottom main colour is white. All control surfaces to be sealed.
It can be seen how the iron got stained by residue while covering and stained the Monokote, which required me to clean the newly applied covering once covering was completed.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...f9272f8e78.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...ccad269165.jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...0a9cd7b08c.jpg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...3b7d6d9bc4.jpg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...ecc0b60fe2.jpg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...ea275106ce.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...c5d1db8b92.jpg

Cheers,
Eran

The true catalyst for going ahead with this project, which was sitting on my "to do list" for few months after receiving it was that I managed to buy an O.S. FT-120 Gemini II engine. This was an ideal airframe for it as it has a wide firewall to accommodate the supplied engine mount. I did have to plug the numerous holes already drilled in the firewall as this airframe had at least two other engines prior to my own installation.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...872fa35e18.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...2cf4e498fd.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...e95cbfe57e.jpg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...86219f4dc3.jpg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...789937be26.jpg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...9673c2cc8d.jpg
Cheers,
Eran

Throttle control and fuel tank assembly. The fuel tank was re-located to sit as low as possible on a newly fabricated removable tray, as this engine has the carburetor positioned very low, resulting in fuel siphoning out if the fuel tank installed high.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...741751e9f5.jpg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...2bbd302771.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...23d4ef5414.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...1f53ae564f.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...857bfb96cd.jpg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...0387ebe43c.jpg

The test flight was very successful, and was followed by further three flights on the day. The aeroplane is flying as expected, i.e. very well. The engine requires a very long run-in process (10 fuel tanks) and therefore no aerobatics were performed, but I have no doubt that this aeroplane will perform all the basic aerobatics well.
I hope this project will inspire others to give an old airframe a chance to grace the sky.

Some snippets from the test flight were captured by a club member on his phone and the video is available here:

Cheers,
Eran

Super Sports Senior by World Models.

Quote:

Originally Posted by erans (Post 12768799)

Hi there, you have done a great job there with getting this plane fixed up and flying again. You have my total admiration. Years ago when this plane first came out I was going to buy it but instead I bought the Super Frontier Senior High winger also from World Models. To this day, im still flying that very plane with the same engine, a Saito 72 fourstroke. Only today I discovered that a man is selling a brand new in the box Suoer Sports Senior, the same plane you have. Then tonight I discovered your posts, how weird is that. Lol. He posted a few photos of the plane stating that the covering was coming off the wings and it would need to be patched or recovered. He is asking a fairly decent price for the plane and I'm tempted but he states that it's collection only and I live miles away from him. But if I were to pay him shipping costs then I'm sure he would post it to me. Just as a matter of interest, I have a brand new 91 fourstroke in its box. Would this be sufficient power or would I need a bigger engine? Like a Saito 100 for example? All my fourstrokes are Saito as I love them, but this one 91 fourstroke is ASP made in China which is not as good but not bad either. Are you happy with the way the plane flys? If I do buy this plane I will just try and stick down the original covering. But I will use better quality hardware like you did. The covering is the same stuff that is on my Super Frontier Senior, its called Toughlon. Its very thin covering, but it hasn't came off yet and I'm flying that plane since before 2010. I would be interested in your opinion? Kind regards.

easystar123 - Thank you for your kind comment. This aeroplane became one of my favorite aeroplanes to fly. I am surprised that up to the point I received it I never heard of it (considering how well it fly).
To your question, there are few ASP 91 at my club and they are of similar power to other engines in that class, such as the O.S. FS-91. They are also seems to be reliable engines.
While these engines are of similar power to the O.S. FT-120 Gemini (that I have on my aeroplane), the difference is in the prop size. The Gemini delivers the power to a 16x6 prop compared with a 14x6 prop on most 91 four strokes. From the SAITO engines you mentioned, I would go for the SAITO FA-100 with a 15" prop.

Cheers,
Eran

Quote:

Originally Posted by erans (Post 12797533)

Thank you Eran for your reply. Yes the Super Sports Senior has been around a very long time but sadly like most of the planes nowadays has been discontinued. That toughlon material that World Models use is also on both my Kyosho Calmato Sports 40 planes. Its not my favourite covering , thats for sure. I own three Great Planes aircraft, an Escapade 61, an Avistar Elite and a Cherokee 40 and they are all covered with monocote which is my favourite covering but also sadly discontinued if the truth be known. I also have a few Hangar 9 and Seagull models and they are covered in Oracover which is not bad, a lot better than the toughlon I will say. I've been flying rc model aeroplanes since 1986 and I'm a Saito fanatic. Lol. I just love them. I do have one OS fourstroke and that is an OS 95v which I have on the Escapade 61. That engine does have one flaw, the drive washer has to be replaced every so often because of a bad design , it wears away and becomes loose mainly because its made out of aluminium. I am awaiting a message from the owner of the Super Sports Senior to see if he would ship the plane to me. Hopefully he will. Kind regards. Aidan

Quote:

Originally Posted by erans (Post 12797533)

Eean, here is my World Models Super Frontier Senior. They made good flying model aircraft at a very affordable price.