Hey guys I had a "incident" with my Escapade this morning and I had to dig my OS 55AX out a crater. See pics. Just wondering what the best way to handle this clean up would be and any ideas that I may not have heard of to get it clean and running again. I was going to clean it with some carb cleaner then oil it up with some ATF. I got a new airplane on th way so I would like to have it running agin in a few days if possible but want to do it safely. Thanks!!!

If any dirt got down to the crank I would tear it down and clean it.

LOL @ "incident" and "crater" used describing the same event.

I think you'll be taking that engine apart. Looks like it hit dead plumb in soft dirt so the crank shaft might not be bent.

Hose it off, strip it down, clean the parts, oil them put it back together.

or put the parts in a bag and send it to the service dept asking them to call you with a price.

I think I see some dirt in the carb. Or is that some carb in the dirt?

Complete teardown inspection, soap and water then dry and oiled.

Carefully brush away all the dirt and then remove the head and back plate, flush all the parts with ALCOHOL, do not use carb cleaner as it will attack any silicone O rings. Dry everything, oil up the parts with some light oil and put it back together.

lucky for your engine, the dirt looks rather soft

ROFL, Some carb in the dirt. Had a good laugh at that observation . Hopefully just a clean-up and reassemble. Let us know how it turns out.


Vince

I would hose it off first with a strong stream of water WITHOUT TURNING THE CRANKSHAFT! Then quickly disassemble it Dry it and then oil all the parts. Inspect the crank to see if it is bent, and if not reassemble using oil and you will be good to go.

Don't forget to dis-assemble the carb barrel and clean it up.

that's the best advice posted.............but drop all the parts in a tub of acetone with a suspended basket.
take the time to take each piece out one by one and thouroughly clean, inspect and dry, placing parts on a clean towel. then light lube while reassembling. you can't be anal enough about cleanup of an engine in this condition.

Well I tore it all down piece by piece and hosed it off real good. I did find some dirt down low but I was very careful to not turn it over while I took it apart. There does not seem to be any damage that I can see. I am very grateful that it landed in some very soft dirt because it hit HARD. I did indeed find some carb in the dirt on the front of the engine and it was still stuck WIDE OPEN!

On a side note, when I found the plane it was not 20 feet from interstate 40 that runs near our flying field. I freaked out when it crashed because I thought it went into the freeway and would cause an accident. I have no idea why it lost control still but I am not re-using any of the electronics on the new one. the only thing being reused is the engine.

Here's the post clean up shot. It looks good as new and turns over nice and smooth. No bent crank either!

That's a small prop. That thing must turn some serious RPMs!

Sweet! Good job!

Looks a lot better now.

Were you flying 2.4 or 72?

I had a problem with elevator flutter because the elevator joiner rod was not glued. I think there is a tech notice on it.
when you get your new one, be sure to check that joiner.

Good on ya for not reusing the electronics, after a big hit just like that putting the stuff back in is asking for trouble.It amazes me how many people do that and then crash again. There the people you dont buy anything second hand from . Cheers the pope

Walexan- if you had elevator flutter you should suspect everything on the airframe. I had aileron flutter that smashed the belly pan construction, and loosened the canopy. What I didn't know is that it also broke loose most of the Robart point hinges in the ailerons and elevators. ( I had covered the wings and stabs with a single sheet of covering to include over the hinges to the trailing edges.) The elevator fluttered on the next flight after repairs as they basically were unhinged under the Ultracote. The covering held the plane together again.

I ended up having to cut out small squares under each hinge and using a syringe to inject Monkey glue into the hinges. I also had a lot of stab repair to do at the fuselage. After that, it flew fine. Monkey glue was too thick for the syringes I had, but I patiently forced it in. One plastic syringe barrel exploded under the pressure and sent glue all over the shop with a bang.

I got the Escapade when it first came out and before they issued the tech notice that's located on Great Planes site. Had about 15 flights untilI heard the all too familiar flutter. Throttled back but had no elevator as it flew into the trees. Inspecting the elevator showed that the joinerwas not glued at all. The bends that go into the elevator had enlarged the holes and cracked through the elevator. If I had it to do all over, I would redothe elevator joiner with epoxy, old school style.[link=http://www.greatplanes.com/techsupport/gpma1200tech.html]Tech Notice[/link]

I was lucky in that I was able to reduce throttle when I heard it and the plane stopped the flutter both times so I could land it okay. It is a 60/90 size CA Models Epsilon.

My plane was running 2.4ghz when it went in. Still not sure what happened but I will have my new plane tomorrow and hope to be flying this weekend. My old one had zero flutter even at the high speeds. I did wick in more glue on the elevator control rod. It really was a solid little airplane till I did a high speed bounce test near a major interstate! [:@]