andrew66

Hey, i just acquired a slightly smashed up senior from one of the guys at my club (its been through a couple ppl and the last guy hit hydro wires with it) the price was right (free) and im deciding to rebuild it to use as a sunday flyer/ test bed for engines. Im not sure of the wingspan of the original senior, but this one has a whopping 78" wingspan. another thing that im not too sure about this plane is the guy who built it made foam ribs and webs. the tops of the ribs are sheeted with 1/16 lite ply. this wing seems kinda heavy for my liking, but i still want to build this. as per the fuse, the firewall is fubar and the top of the fuse, where the wing dowels are is ripped off and missing. does anyone have any suggestions as to how i should build this section. another thing that kinda crossed my mind is i want to put a small gas conversion engine (around 18-20cc) and was wondering how i need to reinforce the firewall area.
I would send some pics, but the site wont let me for some reason.....

andrew66

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Rcpilot

My Feedback: (78)

Here is what I'd do:

Cut the firewall out. It's broken and crushed. Not good if you plan to put a gas engine on it. There are a few stringers on the top. Just cut the whole thing out and put in a new firewall with 1/4" hard plywood. If your good, you can add triangle stock to the fiewall--then when you glue it back in, the tri stock will glue onto the fuse sides.

Cut out that shredded balsa on the bottom of the fuse. Put a 1/4" hard ply block in for the landing gear. It should be the full width of the fuse and about 2" or 3" long. Make it bigger than your landing gear to spread the load out over a larger area. Mount the block so that your landing gear will be even with the leading edge of the wing. (make it a taildragger) Fill in the rest of the area behind the plywood block with balsa. Tri stock that landing gear block in real good. Run the tri stock back 3 or 4" if you want.

On the top of the fuse:
On the right side, just rebuild that balsa with 1/4" sticks. Same as it was built stock. In the front of the fuse, put in a bulkhead/former made from 1/4" ply and tri stock it into place. This is your front wing mount for the dowels to slide into. It should stick up above the window enough that you can put your dowels into it. Run it down inside the fuse and tri stock it in. The idea is to spread the load out over a large area. Not to point load all the energy from the dowels into a very small area and load that area with a great amount of stress.

Add blocks to the back of the fuse and drill holes for your bolts through the wing/

andrew66

thanks for the input, ive already cut out the firewall and repaired the wing (just need to cover now) ive got some good balsa left over from another kit, im going to use to rebuild the cabin. and as far as plywood, is there any difference between the stuff at the hobby shop and whats at the lumberyard? and as far as the LG goes, it was a taildragger with a one piece gear unit cut in half to widen the stance. one of the halves is missing, so i'll have to buy new gear or fabricate my own from aluminum (i know a few guys that can hook me up)

andrew66

well, got a little bit done today....its hard to really start into this one, b/c im kinda in the process of packing up and moving to alberta. but i got the firewall removed and the front fuse is ready for sanding and fitting of the new firewall (still have to start on that). and i epoxied the stab back on (it got damaged too).
I went to the field today (just for the hell of it, i dont have a plane to fly right now) and was talking to one of the guys that witnessed the crash of this plane. apparently, the guy who built this plane had a bet with the guy who flew it that it could be built strictly out of spruce (and foam) and no balsa whatsoever and still fly. well....suprisingly it did! this plane is a tank! this plane lived on as the club trainer and "throw around plane" for a while, when during the winter, the owner decided to go road flying with his buddy. they were flying around for a while and got bored, so they started doing loops around the hydro wires (iknow...iknow) and well, you guessed it... they hit the wires, and the plane dropped like a brick.
so, now that i know the structure is strong, a nice little gasser will be right at home on this plane!
heres some pics:
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