A small question and a venting of frustration.

THE QUESTION:
Have you gotten a badly built, out of square airframe to fly correctly and reliably?


THE FRUSTRATION:
This past week I met with an old friend to swap a kit and catch up after not seeing each other for a year or so. He had a Rascal C with the original brushed motor set-up that had been sitting in the rafters of his shop for many years. I took the Rascal in trade and didn't really look the airframe over too closely. My friend is an expert modeler and a full scale classic airplane restorer, I trust him and any airplane he has built. When deciding the trade he said he did not build the Rascal but that it was given to him by another modeler several years ago and that he had never flown it. I just assumed he had checked over the airframe when he got it, but I am now not so certain. Upon inspection I have found SEVERE problems and considered scrapping the whole thing. I am an experienced builder and like a challenge, but this one seemed tough to crack.

The issues:
1) Where the fuse comes together at the tail, it is neither centered along the length of the fuse, nor square.
2) The horizontal stab is slightly skewed to one side, and bows down on one side
3) The vertical stab is not square to the horizontal, and is not centered
4) The dihedral is not equal from right to left (one side is 1 in lower than the other)
5) Finish is sloppy and windows are not fully glued (need new covering and windows)

So far I have fixed these issues with the exception of #1 and the bow on the horizontal (will try to shrink it out with the covering or a little steam treatment once bare). I still need to do additional surgery on the wing root to beef up the spar at the corrected dihedral. To upgrade to a BL motor and lipo's I added a forward firewall to correctly mount the motor and modified the battery hatch with a magnet and battery tray, getting rid of the original kit screws. I am also going to strip and re-cover once I have a few flights on the adjusted airframe.
Hopefully I can post some pics of the corrected and modified plane tomorrow.


LESSON LEARNED:

Rule #1 ALWAYS inspect and airframe thoroughly before accepting it in a sale or trade.
Rule #2 NEVER assume your trusted friend has followed rule #1.


I have not yet talked to my friend about this, it has no bearing on the friendship, or trust I have in his judgement... I am just curious to see if he will remember seeing these issues from when he originally acquired it.

No. Nor will you.

Now, have I fixed airplanes as badly out of shape as you describe, and turned them into good performers? Yes...as it seems you are on track to do. You say you've already fixed a majority of the issues, and, let's face it...the Rascal will be a good bit more forging of some of these issues than other aircraft might be.

I must admit...the biggest worry to me would be exactly what you seem to have left for last...the "drooping" stab. Everything else seems to be a simple matter of location/placement. I'll be interested to know how it comes out once covered.

In any event...no...a badly built, out of square airframe isnever going to fly well. However, some TLC applied by a skilled builder can turn such an airframe into a quality airplane with many good flights in her.

Valuable lesson you've passed along....vow keep us all informed how the restoration goes!
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Problems can occur when a plane is stored in the rafters, heat, moisture, another item accidentally placed on the stab, wing, etc. Your trusted buddy may have easily overlooked something out his control.
Keep up with the repairs it will work out.
Good Luck &amp; happy flying.

Today I finished up the repairs, patched up the covering, and gave it a test flight. It was really too windy to notice if there are any minute flight issues. With the BL motor it took of in under 15 feet and climbed at a 60 deg+ angle with full throttle. At half throttle it cruised around at a nice rate and settled into level flight with 1 click of down trim. Seems to float pretty good, and fought the 10-12mph winds pretty well. Hopefully I can catch a calm morning this week and see if there are any minor trim issues that were masked by the winds. Landings were a bit hairy with the crosswind to my "runway" (a 5ft wide track around the football field where I fly) but still relatively smooth and seemed to track well. This evening I installed a tail wheel in place of the skid because the rubber track is not skid friendly... it knocks the tail around a bit. A 3s 2200mah lipo pack flew around 15 min and still carried over 12v so on a calm day I fully expect to get around 30 min on a pack with relaxed flying.

After the repairs and modifications, the CG was perfect and is easily adjusted with the battery being located on the CG. The bow on the horizontal stab shrunk out fairly easily, and strengthening the spar at the wing root was simple as expected. I did find that the plug-in section for the wing was broken away from the fuse on one side after the second flight [&:] ... I am lucky the whole thing didn't fail and create a lawn dart. easy fix, but doesn't exactly give me warm fuzzies about the airframe, after a few more flights I'll be able to relax a bit and enjoy it; Right now I have a love / hate feeling toward the Rascal.

I took the pics before the test flights today. The motor is from Hobby King and is comparable to an E-Flite Park 450 for power... At the moment I have the cheapest electronics I own installed, and flying older batteries for the test flights. I'm trying not to risk too much on this project

Excellent news.  Sure does look good in the pics...nice job on the repairs!<div>
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Thanks gb... I did get in a few flights before church this morning with out any affect from winds (< 3mph) and found significant trim was needed on the rudder. Once that was sorted out on the radio (plan to do a physical adjustment as well) All was good. It is an extremely lazy flyer at less than half throttle, and has no bad habits. The project was a success, but I will still do a few more test flights before determining if it is worth recovering and putting better quality electronics in. I'll post any update here and finished pics as well if it proves it's metal.

Proved the need for more test flights before re-covering and nicer electronics this morning.
[link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_9875450/anchors_9875450/mpage_1/key_/anchor/tm.htm#9875450]Crash and Rebuild[/link] - need I say more?

Talked to my friend that I got the Rascal from and he said "I had never looked at the Rascal as I never had much interest in it". Once again, lesson learned.

Acs_Guitars - did you ever get your 4* flying.

Would reallly like to see that plane finished

Sorry for the off topic post.

Andrew

Not yet.... 2 years later! I had a lot of thing happen and life got too busy. I had heart trouble last winter and heart surgery last spring which finally slowed things down enough to get back to flying. I was actually working on getting the shop back in order yesterday. Covering the 4-Star is on my list, hopefully after fixing the Rascal. I'll check back into the 4-Star Saito thread.

It might not fly great, but it'll still fly with all the deformities you had mentioned. I guess it's all about what you expect...

I've seen first time builders make trainers that had uneven dihedral, slanted stabillizers, etc. and still learn to fly. Look at real birds....nothing on them is equal.

Now a pattern ship will be a different story of course.

You can make just about anything fly, but if something can be fixed, It is better fixed. Discerning airworthiness of an airframe has little to do with the question "Will it fly?", and everything to do with the question "Will it fly well?". An airplane that does not fly well is an issue of safety. When I built my trainer, I made plenty of mistakes. The gentleman that trained me would meet with me every week and inspect the progress I had made on the kit. If something was not right, he would tell me why it was not right and suggest a fix. Everything right down to the final preflight before maiden, he used the opportunity to teach me good building habits and to pass along good practical information. In the end it all comes down to safety... Not just the safety of bystanders, but safety for the airplane itself. Giving it the best chance of a long, successful life in service. It is far better to pass on a model, or retire it to become a relic in the rafters than to loose it due to poor set-up and construction. And if an airplane does not fly well, then IMHO it should not be flown at all.

The Rascal is mostly complete. I have rebuilt the airframe and completed the new covering job, minus some pinstriping. The final weight is about 3 ounces heavier than the SIG specified range, but seem to have no effect on flight. The only issue left to solve is with ground handling, it is a tail looping monster. The maiden flight was last Sunday evening and I did a little night flying once the sun went down. Night visibility is excellent and the airframe looks awesome glowing in the air.

I fixed the ground looping issue for the most part by simply adding a bit on toe-in to the mains. I'll fiddle around with the thrust angle some as well to get it completely solved. Maybe in the next week or so I can post a video.