I don't know how many of you know about this nifty hint... If you are running the standard wire drive system for the TR you will like this one.

Goto your hobby store and buy a hollow plastic tube that will just fit the I.D. of your tail boom. Then you have to cut the tube into measured pieces so you can put the bushings back in place, with the plastic tube taking up all the space between the bushings. It should all fit snugly inside the aluminum boom. It will do a lot to protect your tail boom from bending/breaking during a boom strike.

I did this mod after folding one too many booms. Never had to replace another since then. Weight gains and CG change are minimal. Definately beats buying booms. I know this may not be an entirely clear description of the mod, so let me know if I can clarify.

Happy Flying!
Rico

I'm curious , Please clarify . I understand your procedure , but what type of material are you using ?[8D]

Steve .

I don't know exactly what type of plastic it is. :-( The hobby store where I used to live had a little stock of assorted plastics in diffrent sizes, shapes, and colors. The material I used is a hard but slightly forgiving white plastic. As far as exactly what type of plastic its made out of, I can't be sure. The walls of my tube were aproximately 2 mm thick. The outer diameter is just barely smaller than the inner diameter of the tail boom. The inner diameter is still big enough for the wire drive to pass through it feely

Great idea Rico, but your timing is very, very bad! I just got finished making a new boom after my LMH suffered it's first boom-strike. Maybe doing your mod would have meant my original boom would have survived. I wish you'd posted your idea sooner - or that I'd delayed my fateful flight until I'd read it!

Tony

Oh well Tony there's always next time Hey Rico I'll be on the look out for some tubing to try.
I kind of like your idea . Might take me a while to locate some but I'll keep us posted .

Steve .

Sorry I couldn't be there sooner for you guys.

I'll keep my eyes open online for the plastic.

This forum is a great place to share these kinds of ideas. Do you guys got any hints and tips like it?

Well I found some plastic tubing of the PVC variety at the local lumber yard . It fits the I.D. of the boom perfectly . Found it in the plumbing dept . used for connecting the commode to the water supply , comes in different lenghts . In the process of changing out the boom now after yesterdays misconfiguration of the thumbs doggonit . I'll no doubt see if it works for me

Steve .

I like it Rico.
What I did was to wrap a piece of foam around tail boom; a piece of coke bottle plastic over that and then wrapped electrical tape over that. I just cover the area that gets hits the most
T.W. you could still do this and you don’t need to take it apart, and it will hide any dents you have now.
Rico yours would be less obvious.
I have also taken a tail boom broken in half, and slipped a piece brass tub (about 3�long) on the out side of it covered it with electrical tape.
You could not tell it was broken.
Joe

I just made and fitted a new boom out of thicker-wall alloy tube. I don't think it will ever get damaged again . . . . but I may still do as you suggest to protect the blades from getting damaged! The new boom is "much" toughter than the original

Tony

And to protect the blades:
5/8" vinyl tubing.

Is this an issue if you have the CF Boom

I don't have a CF boom, but I know that CF often splits along the plane of the fibers. So, I would imagine that CF booms wouldn't hold up too well to a boom strike. Anybody try out a CF boom?

Hey Rico , TWO THUMBS UP !! I think that the pvc/tailboom mod needs to go in the MHOF--
{mod hall of fame} for the Corona tailboom . Since my last reply to you of finding materail to do this modification , I've had it installed for about three weeks now and know of at least three boom strikes without having any damage other than an indication that it did hit by showing a little crease at the impact point . Good show , Thanks .

Steve .

Thanks Steve!

I did the mod well over a year ago and I've never had to replace a boom since, although I've got plenty of little creases and dings on the boom. Sometimes the boom gets a little bit of a curve but I just bend it straight carefully...

I'm glad you liked the mod, I would recommend that everyone does it, it will really save you some money down the road. Sort of like buying MG servos instead of the regular plastic ones. (been there, done that)

Rico