Supervetteracer

It was it's first flight. The CG was off a bit too far to the stern. I had planned on staying very close by in this park. But things went south and I found the plane getting dangerously close to a bunch of kids playing soccer. The plane was acting too weird to get it back to me and I made teh decision to ditch it rather than risk having this thing go out of control.

It stuck in the ground nose first. There is minor dmagage around where the wing hooks on but the area right before it slopes into a T-tail wing has completely brken in two. Can this be fixed? Is there a good link for me to follow?

heavy metal thunder

You made the right decision in ditching the glider rather than having it hit someone. For repairs on the area you can reach from the inside you can sand the area to roughen up and lay 3/4 oz. (fairly light) fiberglass, use some 30 minute (gives you more time) epoxy thinned with a couple/few drops of rubbing alcohol and spread it over the area, add another layer of fiberglass over stress areas. For out side repairs, sand the area and apply fiberglass and thin epoxy. The most important thing is to make sure you align everything up to make it straight and work on only one section at a time. Avoid putting too much epoxy as it is heavy stuff to work with. After everything is done you can spray paint to cover it up. Recently, I did a video for Nitro Planes of a warmliner (its on Utube) and I had to do a minor repair to the fuselage prior to filming, after painting it over it looked as good as new.

Supervetteracer

Thanks for the info. It was a tough call for my wallet but an easy one for my brain.

The tail section is going to be tough to reach from the inside. Guess I'll give it a shot. I do have some 30 miunute 2 part epoxy. Never heard of mixing it with alch but it sounds like a good way to this it out. Guess i'll just dive on in and see if I can fix it.

huck1199

I have fixed a few hotliners and what I did made the job easier. I open up the aera to be repaired so that placement of glass/epoxy patches is more accurate and positive adherence is better. In the case of your tail I would open up the top and place my patches in the bottom/sides and then patch the top with a string thru paper with the glass/epoxy on top of the paper. Don't be affraid to make the repair area larger;your fix will be better. I also take wax paper afixed with wide blue painters tape and wrap this on the outside to smooth the epoxy into a flat surface. This makes sanding the area for final finish much easier.

j.duncker

My Feedback: (2)

For the crush area at the front I would get everything back in place as far as possible then wick in some thin cyano to hold it together. Get the Dremel out and grind the inside smooth then lay up with several layers of 3/4 oz coth and epoxy. Finally fill the outside with epoxy and micro balloons mix sand smooth and paint.

The back is not so easy as you have no easy interior access. I have fixed a similar break at a competiton by going the superglue route then grinding the outside and winding aboout a 1 in wide 3/4 oz strip saturated with epoxy round it a couple of times. It held for years but was not pretty. Remember to redo the CG afterwards!

Supervetteracer

I started with some 30 minute 2 part epoxy. I fixed the front part first, put it all back how it was then applied the epoxy, then used clear tape and made it all smooth. I was surprized at how well it went.

So I did the same with the tail. Couldn't believe that this 2 part epoxy can hold together this well. I let it dry then i have wrapped it a few times with fiberglass. It's drying now.

I know the plane won't be perfect, but she will fly again.

Now how in the heck am I supposed to figure out where teh CG is supposed to be?

mikegordon10

Well duh, It's the same place it was on the plans in the beginning. The proper location hasn't changed. But I'd bet your more tail heavy now than it was before the mishap. You may have to re-arrange some of the components or even add weight to the nose. A good place to start would be at 25% of the MAC of the wing.