After sitting on the shelf for almost 20 years I finally got around to building up the last of the Two-Tee (2-T) kits that I had been hording. The build went well and the modifications I added worked out well. However on about the 6th launch one of the wood dowel wing connectors decided to snap on me. [X(] She came sprialing in nose first and the fuselage shattered into more pieces than had been in the kit to start with.

Well to make a long story short, she's been sitting for almost a year now and yesterday I decided it was time to see what I could do to get her back in the air. I'd done several more builds since the 2-T met her untimely demise and had a lot of scrap wood and materials laying around the shop. The one thing I didn't have was large enough sections of lite-ply to make up a stock fuselage. Looking around the shop I came across my archery equipment and the light went on over my pointed little head. I dug out an old carbon arrow shaft and after giving it a couple of test flexes, I decided that it would work for what I had in mind. If I couldn't give her a stock fuselage, well I'd just make her up a slick little pod and boom one to thin her down a bit. I got out the old plans for the 2-T and made some measurements and figured out the changes needed to fit the gear in the way I wanted it to go and started cutting out parts. I took it from side by side servos to an in-line tandem setup. 500 mAh battery in the front with the Rx tucked in under the wing.

The wing had survived the crash and only needs to have the spoiler servo re-installed and the wooden dowels replaced. The tail section of the fuselage was still in one piece due to the carbon fiber reinforcement I had placed under the tail. (You know how T-tails like to snap just in front of the vertical stab) Since the arrow shaft is much thinner than the stock fuselage I'm going to make up a new thinner vertical stab and rudder to fit it. Control rods will be stainless spring tempered wire run through the arrow shaft. A section of the inner tube from some Sulivan Goldenrod will route the control rod up through the stab and to the elevator. Just like the stock version only with a little more flex to it so I can get the required angles. I should be able to get the tail feathers made up today and will be able to get it all together by the end of the week.

More progress on the pod and boom setup. Fuselage is just about finished and the tail feathers are well under way. I'm recycling the Horizontal stab and elevator as well as the rudder. I've built up a new vertical stab that will match size wise with the arrow shaft. All I have left to do today is to build up the area where the Vertical stab mates up with the boom.

I taped the tail feathers in place and put the wing together to show what the finished air frame will look like. I'm considering glassing the fuse for some extra strength. Once it's ready I'm going to paint the pod and vertical stab black. Add a little gold chrome trim and it will be ready to go.

I know that the stab is leaning a little bit but it's just taped in place. The Arrow shaft boom looks very small but it is very very stiff for it's size. These arrows (when I was still shooting) had a habit of going through several bales of compressed straw and can easily handle leaving the bow at over 245 FPS. The wall thickness is close to the I.D. of the shaft. These are Beman Arrow shafts and are some of the best you could get when it came to carbon arrows.

READY FOR RADIO NOW

After working on it most of the day today, the Bashed 2-T is ready for radio. Just need to add the radio gear and the push rods and balance it out. All in all I don't think it turned out too bad for my first scratch built pod and boom fuselage.