extra 300

My Feedback: (3)

i have been building 2 Boomerang XLII (one for a friend and one for myself) and i was about to complete the work on both when i discovered a strange thing. while on my friend's plane the 4 stab bolts are 4mm bolts, on mine the same ones are 3mm (same as the old version).

I am not veryhappy about this issue and would like to know if anyone out there is flying with those 3mm screws without issue... Would hate to loose my second Boomerang because of this issue.

Thanks for your help,
Regards,

Dave Wilshere

If you have socket head Cap screws then no issues, they are massively strong. More important is washers to spread the load under the bolt heads which will be much smaller on the M3 screws.

Dw

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My Feedback: (3)

Dave,

These are indeed socket head Cap screws but no possibility to add washers as they are recessed. Please advise if you foresee any problem, as i am not feeling very confortable with this setup opposed to the one with 4mm socket head Cap screws.

Thanks, Regards,

Dave Wilshere

I'll check with Colin in the UK and see if he is aware of any issues.

Dave

Dave Wilshere

Seems it was before Colin's time. The kit must be quite early. We will try and contact Alan Cardash who was the owner of Boomerang at that time and may have a better idea.
The only thing I remember was to check the fin mounting plate and captive nuts. The later aeroplanes like the Torus have a completely new system with belt and braces vertical strap mounting

Regards

Dave

BaldEagel

I needed a new boom for my Elan a few years ago and the new boom had 3mm recessed nuts, have to admit I drilled them out and Hysold in 4mm brass inserts, I really had no choice as my tailplane was already set up for 4mm bolts, I am just wondering if the newer versions are using 3mm bolts instead of 4mm, I did contact Alan regarding this, but never heard anything back.

Mike

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My Feedback: (3)

My Boomerang XLII (3mm bolts) was received in September 2009 while my friend's (with 4mm bolts) was received in June 2010... Besides this small detail the 2 models are fully identicalexcept for scheme...

Would like to know what could be done to reinforce stab and avoid unhappy surprises (just in case)!!

Thanks,
regards,

extra 300

My Feedback: (3)

Any suggestions on how to eventually reinforce the stab mounts on the Booms (if needed)??

Thanks,
Regards,

Couch Potato

Just to make you feel a bit more secure

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8h6aoPzSpw[/youtube]

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My Feedback: (3)

Couch Potato,

Thank you so much for the video, you just made my day!!! At least it shows that it was not the stab that gave up first!!! Did it have 3 or 4mm bolts???

Reminds me somehow of my first XL.....

CJ2002

So, you do have a sensitive side then J?!!!!

josecilurzo

I had the same problem with my ELAN in 2010, i lost the stab in flight ( low/medium speed ), my ELAN had 800 perfect flights at this time.
Inexplicable for me and my friends ( eyewitnesses ).
I loved that plane.
My case.

JOSE []

Wayne22

My Feedback: (2)

another one bites the dust.... That is the 8th XL that I'm aware of that has broken up in flight. The airplane is just too capable, too gangly and not quite up to the stresses that are thrown at it, and over time, it just lets go. Reinforce the booms behind the trailing edge of the wing, and watch the covering on the bottom of the center section of the wing..if it starts ripping or peeling off, you have serious structural issues brewing inside........Now having said that, there are hundreds still flying, but keep your eye on the integrity of the structure.

The 3mm bolts are much stronger than the wood they are attaching. If it is a concern, you can cut a small opening on the inside of the fin, and pop out the 3mm T nuts and epoxy some 4 mm ones in..

trioval00

My Feedback: (17)

there was another thread a while back about the XL's coming apart and their were 2 reasons why that was happening. 1st was being over powered 160's and up and the 2nd which was more common, was the leading edge and the covering lifting, which most of us have taken steps to prevent that and that was to add a 3 inch wide piece of tape or peel and stick vinyl trim acoss the width of the leading edge.

I have a few hundred flights on mine, 100 of which was in 2011. I had the usual landings, and 1 or 2 hard landing. In the past 2 weeks I have been spending alot of time going over mine and found some serious issues I think would have lead to problems. I pulled all the covering of the wings center section. I found lots of stress cracks, after repairing the cracks with epoxy and CA, I decided to glass the center section instead of the standard monokote finish. This will solve a few issues, I believe the glass resin with addstrength to the wing and also solve the issue with the covering seperating and blowing the wing apart.

I personally don't like the way the tail bolts on, but it seems to hold tight. and I look at them good every time I get the jet ready for flight.


Mark

jroth

My Feedback: (60)

Hey Guys,

That was my old Boomerang XL2 generation one that flamed out and I pan-caked in at Bowling Green in 2006. I sold the air frame, it was repaired and a Rhino was installed. I think that the plane was flown too fast and the repairs might not have been completely up to standard.

I have hundreds of flights on my replacement generation two XL2 since 2006, I have been flying it conservately with a Kingtech K-170 all last season. The wing bolts and tail bolts are all the same size as each other, all are 3mm. I glued a washer in the recessed area in the horizontal stab, that way I never have to look for them.

3mm should be fine.

I also glassed my center section after I had to repair my gear mounts.

Good Luck,

John

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My Feedback: (3)

Thank you all for sharing your experience.

If washers are installed, presume that i should enlarge the holes to accomodate them knowing that bolts heads are recessed in stab. Correct?

Regards,

jroth

My Feedback: (60)

I used small washers that fit into the recess, they were about 1/4 inch in diameter, I wanted them to prevent the cap head bolts from compressing the block of wood in the stab.

extra 300

My Feedback: (3)

Thanks for the clarification and photo.

Best regards,

josecilurzo

BUT...

have one thing in mind: it is a great plane!!!!!!!!!!! i said this, after 800 perfect flights.

Jose [sm=thumbup.gif]

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My Feedback: (3)

Have again encountered another issue with my Boomerang's wing tube which seem to be wider than usual as the CF tubes slide and even have alot of play inside wing tubes. When Booms and wings are fitted in place everything looks ok. i have measured the difference in diameters and found the same result for both tubes, 6/10mm. have tried to use the supplied shrinking sleeve but i am still having a lot of play.

Stange thing is that the 2nd. Boomerang i am building does not have this problem and i can hardly get the CF tubes in place ...

Any suggestions, or potential problems if some play would still show between CF tubes and wing tubes?

Thanks

trioval00

My Feedback: (17)

mine too also has the slop between tubes and the pockets it slides through. my fix was that I used the 2 inch wide blue masking tape. just wrap it around the tube just enough to take up the difference.

works for me.

Mark

trioval00

My Feedback: (17)

Extra.....

today I was working on my old Boomer, I inserted the wingtubes, another set with NO tape on it for fit, very loose and lots of slop , the tail booms were movable by a couple of inches at the very end by the rudders. BUT once I fit the wings on and the aluminum rods went in, all the slop went away, well about 95% of it,

Mark

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My Feedback: (3)

trioval00 ,

This is exactly what happened with mine, but i am not too keen to rely only on the aluminum tubes to wipe the slop out. I might also add CF dowels (anti rotating pins) to help support the weight of the tall and heavy booms in addition to tape around the CF tubes.

Regards,

BaldEagel

Alternativly Hysol a carbon tube of the bolt dia into the hole to compress the bolt against.

Mike