I had a friend who is an excellent painter paint my wing for me. He did a beautiful job but when he was finished he decided to epoxy the Robart hinges into the wing.. A very nice gesture but he left the gaps way to big. I'm not sure what he was thinking but now I have to pull the hinges without ruining the wings. I think I need to drill out the hinge pin and then work the rest loose from the wing or drill it out. Not sure yet. Has anyone had to remove Robarts before and if so what was your method

You will need to cut them and move them to a new location. If you want to be able to remove the surface in the future Robart makes a socket you can glue in on one side. It uses a setscrew to hold the hinge in the socket.

thank you, that sounds easier than drilling out the pin and drilling out the hinge body. It only seem right because on this model I've had to redo so many things. Mostly my fault and I'm the first to admit than I'm not a builder. It does seem redundant though, I left the hinges unglued so the wings could be painted so I was really surprised to get them back glued. I didn't notice when I got them back, the gap was so big I thought they weren't glued. Oh well, it's all just a learning process I guess

By chance could you post a picture of the gap? Instead of cutting the surface off and rehinging perhaps you could just fill in th gap with balsa then cover over it. Just a thought, never tried it but if it could be done would probably be less work

John

no, the ends of the ailerons were sticking out almost 3/8 of an inch from the trailing edge of the wing. It looks really bad. Because of the design of the wing the hinges are almost to the top of the wing. I will line up the center line of the old hinges and put the ailerons back onto the wing.

Cut the hinges and then use a sharpened brass tube chucked up in a drill (go slow!) to cut out the hinge point. You can then use the next size up brass tube to cut a plug from some balsa which will be a perfect fit for the holes left during the removal process. Done it many times, no problem.

Heat will losen up the epoxy. Try using your heat gun (if you have one) on the bottom side of the wing where the hinge is. Might work for you.

Bob, it might mess with the covering it the wing gets hot enough to loosen the epoxy. I think I'll just try drilling the points out or move over a half inch and drill new holes

I found that using a very hot 4-40 rod melted the nylon part of the hinge. I heated the rod in a flame and it melted the nylon and epoxy without damaging the wing. Took very little time also.

Regards,

Dave

thank you, I will try that

Meltiing the nylon out caused a little damage to the ailerons but it is repairable. Hopefully there is enough good wood inside to hold the hinges, the hinges were actually only in the balsa leading edge of the aileron, not too think there. You cannot melt all the plastic and epoxy out without damaging the inside of the structures. Maybe the dowel method would have been better but the taper of the ailerons would make it hard to do after they are covered. As it is I crack the sheeting on top of the aileron and will have to sand, seal and repaint it. Thanks again for all the help,