acam37

My Feedback: (16)

I was just wondering how long a spad will stay airworthy? I've been flying spads for only 6 months and after 5 planes I finally have one that suits my needs. will the coro last as long as a balsa plane? I've heard that the sun and summer heat will weaken and even warp coroplast if exposed long enough. I always put my plane in the shade after each flight to try and prevent this from happening. I want to hear from some old-timers on how long to expect my spad to live.

DLSmith2

Acam37,

My DPS is over a year and many crashes old and still flies well. My Deb is about the same age and has had three different engines on it (testing combinations), and has flown year-round for the last year-plus. I keep checking the wing, fuse, tailfeathers and electrics and nothing seems to be any the worse for wear. If you take as good care of it as you say and make regular checks, you'll have a great plane around for a long time.

Blue skies,
DL

ChrisSpad

i just sold off some of mine. The newest of them was a little over a year old. The oldest had to be at least 3 years old. They all flew just fine. I still have the big gasser thats close to 4 years old. The sun will warp dark coro, but it doesnt really hurt it, just makes it look bad. Now, laying something across the tailfeathers or ailerons will eventually warp them, but, not the sun by itself.

Zombie

You mean those DPS "Harrier-to-cartwheel" landings. DL?

Woodsy

Yep i concur, my oldest still flying SPAD is probably nearly 2 years old, i've thought about retireing it 'cause its so beat up but it still flies fine, so being lazy i still fly it.

Tattoo

The original Spad is 6 years old this April, and flew at Spadfest a week ago. The original DPS is almost 5 years old and still flying with no signs of deterioration. The original Debby is 4 years old and still going strong. I've never had a balsa plane last nearly as long as any of these. Even the ones I didn't crash would suffer from covering deterioration in the hot Kansas sun much worse than any coro warp. The coro hinges have lasted much longer than I ever thought they would...I've not had a coro hinge just up and break like I've experienced with the cloth CA hinges or the brittle plastic bendy ones on blasa planes. Since going to the cutting board firewalls, fuel soaked wood turning the front end of a plane into mush is no longer even an issue. It's also nice not to have to ever worry about hanger rash. The life of a Spad sometimes can be misleading because of their nature, they are flown harder and treated differently. I would say that a Spad, if taken care of with as much paranoia that I had to exersize with my balsa planes, will easily out last balsa. The coolest thing is that if you fly a Spad like a balsa plane and hit your landings and don't cartwheel it down the runway etc...it will continue to look like the day is was built indefinately. My experience with balsa planes is that they begin to deteriorate almost imediately...and the process is accelorated if you fly them.

ChrisSpad

Tattoo is underselling Spad #1. It still looks great, and flies wonderfully. (I had the good fortune to take it for a few laps). I can tell you that i've flown people's planes, both balsa and plastic that didn't fly nearly as well, and they were built by veteran builders. I was amazed at how well it flew. My first one sure didn't fly that well, and i even had plans to go by. This one was built from a napkin drawing that had been thrown in the trash.
I am convinced like Tattoo said that they'll outlast balsa, if you treat them with the same care and respect you would a balsa plane.

acam37

My Feedback: (16)

Thanks for the info. I just built a spad extra that is the same dimensions as a somethin extra. It looks great and flies almost as good. the only problem is I over did it on the gutterpipe and 4 mil and it came out 7 lbs. I'm in the process of building another just like it but this time use less PVC and 2 mil wings. Now that I know the coro will last that long I'm going to take my time and build it to last as long as I can keep it in one piece.

Zombie

Gobs, is this possible? I ask my Deb to handle things I'd never subject a balsa plane to. Guess I better be nicer to her! LOL!

MrGreenSpeed

[8D]

LUDS96

My Feedback: (23)

My Saturday Night special is three years old! Hundreds of flights. It's on it's forth Fusalage second one this year. I dorked it in one rainy Sunday and built a new fusalage right at the field in an hour and a half. The Sun came out and we were back at it. Good inexpensive Fun!