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plane repair

Hello, after 3 successful flights with superstar select with no instructor, only realflight G2 i finally crashed my plane. Wasn't from anything wrong with the plane or anything the simulutaor taught me. It was spatial seperation that when i joined the air force in '82 they told me that i can't tell far away objects and close objects at a distance. It never bothered me until i got into this hobby. I took off from newly constructed road ( road closed to traffic) Was flying around great with absolutely no wind until i heard engine starting to miss but was still flying ok. I decided to bring it down and hit a light pole about 50' up. Took out the leading edge out 6 inches into the wing. I thought the pole was further away then what i thought it was, does anyone else have this problem? My other question is how do you repair a leading edge problem? How do you get the balsa to make a U-shape? I bought a RTF plane so i am new at repairing the plane. Thanks, Jeff

Reply to
jeff
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All the time. I generally land the ruddy things straight towards me. Binovular vision craps out abobeve a few meters, and we use other things to judge distance, like how big it looks, or where it seems to be in relayon to other tyngs nearby. In the air, with a small plane, you lose most of the cues.

I assume one gets better...I am a little better than I was. #

You glue it all up from little bits with CA, then sand it smooth afterwards.

Then re-cover with contrasting patch :-)

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

Cut back the covering past the damaged area. Cut out the leading edge just past either side of the break, but make the cuts at an angle - somewhat like a dovetail joint. Take a new piece of balsa and cut and sand to match the dovetail. Better yet, lay the new balsa over the old and cut both at the same time. Don't worry about matching the air foil, that will be sanded later. Lay the wing on a flat surface and glue the new section of balsa into place. Also repair any ribs and supporting structure. With a long sanding bar, sand the leading edge to shape. Start with # 80 or #100 sanding paper, then final sand with #220. ( You may want to use masking tape to protect the surrounding covering) Complete the repairs by recovering the damaged area.

Alan Harriman

Reply to
Alan Harriman

be sure you carefully check out the rest of the plane after the repairs. The clunk in the fuel tank can end up in the front of the tank after a crash. you may have damaged the plastic gears in a servo or two, or they may not receive a signal properly anymore. same for receiver and check the wiring plug-ins and connections. check battery for connections. control horn connectors can pop loose on one end but seem OK until you're in the air again. make sure everything is tight in the engine area...muffler, firewall, mount, throttle, and prop. make sure the prop isn't damaged. It's sometimes hard to tell damage on a wooden prop. check everything on the landing gear. check aileron, elevator, rudder hinges, they can pop loose later while you're flying, too. I know this sounds like a lot to check, but it's fairly fast to do, and may save you plane later. Make a checklist and go down it step by step.

opinions will vary, jk

Reply to
jnkessler

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