At first glance, this old bird didn't look to need much attention to get her back in the air....until I looked a little closer. Chipped prop, covering shot on the tail feathers, fuel lines, and several pieces of the air frame that had become unglued from years of thrashing with a Saito 100 4-stroke. This is a lot of fun...it'll fly backwards, hover, knife edge on takeoff, etc. I originally built this from 3 other airplanes that folks had discarded... I installed a pair of solid hardwood spars in the wing, assembled it as a one-piece wing with no dihedral, and recovered it. I set the radio system up to include flapperons, programmed aileron / flap / elevator mixing, installed a large fuel tank and 100 Saito 4-stroke, and converted it to a taildragger. the elevator and rudder servos are in the tail, and the rudder uses pull-pull cables. I've been slamming and banging this thing around since about 2009. It was time for some attention... I started by checking for loose stuff, replacing the fuel lines, testing the batteries, an d looking the airframe over closely.
I run a 14 x 8 Vess Sport prop on this engine. I like the performance with it, and have plenty of ground clearance...
There was a chunk knocked out of the tip of the prop. I've repaired prop tips many times over the last 40+ years in the hobby...I really like the Vess props, and decided to salvage this one, since it's been on the airplane for abt 7 years :-) I made a nice square cut, stacked up some 1/32" micro-lam plywood, and bonded a chunk into the prop tip.
I then shape, sand, and finally balance the prop. I've never had a repaired prop to fail.
Dave
http://www.rcdave.net
