The Crash

It was inevitable, that an Radio Control airplane crashed. It was mine and I was not pleased. I could see it go down, it apparently lost the signal and spiraled into the ground. My buddy, Buddy, helped me police it up - a jillion pieces.

One tries to collect all the little pieces with the intent to rebuild the plane. This one hit nose first and the first four or so inches got compressed, distorted and smashed to bits. But I got as much of it as I could and it looks like I may have enough to rebuild it.

One can always rebuild a crash once, well almost once. I have had some pretty serious destructive ones in the past. At any rate, I have started rebuilding it. Sort of like putting a jig saw puzzle together, this little piece here and that big piece there. Lots of glue and patience. It will mostly come looking like the original but it may be a tad off here and there. It will be heavier - more new glue and stronger - better glue than the Chinese used to build it.

The airplane was originally a ARF, that means "Almost Ready to Fly." One has to glue on the tail feathers, join the wing together and install the servos, fuel tank, engine, battery and receiver. After all that one has to balance the airplane. The balance has to be over the center of the lift or the airplane will not fly right and will probably go out of control very easily. But then, I know how to do this. I have had a lot of experience doing this, maybe to much experience.

At any rate I have the fueslage back together up to where the wing mounts. The wing "saddles" on top were not damaged very much and the landing gear came out with a big chunk lower skin. That went together pretty quick. You see, I have lots of experience doing that work.

Now piecing together the nose is a different matter. I have the fire wall (with the engine mounted on it) mostly intact and one piece so it will go in pretty good. Had to do a little cosmetic repair and glue new side reinforcement rails on (thereby straightening out the slightly distorted fire wall). I have the piece of the lower nose skin, it was plywood and survived the crash intact. So it is matter of fitting it in and getting the side walls to conform. Being off a little bit is of no great consequence, as there are trim capabilities to take care of the small things. But to much and it will look cock-eyed.

I will place the fuselage flat on my construction table and slip in the lower nose skin. That will allow me to align things correctly. Great having that one piece survive so well. Any rate I hope that does the trick.

I will then reinforce the structure to make it stronger. Yes, it will be a little heavier, but the strength is a big thing. The Saito four stroke engine generates a large power stroke that is transmitted through the structure and can cause it to disintegrate with time.

I will have to investigate why the plane lost signal. I know when the signal goes away the servos tend to align in a spiral condition. So that was the clue to me. A lot of things can cause this, first and foremost is a lost of power connection. That could be a power switch. That could be a loose connection at the receiver. The plane had not been flown in a long time and the connectors can corrode oh so slightly as to cause a momentary loss of power. I try to use the best but . . .

I did check the battery with a loaded volt meter after the crash and it was well up to speed. So it was not the battery. I have had other battery problems but this is not one of those conditions. So I will pay close attention to the switch but don't think that was it either. I am really sure it is the connector at the receiver. Out range could be another but the receiver has worked well in the past.

Any way back to gluing, piecing together, aligning and so on. I do enjoy the rebuild process.