Rebuilding the Stearman yet again

Needless to say I am getting tired of this recent cycle of fly, crash, rebuild. My latest Stearman fiasco resulted in some minor but time consuming damage. I started the rebuild part of the cycle again this afternoon.

I was lucky, slamming into the ground from ~50 ft she should be wood chips, but she came down in thick weeds which cushioned her crash. All askew...

Damage to the connections of both lower wings to the fuse. The uppers were fine.

Prop toast. The false motor doesn't look so bad but its confetti...

Left wing sheared the tab clean off.

The right wing actually pulled the entire tab out and fractured the rib it attached to on the wing.

These cabane struts were forced and bent forward by the impact.

You can really see this on the right.

One of them sheared its attachment off the wall of the fuse.

The wall of the fuse above the right landing gear was caved in. I pushed it out, put a piece of salvaged sheet balsa over it and sanded it flat. The sheet of plywood inside to which the gear attach was bent in a previous crash. Its what makes this gear more likely to bend back, so I slipped in a piece of popsicle stick wood and CA'd it in place. This will lever the gear attachment forward and give some resistance to bending back. You can see it in the hole at the top. I don't want this to be too strong, but prefer it give away and protect the gear.

Re-coted. Looks great!

Gear back on, and snug.

And all aligned. good repair.

I removed the nickels I had added in an attempt to bring the CG forward. I don't think they made her too heavy, but she flew better before I installed them, I think. There's no telling anymore. This 550W motor and a 12x6 APC prop with a 3S battery create more than enough thrust... But boy she stalls easy and deadly.

You saw the before pic of the right wing above. Here I've rebuilt the rib, and re-installed the tab. There were a lot of tiny pieces.

The separated tab of the left wing.

CA'd in perfect position.

The spar also broke at the same place it has the past 3 times. Horizon is still NIS on the CF spars, so I once again drilled out the dowel I used last time, and replaced a segment. CA'd it together, sanded it smooth.

Waiting for new cabane struts, will replace the N strut. I have the very original cowl with a cosmetically damaged false motor that I will use until I get this bird flying right, but I have ordered a replacement.

I hope to figure out this CG problem, but will likely settle for resetting the mechanical down elevator we had originally. Trying to get it right with nose weight has not worked well for me. Right now I just want her to fly like she used to...