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Helis and fixed wing

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Pirate Kid Skeleton by RadDezigns.

Friday, November 18, 2016

Big Stick Wing Repair


Several days ago the wing came off the Big Stick after the left tip touched on landing. It cracked the mid-seam and tore off the front attachment knob thingy. The simple job got complex when a lack of attention on my part lead to further damage to the top of the wing.



I epoxied the underside seam and used my drill as a weight to flex it down.



I pulled back the cote from the center and laid down 3 layers of fine mesh fiberglass cloth with alcohol thinned epoxy as the resin.



Not sure how secure the top was, I laid down 2 layers of fiberglass.



Sanded it flat.


Same on the underside.



While that set for 24 hrs, I examined the broken forward wing attachment. There should be a section of plywood that juts out; that goes into the fuse to secure the wing's front edge, the back end being held by wing screws.



Cut it clean as a right angle. You don't want this too strong or instead of giving way as it did here, the energy will break up the wing or fuse.





Epoxied in a new block.



Epoxied in some side supports. I sanded down the aft parts so they were flush with the attachment hard point.



In trying to sand down the very thick epoxy on top I didn't take into account the slight V in the center. The sander ground down a bit of balsa on wither side of center. I had to peel back the cote and fill it with wood filler. It provides some strength over Hobby-lite, of which mine had dried out.



The bottom finished. I painted the forward attachment with black gloss enamel. I used black cote aft as I didn't want to waste the red.



Ran a piece of black tape across the front and back as a soft shim for better fit.



The top is nice and smooth, re-coted, and applied a new sticker.

I had checked the fit of the forward attachment several times as I rebuilt it. I wholly expect that when I go to put it on, it will not fit and snap clean off... we'll see. Waiting for that black paint to dry.

Toying with putting a stabilizer on it.

Looking forward to flying her again soon!

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