Joppa Hill Fields once again tore the landing gear off my planes. Well, one set of gear, and the other the wing by way of the gear... I have been plagued with failure for several months now, I'm stating to take it personally. Every time I fly. Sigh.
Well, I got around to fixing the Edge 540. The landing gear box was mostly toothpicks, but I used them to frame out a stronger box. Problem is that if the gear try to come off now, the whole plane is going to be toothpicks, she is solid.
Started with putting the landing gear hard point back together..
Strengthened it with epoxy and plywood. Got it as straight and aligned as I could.
Using the toothpick remains of the hard point supports, I rebuilt the front wall. The back was still int he plane, though it was dislodged. I could not get it true on the starboard side, neither support actually, but a few washers when attaching the gear and all is level. I had to cut one of the stringers to get the parts in. I patched that later.
You can see the thick piece of balsa I epoxied to the forward support. It holds all the toothpicks together nicely.
All better now! Put a 12x6E back on her. She flies fine with it. Toyed with the notion to put a smaller higher pitch prop on her, but she is fast enough. I want the thrust for aerobatics, which is what I use her for.
Sweet machine. Way under built. A good sneeze would break her into pieces, as evidenced by her landing gear folding in tall grass.
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