The Last of the Eflite Cornell's

Eflite has discontinued their PT-19 Cornell, so when I crashed mine hard back in June, I was distraught... I have spent the last week putting it back together, and as soon as I can fine some HANU885 Midnight Blue Ultracote I can finish the repairs to the fuse and get her flight qual'ed! I had to engineer some fixes for which I may still pay a price (more forward weight), but we'll see. I had been flying her with a 10x6 prop, but may be stepping up to a 12x6 if there is adequate ground clearance. So, here's the pics so far. Once I finish everything I will post some final pics.

The Cornell in pieces...

The wing refabricated.

Close up of the ugly but functional repair.

Not unexpectedly the right wing was heavier than the left, so I ended up having to put a counter wieght in the other wing. I slid the washer along the wing until it balanced, cut a slit in the underside of the wing, put some cement on a washer in the location it balanced, and slipped it in.

A strip of cote over the slit, and voila,

balanced wing!

The cote job isn't perfect... but it came out pretty darn good. Right top. The red tape covers a bit of an imperfection in the rib structure.

Left wing. Replaced some panels...

Overall, not too shabby.

The forward part of the hatch took a bad hit. I placed a piece of styrofoam underneath it shaped to fit to provide some structure.

The styrofoam as seen underneath the hatch.

Used spackle to fill in the broken areas.

Sanded it smooth, sprayed it with some clear acrylic.

Masked out a template for the black Econocote to fit.

Installed the cote, and added a pilot! He's twin brother to the pilot of the Stearman.

So this is what the stock 3" x 2" x2" motor mount and battery box look like, that nose box sticking out in the front. Part of the battery fits in there, the motor on the front. Mine was toothpicks... So I made one.

Was able to replace the bottom shelf.

Using 4 - 3/8" square dowel perfectly matched, I CA'd and screwed them to a piece of 3x2 3/32 ply aft and the motor mount forward. The ply firewall is CA'd in place and I drilled airflow holes in it. Here it is being dry fit before I drilled the vent holes.

Side view.

Vent holes drilled, motor installed, CA'ing the mount in place. Later I dry fit the cowl, perfect alignment!

Now that the box is gone the firewall blocks the battery from entering behind the motor. So I had to remove part of the floor of the battery box, strengthen the lower part of the firewall and the floor, and pad the frames with fuel tubing...

Added an inclined piece of styrofoam protected with a piece of Dual Lock Velcro, glued to the floor...

So that the battery can incline in, saving some of the forward CG weight, and allowing the battery to fit in the fuse. Its a 3S 3000 mAh battery.

The incline pushes some of the weight forward to preserve some nose weight, and allows the battery to fit below the hatch.

Replaced the aft most servo, which is the rudder servo with an EXI d213f metal gear digital servo cannabilized from my CopterX 250. I had found the original SG90 rudder servo stipped.

The underside of the fuse below the cowl was crushed in, so I lifted it as much as I could then CA'd some salvage sheet balsa, and sanded it down to level.

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The cowl screws were forced back along the fuse diggin 4 nice trenches. I filled them with scrap balsa and CA, and sanded it smooth. Those are the bald rectangles just aft of the firewall.

Some internal repairs required removing cote. I also replaced the black angled pieces on the top of the fuse aft of the firewall. As soon as I get some Midnight Blue cote, I will finish up the repairs, install the wings, check all the electronics and the motor, and then take her up for flight certification!

Okay, let's try this one more time...

So... yes, I once again stalled the Stearman, this time on landing. I immediately set about the repairs, and added some more weight to the nose. More weight.... I think I am approaching the scale gross weight!

Posterior right wing root is crushed in.

Left wing root is also fractured.

The right wing root securing screw tab is fractured.

The lower carbon fiber wing spar had a wood dowel in it from the previous repair. They are out of stock at Horizon Hobby, so I have to repair it again. I drilled out the dowel.

The new dowel section.

CA'd in place and sanded smooth

The right wing securing tab was cracked clean off just outside the screw. CA'd back in place.

The upper right wing fractured. Here with the cote removed.

A better view of the fractured spars, from front to back.

The upper right wing tip is fractured...

clean off...

and bent. You can also see the cracked N strut.

Repairs completed.

Stripped the cote and repaired the internal structures.

Added  $0.75 worth of nickels as weight using CA and set with epoxy. A stack of 3 on the top, and a stack of 6 on both sides of the motor. I later placed a large wire tie around each large side stack.  Now she is almost nose heavy. But she is heavy... (Edit: recall most of the weight is actually in the bottom of the cowl itself and this on the mount is extra).

One of the things I had to trim out in the last flight was a left roll. I put the battery in and balanced her and she rolled hard left. I set the battery up and slightly right and she is now pretty balanced. I used styrofoam to hold the battery along with Velcro.

Looking good, again...

Well.... let's see if I can remember to climb out under full rates and 1/2 to 3/4 throttle, then land her with power on and a really late flare! I am so done crashing her. I will be ordering another one so that once I get it right I have a clean model to set up.

Luke continues to rock the Alpha!

Dont' say a word...

First flight of my Stearman after the rebuild. Took off, tail heavy even though the CG was technically spot on.  Figured out quickly she needed high rates, flicked in, got her under control. Trimmed it out and also trimmed in a lot of right aileron then she flew fine, but knew landing would be tricky. One landing, rolled out, tipped over slowly. Second landing tip stalled, landed on and broke the rght wing. No other damage. Should have her fixed with a couple of hours work. Clearly she needs to come in with power on.

Alpha receives Airworthiness Cert

I took the Alpha Sport 450 up today for flight quals after its recent repairs. She flew wonderfully with the new HeadsupRC Power 450 Sport motor. After addressing some issues with the nose gear I flew her for several packs.

Luke was not there today, but Antonio Vilchez was. He was having all sorts of problems with his foamie Texan, so I took him up on the Buddy Box for a couple of flights. He flew very, very well! While I have no doubt he can handle take off and landing himself, the winds were treacherous, so I handled those for him. Othrwise, for the 12 minute flights, he did all the pilotage! We ran through basic manuevers, and he executed them flawlessly. Well done, Antonio!

Next up for cert is the Stearman. Weather should be awesome tomorrow. Heading out to BMF as soon as I finish at work.