Cornell Rebuild Completed

This evening I finished the rebuilding of the Cornell. I had to order the Midnight Blue Ultracote from Horizon Hobby since no match was available locally. In the meantime I used Econocote Insignia Blue, which I found is curiously a grayish blue matte finish... Looks like it would be good on a Corsair. I took these pics with a 12x6 prop for more thrust, though she flew fine with the stock prop (I think its a 10x6, but its not marked). I have one, but its soft. I know it won't hold up in this heat, so I put a 10x7 APC e-prop on it. Its late, so I opted to paint the prop tips, let them dry overnight, pen in the red stripe, and in the morning I will light the fires and kick the tires before taking her out to BMF for flight cert. A bit nervous about that.

She's not perfect. I think the right wing is a tad higher than the left.  I may end up buying new wings for her. She does look pretty good, and when I get the proper cote on her, she will look sharp.

You can see the matte gray like "Insignia Blue" on this side.

Is it just me, or does that right wing (the one on the left of the pic) look a tad higher?

Couldn't save the right wing's Army Air Corp star (as is seen on the left wing), so I put a set of AMA classic art deco wings on it.

All up (battery in) she is just a bit nose heavy. Perfect!

Tomorrow, flight quals, along with the Stearman! Let's hope the twins can fly their planes well and keep the lifties under the wing...

Wanted a Dx7s... oh well... I'll manage.

Just so you know, you can't always get what you want, but you might just get what you need.

I need a new transmitter like my wife needs a new hand bag, but I got one anyway. Okay... I needed it more than she needs a new hand bag because one of my two Dx6i has a bad gimbal and needs to be sent in, and we can't fly buddy box, my buddy and I, if I don't have two transmitters. Now that I have two good transmitters, or will when Mr. UPS man stops by next time, I can send the bad one in and see if Spektrum will fix it cheap. Okay if they won't, I'll have a new transmitter. See how that works out for me?

What really sucks is I went looking for a Dx7s. Do you have any idea how hard it is to try and find a transmitter that isn't to be released until Oct 2011 in August 2011? Pretty damn hard... Couldn't find it online. Hobbytown USA in Mobile, AL, didn't have it and my LHS didn't have it. Sitting in Chili's gnoshing my Old Timer with mayo and ketchup, I stared lovingly at the Dx7s on Spekturm's website (like many with a tablet device, I have mastered web surfing using my knees while eating). There it was, even though I have stared at this page with my head under the covers, flashlight in hand for many a night, clear as can be. "Due October 2011". Son of a...

Well, that explains a lot. Lamenting that homey isn't getting a Dx7s anytime soon, I kneed over to the the DX8 page where I saw the TX only package was only $50 more. Well... I could manage with a Dx8... Thinking.... Thinking... Yeah... With the help of my friends at PayPal, moments later I smiled, looked up at my wife and proudly told her I had ordered my new radio.

She looked up from her quesedilla, set it down, quietly took my Xoom tablet, and kneed over to to the Louis Vitton website. Yeah, like that'll happen... before I get my Twin Otter...

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.