How to ... fix this :(

[shamanisko]

Well a nice day gone bad...  :cry:  :cry:

I went up to the hill today, weather was nice, a bit to windy, but nice.. Had my Cularis ready in no time. I was soooo looking forward to a few hours spent flying....

But as soon as the plane was in the air I´ve noticed way to much up trim..I was trying to correct this with the trimms on the Tx but even with max trim it was still going up...After 15 min I have landed no problemo...adjusted the elevator manualy and went fluing again...This time slightly nose heavy but way better than before...
After a 30 min A massive cloud just appeared from nowhere
I tryed landing before it starts raining...I was cca. 15m higt when srong wind pushed the nose straight down :cry:  I was to low to do anything :cry:
The plane went down like a dart :cry:  and thats the result :






What to do? :?:  Just epoxy it together?will it be strong enough??the foam on the nose is a bit compressed... I have some glassfibre math left and epoxy resign..could I fibreglass the whole belly?...
Any advice welcome..
Peter

[Happy Days]

Peter, dry your tears, I’ve got foamy’s that are till flying after far worse crash damage than that!

If I were you I’d stick it together with some “Foam Safe” CA glue and activator (kicker)
Just make sure all the control rods are straight. :wink:

Other members of the forum may have other suggestions for the repairs but believe me, your beloved Cularis will be like the mythical Phoenix.

K.

[shamanisko]

thanks Keith,
I dont have CA glue handy :!:  but I´ve found some foam safe glue..I have the plane back together, only have to wait 6 hours for the glue to dry... :?:
I have used a hairdryer on the squized foam..the foam did expand back to 85% its previous shape :clap:
but im still worried about the strenght of the fuselage..tomorrow i`ll try to reinforce it from inside   :?: ...somehow :lol:

[Happy Days]

Glad you’ve got her back together Peter. :clap:  

I’d say if you’re worried about the strength of your repair you could reinforce the weakened areas with flat carbon strips. (There's a small piece at the end of the rule)

Cut a slit across the broken/weak area, and glue a strip in, rather like a splint. To make it easy, I'd fit it from the outside of the fuse.
I’d use either "UHU por" glue, (air curing) or epoxy with some Micro Ballons mixed in with it.
(Mirco Balloons is the white powder you can see on the metal rule. This adds ‘bulk’ to the epoxy and helps it grip into all the little crevices that the foam of the fuse is made up of.)

You can get these items form most of the big model shops…………..this is the page for the carbon strip from the shop Robot Birds http://robotbirds.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=292_123&sort=2a&page=3

Finally, one of the beautiful things about foam models is the amount of damage and abuse they can take, and still fly! Of course, “every battle leaves a scar” but I, and many others, have some very beaten-up planes that are still flying.

(You should treat yourself to a combat wing and you’ll see what I mean :lol: )

[billscottni]

C'mon Keith! send him to a fellow glider flyer for his stuff. Richard Boyd at Expressfly has carbon strip. Uses it on his F3p indoor models

http://www.expressfly.org.uk/shop/index.php?cPath=5&osCsid=sr715cjhlkg8bhcupvccle8ae1

[Happy Days]

Must confess Bill, I didn’t think of Richard’s shop :oops: ,…………….sorry Richard. :roll:

Just come back from a lovely day on Big L. Time to sit in the armchair and maybe just close my eyes for a few moments,………ZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

K.

[shamanisko]

Hi
thanks Keith, I had few small leftover carbon rods...I glued it along the bottom side..its WAY stronger than before
I will do the same thing along the sides as soon as the carbon strips arrive that I`ve ordered from ExpressFly  :wink: ..I`ve ordered 2 new metal gear servos aswell they will replace the crapy-plastic gear  in ailerons..
...I have to read more about the 'micro ballons' never used it..but it sounds interesting
 :?:
thanhs for your advice
(btw, I have a combat wing..but I didnt get much flying of it...can't get the CG right on it   :oops:  :lol: )

[billscottni]

wings tend to be very sensitive to CG and you need to be within a couple of mm to get it right!

Which wing is it? may know exactly where CG should be

[shamanisko]

Hi Bill
I have the Irvine X-ite
...the wing is very sensible on CG..just cant get it balanced right..
 :!:

[billscottni]

Put an eye screw in EXACTLY on the CG. Balance it so it is very slightly nose down when suspended from this

[Happy Days]

As Bill said, flying wings can be very pitch sensitive. Your X-ite looks very much like a Zagi wing I had.
The best way to fly it was with about 25 - 45% negative exponential.

(I balanced mine using a pencil underneath it, placed at the instructed CoG. Firstly to balance the wing front-to-back, and then changing the pencil to balance the wing side-to-side.)

After setting the CoG as per the instructions, I tried flying it, with about 40% negitive expo and then adjusted both the CoG and amount of expo to suit my particular style of flying. (Normally chaotic :roll:  )

Just an idea Peter :wink:

K.

[shamanisko]

Hey,
Bill thats a smart way to balance the wing :?:  never even thought of doing it this way. :?: have to try... tomorrow
...The negative exponential setting :? what :?   :lol: ... that could be it...I just read a brief post explaining how exponential rates work...and well, I should have done it earlier :lol: that with wrong balancing would explain why it did spend more time on ground than in the air :lol:
I`ll try set it to 40% neg. exp. and we`ll see..
I might get it flying this weekend :clap:

thanks lads