Habu bites the dust,repair or not?

[heliflyer]

My,already rebuilt,Habu,went in today. Completely my own fault.I was attempting to trim her,too much up elevator,and lost it. The front,as you can see from the pictures was ripped off. All of the electrics are okay but,as hard as i looked,i couldnt find the front end. It went it to some deep gorse and just disappeared.
So,my problem now is,do i bother to try and repair the front end and if i do,how could i go about it? Or,i could order a Habu 2 bare airframe and transfer all the electrics it to that.
What would you do?

[kenchiroalpha]

Hi
http://www.parkzone.com/Products/Def...ProdID=PKZ7070
Take care
Yours Hank

[heliflyer]

That airframe is no longer available.

[kenchiroalpha]

Hi
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ParkZone-PKZ...963#vi-content
Take care
Yours Hank

[Don Sims]

Too bad you couldn't find the nose.

[stuart]

many folks here would tell you to buy some home depot foam and make a clean cut to the damaged fuse. then shape a new nose to epoxy on. a spray of new paint and your good to go.

don't worry about perfection,small defects are very hard to see while flying 100+mph. that what i would do since we all know our best repairs and the life of our favorite plane have an expiration date on them some where.....just can't seem to find out what date it is till they crash.

solentlife here at wattflyer is a good one to ask about foam repairs.

[heliflyer]

Thanks Stuart,i might just do that. As im in the UK i would have to find some where to buy a block of foam,suitable for the repair.

[heliflyer]

Thanks for the replies. I have decided to attempt a repair but i am also going to order the air frame only as well. I will let you know how the rebuild goes.

[pattern14]

While I'm pretty biased towards EPP, I've managed to repair 4 EPS/EPO noses in the last 12 months due to various mishaps. Comparatively straight forward if you are scratchbuilder (being accident prone helps with experience) If you are an "out of the box" flyer, then it will be more challenging, but who knows; you won't lose anything by atempting a repair. Even a rudimentary nose thats is bone ugly will get you flying again Making a backbone from coreflute and gluing foam to it so you have some sort of guide for shaping is a possibility. Having photo's to copy from also helps if the nose is totalled. Air crash investigators have got the right Idea with their efforts at piecing back giant jugsaw puzzles, so any bits at all you could tape/glue together as a guide will help. You can also make a pretty good nose from balsa as well, which sands and shapes well, and is nice and light. I've made a combination nose for my Starmax He162 from coreflute, balsa, foam and a plastic drink bottle cut up creatively. It's not beautiful, but it's good enough, and the plane flies as well as ever. Like another poster said , at 100mph, who will notice!!! Good luck with it, and hope to hear of your success cheers

[heliflyer]

I have started to repair her. I have made a frame with flat carbon fibre strips which has give me a guide to work to. I also have my old V Trainer that i learnt on. Its seen better days and is made of EPP so im going to use this to model a new nose. I will post some pictures of my progress at the weekend.I have also ordered the Habu 2 bare air frame so when next summer comes,i can swap all the electrics into it and have a nice looking jet for when the weather improves.I can fly the old one through the winter and use it as my winter hack.

[solentlife]

Sorry I didn't reply earlier ..... just read Stuarts post !! Tks Mate !

Yes it's true that I am one who never gives up on an airframe .... it has to be really bad before I look at giving in.

A nose job is actually dead simple. First is to square of the fuselage at the break ready to accept the new ....

Foam : Get to B&Q or other local DIY / Home store ..... buy a thick pink or blue or green - whatever colour insulation sheet about 1m square .... they come in thicknesses right up to 100mm or more.
Now make a decision .... is it mecessary to have a cut-out in centre of the nose ? Or can it be solid ?

If a cut-out is necessary for battery or other part ... then best way is to build in layers by using thinner sheet ... such as 6mm under floor foam sheet. You basically trace out an outline looking either vertically or horizontally .... you then trace out the centre cut-out needed inside that.

Work out how many layers you need to create the whole cut-out and then cut these out of your sheet. Glue together as a block. Now work out how many layers WITHOUT cutting cut-out out to finish each side of block to full size. Cut out and glue to block.

You now have a block that has shape ONE way with required centre cut-out. You now trace out the perpendicular shape onto the block and with sharp knife / saw - carve / cut the extra away till you have the rough shape nose. Make sure you are slightly oversize all round ...
You should have a roughly shaped squared corners block.

Offer up to fuselage and check angle of joint ... correct by sanding ...

How to joint to fuselage .... cocktail sticks and 5 min epozy. The sticks provide strength across the joint and also alignment. 5 min Epoxy as it's strong but sets reasonably with time to sort ...

Because many foams resist glues - I always rough up and create pockets in it to have the glue form into and create a stronger grip.

Now fix cocktail sticks with glue and make sure other face has slightly larger holes to mate with them - this allows for slight mis-alignment.

Epoxy the two together and make with the shaping !!

Once shaped ... a good way to seal the foam ready for paint is to give it a thin coat of PVA glue ... this will bind the open cells and stop the paint from appearing it's on a sponge ! Use Hammerite or Humbrol paints ... do not thin the paints in case the turps / spirit gets to the foam.

If you go the block route without cut-out - then its trace out the shape .. cut block ... trace other shape on other face ... cut ... you now have the square corner block as above ..

It's easier than it seems and once you do it - you'll know better way next time ... as you refine the skill ...

Cheers
Nigel

[heliflyer]

I have done some more work on the nose now. I used an old V Trainer made from epp ,that i had learnt to fly on as the material for the nose.I built up the foam as you can see in the pictures then carved the shape as best as i could.I have also covered the nose in Red Devil filler and wil give it a rub down when its dry. I think im just going to cover it in fibre tape to finish it.
I know its not going to win any beauty contests but at least it will,hopefully,fly again.
I didnt really think i was going to repair it so now at least i can just use it for practice through the winter. I have ordered the Habu 2 air frame as well,so when the weather gets better,i can swap the electrics into it

[dahawk]

Heli,

Very nice job ! A little finish sanding and maybe some protective tape and you're airborne again. I almost have to take a shoe off to count the number of times I've had to re-construct noses on thse edfs. Nigel provides great insight and should get an honorary degree in plastic, er foam, surgery!

[heliflyer]

Well,here she is,finished. As i said,she wont win any beauty contests but the front end is nice and strong so should do me for the time being. Considering
i wasnt going tobother,im glad i did now as i can use her as my winter hack.
I will post when i have flown her,fingers crossed,and let you know how it goes.

[heliflyer]

MyHabu is no more.Flying today,total loss of control. I think it was down to the receiver.Again my fault as was using an orange receiver,should have put a Spektrum receiver in there.The orange receiver is completely dead.

[solentlife]

Originally Posted by heliflyer

MyHabu is no more.Flying today,total loss of control. I think it was down to the receiver.Again my fault as was using an orange receiver,should have put a Spektrum receiver in there.The orange receiver is completely dead.

I know it's too late now - but did all the range checks / control checks check out OK before flight ?

I had a series of strange crashes ... one after another ... I thought was Rx .. BEC ... all sorts - then it turned out to be the battery to ESC connnection ... everything was fine when plugging in ... but wiggle the leads and dead !

Nigel

[heliflyer]

I did the range checks and control surface checks and everything was working correctly.
I have not had the chance to check the connections out yet but will do so later today.
I did have a glitch with this receiver a while ago but since then,its been okay.

[max2112]

Originally Posted by heliflyer

MyHabu is no more.Flying today,total loss of control. I think it was down to the receiver.Again my fault as was using an orange receiver,should have put a Spektrum receiver in there.The orange receiver is completely dead.

I'm sorry to read that, Heliflyer! You did a fantastic job on the nose repair. Did the components and battery survive?

[heliflyer]

Thanks fot the compliment max. Yes,all the electronics are fine. Esc,servos,fan and motor all survived. Also,the battery is okay.