What do you do with bits left over from crash ?

[solentlife]

The never-ending question ... repair or not repair ... save or or not save ..

Well here's oner side of the coin.

I bought a Lanyu ME109 about 3 - 4 yrs ago ... it went through the inevitable impressions of an Olympic Diver ... all-out aerobatic plane .... you name it - it suffered my piloting. It ended so banana shaped no amount of hot water or heat gun could straighten it. It actually got nicknamed "Banana" by my flying pals.
Finally it was so out of true that I resigned her to the back bench ... not really knowing what to do with her.
I have to say that when it flew - even with it's non-scale front end - it looked the part and flew well, once I had swapped out the Brushed set-up for decent Brushless of course !

So here is the model as she is now ...



Many would bin it ... but not me. My Flying pals occasionally ask about it - as they know I am one to not be beaten down and give up on a model.

As you can see - the wing is still in very good condition as is the fuselage from cockpit back. The canopy is still not too bad. But the cockpit and front section is awful. Some time ago i had sawn through the sections as you can see here to try and see about straightening her up ... It was a daunting task ..

So what to do ? I have a good wing, salvageble tail section ........ spare motor, ESC, radio gear ... and a memory slot free on the Tx.

I have the Pilot Models plan of the 1206mm span ME109 which is a Scale representation as well...

I have now scaled down and tiled the Pilot ME109 to match the wing I have (880mm ... 73%) ... and idea is to use the Pilot plan to create a new fuselage to mate with my existing wing. Construction will be sheet foam (6mm) and whether I use the old tail or not I haven't decided yet.

First is to print of plan and stitch together to give a working sheet ....

Attached is the tiled plane if anyone interested to have a go at this as well ....

I have posted this in General listing and not Scratchbuild as I think more people need to see what can be done with cheap foam and a bit of glue ! The probable cost of this 'resurrection' will likely be about $10 ....


Nigel

[zoltron55]

take 1 part & make it look like it is flying threw a wall. in the next room take the other half & have it flying out

[Fishbonez]

Im signed up

[dahawk]

Looks remarkably similar to the Thunder tiger
September Fury I bought a while back. Cheap foam ? Mine came brushed also.

Have a good one !

Hawk

[solentlife]

I've printed up ... now to join relevant sheets to check it fits the wing.

There will be a delay obviously in proceedings as Christmas festivities play out ....

Nigel

[hayofstacks]

Wish I could have got a picture of it, before I lost it to a radio glitch.

But this was a mini ultra slow stick.

[solentlife]

So whats stopping the rebuild ?

Nigel

[road king 97]

If my crashed plane can be fixed i repair them but if its toast i cut the tail off and mount it like a stuffed animal on a small board and then screw it to a wall in the garage . joe

[solentlife]

Originally Posted by road king 97

If my crashed plane can be fixed i repair them but if its toast i cut the tail off and mount it like a stuffed animal on a small board and then screw it to a wall in the garage . joe

Ho Ho Ho ....

That tail would be inspiration to me to rebuild !

Nigel

[solentlife]

OK -so I have span correct on plan but chord is not ...

My Wing has 190mm .. but plan shows 210mm ... this will need bridging and careful selection of wing final iincidence. I know it would be easier to scale the plan to the wing chord ... but I want the model to be more scale than original Lanyu.
The wing depth of Lanyu is less than plan ... so I think this will help.

Nigel

[road king 97]

Originally Posted by solentlife

Ho Ho Ho ....

That tail would be inspiration to me to rebuild !

Nigel

When i was younger and competing in pattern and pylon my planes had tuned pipes and went over a 1oo mph so when they went in it was time to get a shovel and dig out the motor and the tail was all that was good left. joe

[stevecooper]

Stick left-overs on Chunk-gliders,,,, old aero aces on balsa gliders,bubsteve

[stuart]

for me if the repairs can't be easier than building a new air frame I'll strip the electrics to go into storage as used goods and label the motors as crashed even if they run so i can keep an eye out for damage when reused. as far as the rest of the bird ...it;s garbage as i don't have the room to store bits and pc's I'll never use. plus i can't wait to remove the wreckage from my site...lol. i have saved wings though as if i might need them for a future build...but theres a layer of dust on them.

in the spring i plan on building more shelves to hold storage bins in the garage and get the whole room thats my workshop for rc and build a pvc rack or two to organize .

[hayofstacks]

Originally Posted by solentlife

So whats stopping the rebuild ?

Nigel

I decided to use the motor on another plane, and I am going to use a re-enforced slowstick rudder. I also plan on using either a fiberglass of carbonfiber fuse, the 3/8" poplar just isn't strong enough. I also had to shave the fuse down to about 1/4" to use the rudder, which is why the tail broke. This crash is how I discovered the problem with my dx6I, and I currently do not have another radio/receiver setup. I need to send the radio in to get fixed, but I am also thinking about just using it for spares. I have another dx6I with only a bad trim button, and I think it would be a super easy fix.

Its a work in progress, and when I do rebuild it, it will be trike gear, slowstick rudder and tail, and stock mus wing.

I also have a cheap fuse trainer fuse with the wing mocked up. I just need to decide which route I want to go.

I will be ordering a new 450 or 480 class motor for it tonight, just trying to decide which setup to go with.

[solentlife]

Well - the fuselage is 1/2 built now for the ME109 ... (just waiting for Photobucket to wake up !! then I'll post piccies.) HOORay !

The Tail I cut into and scarfed onto the new sheet fuselage sides ... seems to be ok. That saves making tail feathers ...







Then its insert formers to create a basic shape ..





As you see here - the wing is not a bad match to the fueslage, I did have to later cut the main formers as they were too wide for the cockpit canopy ... simple slice through the foam to remove a sliver ... then hot glue back together ...





I'm also trying to marry the old cockpit canopy into the new fuselage - that will take a bit of work as the Lanyu had a curved turtle deck ... I may if I feel adventurous - create a curved deck by using 3mm depron over formers ... seems shame to waste the canopy.



So far it's a cut and build as I see / go job ... nothing is actually per plan or organised. Just the fuselage outline basically was used.

Nigel

[SigMan]

i see why they call you Banana at the field..lol!

[earthsciteach]

Looks great, Nigel. I never throw anything away unless the foam bits are too small. I could make a weird Mig-15/F-18/Spitfire hybrid right now. Oh, could even throw in some F-4 Phantom parts. Frankenfighter!

[solentlife]

Originally Posted by SigMan

i see why they call you Banana at the field..lol!

Once decks are on she'll straighten up !

I actually decided to use the old fuselage turtle deck at rear .... saves all that planking effort !

The fuselage as you see is a basic box to simplify the build. I intend she will be hand-launcher. The overall weight should be less than the original Lanyu ...

Nigel

[solentlife]

Before adding the top - necessary to route inb servos. I've elected to have servos at rear - to avoid all that rods / trays etc. ... It may mean compensating CoG a bit ... but should be much easier.



Add top ...



Infills ...





Fill in pieces and fairings all added ...

Then its add the straightener internal deck for RX etc. ..



I've decided that I shall carve of the front top of fuselage and add my pink block foam ... this will a) straighten even more the fuselage, b) add considerable strength, c) allow me to carve a curved top, d) marry to the cockpit canopy.

The motor is a pole mount motor spare for my Cessna 182 ... similar size and weight. With 8x6 prop - she'll fly nice on a mid sized 3S ... 1300 - 1800 size.

I'm actually feeling quite pleased that this cut and glue without real planned scheme is working ok ... had a few bits to cut and modify so far ... but basically it's all working out ok.

The radio I will install is my old 1980's JR Propo 35Mhz ... yep - antique ...

Nigel

[solentlife]

Wing offered up to fuselage ...







Not too bad ... think incidence may be a little too + ... so may drop that down a touch.

Battery box ... Lanyu has a good way of putting battery in - a hollowed out section into the top deck ... so I have cut a slot into the cockpit deck .. slid a 2200 3S in (maximum i will ever use in this) ... then fitted an underdeck to it ... enlarged the slot behind so I can put in / out the pack and have ESC - battery leads connected.







The ESC will be mounted under that deck above the wing ... the Rx under the cockpit deck ... The cockpit canopy will only be used to get at the LiPo ... all else will be neatly tucked away.

Nigel

[Chucksolo69]

What I usually do is go on line and check for available parts and see how much it will be to fix the crashed plane. If it is close to the price of a new one, I buy a new one and keep the crashed one for salvageable parts.

[solentlife]

Originally Posted by Chucksolo69

What I usually do is go on line and check for available parts and see how much it will be to fix the crashed plane. If it is close to the price of a new one, I buy a new one and keep the crashed one for salvageable parts.

Fair dos .... but I live in Latvia ... which is not best served by RC suppliers ... plus I enjoy the build ... sort of therapy you might say.

The other point of the thread is to illustrate to others what can be done with a bit of glue and scrap foam ...

I was offered a new fuselage - but it came out near price I paid for the whole thing ...

Nigel

[solentlife]

Tried various ways with scrap material to create wing fixings ... but in the end decided to splice in the original Lanyu front and rear fixings ...

Rear mount :



Front mount :



In place ...





Then necessary to taper in bottom of fuselage to marry ..





Wing is slightly up one side - but wing seat tape will correct that ...

Then it was box in nose sections ...





Finally ready for paint and CoG setting ...





Checking CoG shows it to be too far back .. way too far .. so I had to cut of the block top at front and carve battery hollow right up to the firewall. She is still a little tail heavy with 2200 3S right up as far as she'll go .. I reckon manageable. I may addd some weight after I finish painting etc.

Just noticed - what awful pictures !! Focus seems to have gone to pot on my camera !

Nigel

[solentlife]

Painting up ...









The black insignia etc. will be done with marker pen and black paint. Yellow - I will probably remove as my yellow paint is old and rubbish. In the spirit of use what's in the bin - I shall not buy a new pot for this !! (I might though if she proves airworthy !!)

She's not concourse ... she has a few rough joints ..... nose is cartoon style and not scale ... spinner cannot be fitted as prop shaft is too short ....

BUT I'm pretty chuffed that it went together quickly and not so bad ... given that no real scheme was ever laid out. Taking a rubbish bin model, similar plan, and a lot of thought to marry the two - we now have a ME109 ready for maiden once paint etc. finished.

Now where's that Lancaster plan that was giving me trouble other day ?

Cheers
Nigel

[JetPlaneFlyer]

Nigel,

It may be the camera angle but the 'plan view' photo looks like the fuselage has severe 'banana syndrome'

Steve

Edit.. out posts crossed, it doesn't look nearly so bad on the new photos.