dahawk

Eek ! Sorry to hear that. I'm glad its repairable. I might have binned it in disgust.

Vid coming ?

solentlife

Ok ... here's the photos ...

Please note two things here .... a) the thin ply face in the leading edge of the aileron that you glue hinges through ! b) this is also the area that all that force and stress is via the control horn .. note the lack of re-inforcement !! The vertical ply web is no better than the spar you see !



Here are the wings as removed from model ... EPP is split and torn in multiple places, ailerons twisted ...



Cowling burst asunder with motor box shattered into tiny bits ...





Here's motor which survived still with the cowl ring on it !! The bits in the box are the shattered remains of structure gathered up from the runway...



Fuselage cockpit section saved by the CF rods but ply has shattered in so many places ... typical brittle cheap Chinese Lite-Ply ....



The structure will be repaired using European Lite Ply and should not incur any weight increase other than a odd gram here and there. My model was lighter than many I read here.

Contrary to some posts over on the 'dark side' - the 4250 650kv on 5S and 13x8 had her flying anything asked ... She will most certainly 3D on it ... no need for 6S etc.

Nigel

dahawk

An easy fix for you. Borderline bin for me. Lol. That ply face was a surprise!

At least you got 3 min of fun out it.

solentlife

I'm getting a bit of stick on RCG saying I don't know how to build and all my fault.

Well I rest my case on that silly bit of ply ! How anyone can honestly say a 1430mm span model doing full out aerobatics / 3D can hinge on that ??

Trouble is until it breaks - you just cannot see that inside.

It's like Denny (Kyle) and his hinge points missing the blocks in the factory made wings ...

Nigel

JetPlaneFlyer

Sorry to see that Nigel. You arent having much luck lately. That ply does look weak for such a large plane, but you might have got a stronger bond by letting thin CA wick into the joint rather than pre-applying to the hinge? If that would have been enough i'm not sure because 1.5mm ply isn't much on a plane this big.

Seems like they directly scaled up the design from the smaller version without also 'beefing up' in critical places.

solentlife

Model is about 40% repaired already - EPP and CA !

Just got to make a new motor box and straighten the crushed section of wing.

Ailerons / fuselage repaired easy ....

Cowl in fact is going back together better than I expected.

Nigel

solentlife

Here's the video ...



I know what happened ... I have the evidence right in front of me ....



That is a hinge area cut out of the main wing. I did this so people can actually see the REAL thing and not speculate or accuse me of 'poor building' (as RCG have done)... it is clearly "Not Fit For Purpose" ..... anyone expecting a 1430mm (58") 3D / Aerobatic machine with such power and potential to live with such design is dicing with potential crash every flight. It would not be so bad if proper hinges were used with epoxy or similar ... where the glue would form behind the ply creating a stop. But CA hinges in this ??

this is nothing short of crap !
I really kick myself for ignoring my inner voice when it said NO NO ... CA Hinges ? Bin them ...

Nigel

solentlife

WOW ... ordered new parts : Motor mount kit and spare cowl ... arrived very quick.

I have attached the motor mount parts scanned if anyone wants to cut their own ...

Parts are 2mm ply but firewall is laminated 2x3mm with only tabs on rear 3mm part.

Nigel

dahawk

Amazing progress ! Can't wait to see the final repair job. I'm sure it will difficult to tell it from new.

solentlife

You can see the repair lines because the factory 'prints' the colours into the EPP as most profiles are as well. So its difficult to blend in repairs.

I'm considering using my water based poster paints to give an overall paint job which will not add many grams ... but so far she looks not so bad.

Nigel

solentlife

All ready to crash again !!









Nigel

solentlife

Flew fine and performed all asked ... NOW that hinges and suspect areas are fixed more secure than factory recc'd.

Video to come.

Nigel

solentlife

Nigel

dahawk

Yay ! Nicely done Nigel ! She looks as good as new and flies great. Many including myself might have binned her.

Hawk

solentlife

Very happy with her now.

Cheers
Nigel

solentlife

Fun day ...



Nigel

Crashalott

Nice lookin plane Nigel!
Did you get the hinges sorted?
Crash

solentlife

Yep - by making sure real glue got in and behind to lock them in.

Now all I have to do is get used to her and start bringing her lower and my fear reduced of errors low down.

She's light and powers out easily. At present she has an Orange stab in her purely for low rate mode use IF I switch it in ... but flights above were switched off. I have a Hobby Eagle Super II ready for her and that will make her dance a pretty flight.

I am not afraid of peoples comments having such in there. Its a tool - not a crutch.

Nigel

formontoya

I've not seen the 48" hybrids call out anything but 3S (13x6.5-maybe a 14" max) or 4S (12x6) with Skywing (I have a V2 Slick) or Aerobeez (I have the Extra330) and I've not had issues with any control surfaces pulling out. However, I can see them coming out with 5S or larger.

Curious, where did you see that 5S was doable?

formontoya

Although, with your repair skills you might have been able to fix mine...
http://www.wattflyer.com/forums/show...6&postcount=43

JetPlaneFlyer

Nigel's is the larger 55" version.. it fooled me too because it looks just like the 48" one.

FWIW I have a couple of the 48" ply/foam hybrids. On one (MX2) i have 4s power with a Motrolfly 750kV motor spinning a 14x7 prop.. Over 900W of power. The airframe copes fine.

formontoya

OK, the 55" explains a lot (should have read the title) and now I understand more about doing the repair, but 900W+ on a 48" hybrid? You're much braver than I. Then again, I'm the slow guy on 3S 13x6.5 ~500W.

solentlife

As long as you get the hinges in and well soaked in CA or Epoxy to really hold in the slots - they pull out too easily.

If you go back in the thread - you will see what you are hinging to ... a very thin ply spar with only EPP helping it. I actually removed one section to photo for you guys to show my point.

I see that the models are actually available in 40, 48 and 55" versions ... and all have same construction.

As to 5S - I use 5S in my 55" Edge ... but I could use 5S in a 48" .. its down to capacity to get weight suitable and the KV of motor to match the pack voltage.

Nigel

solentlife

Question for JetPlaneFlyer .....

I know you have the 48" version but still interested to know what servos you have and what movement on the surfaces.

The Skywing site recc'ds 3.5kg servos for the 55" and I fitted 2.6kg on ailerons, 3.2kg on Elevator / Rudder. Basically because the slots are strange size and made for Henge 725 servos. They were the nearest and torque fig I could find that would go in the slots without serious modification.

My surface movements are :

Ailerons +/- Reduced :18deg Full : 40deg
Rudder +/- Reduced : 16deg Full : 35deg
Elevator +/- Reduced : 20deg Full : 55deg

I cannot get more as EPA and arms are max'd out.

I have ordered Henge servos now for all slots ... my pocket is bleeding now !! With over 5kg torque available - so I should be able to replace the kit extender with my own longer to get more throw on elevator.

Interested in comments. (The info on RCG - I had errors in measurements).

Nigel

Crashalott

Bummer Nigel!
Crash