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Monday, January 28, 2008

Swift Rebuild

I read somewhere on the RC groups that all model planes have a lifespan , good pilots just stretch this , with only 1.5 flights this ones lifespan cannot be up.







Humpty dumpty had a great fall ...all the kings horses and all the kings men couldnt put him together again. But they did'nt have composites









Its very important to collects all the pieces, unfortunatly I lost a little piece









This damage was caused by a flutter that developed at higher than normal speed and saw the Glider plummet into the hillside from great height.











I clean up all the edges with my sander , and place some mylar on the inside, then I glass some layers of glass on the outside.














Once this is all cured I sand it smooth



and then add some cloth on the inside.

I have sanded and then glassed some 200 gr carbon cloth over the damaged areas. Next I will make a filler of epoxy and micro balloons and screed this over the hollows, water paper down and spray ,it will be as good as new only stronger.















Like the mythical Phoenix , this bird will rise again.


1 comment:

Piet Rheeders said...

Hi Mike,
Don't forget to strenthen that ruder post. When the swift went down it was realy motoring and it was a good thing that you didint have your vario onboard because that woud have register near the speed of sound.
Looking forward to the outcome of this rebuild.

Regards,
Piet.