Kadet Seniorita in need of repair...

[jdr00ejr]

Hello everyone, I had this Kadet Señorita given to me for free! It came with all the electronics already in it! I've never flown something this big, or built my own plane.

The only issue is the tail was hit when the guy was taking it out of his house. So the upright tail has been slightly damaged. Basically the very tip of the rudder looks to be cracked and the upright is no longer glued well to the body of the airplane, it wiggles. Some of the skin is torn. I assume I need to cut the skin so I can get to the balsa to regular things. Is there an easy way to repair the torn/cut skin without a complete reskin? I'd clear packing tape an option?





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[rotorfan]

Easy to do a patch without a complete re-cover. The whole repair is quite easy. I would go for the patch and steer clear of the tape. When ya finish youll see that it was easy.

[jdr00ejr]

I cut the skin yesterday and repaired all the Balsa. I've not found anywhere info on how to perform a patch (though I've not spent a ton of time searching). Suggestions on another board say use to tape now to get it in the air and when I can fly it well then recover.



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[Camss69]

Originally Posted by jdr00ejr

I cut the skin yesterday and repaired all the Balsa. I've not found anywhere info on how to perform a patch (though I've not spent a ton of time searching). Suggestions on another board say use to tape now to get it in the air and when I can fly it well then recover.



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You will need to buy some of the covering to do a patch, and you will need a covering iron. Patching something like that you will need to cut the covering back until you can make the patch over solid wood, so the piece on the elevator you would cut back until you got over one of the stringers. The adhesive on the covering is activated by the heat from the iron, and the heat from the iron also causes the covering to shrink so you can tighten up. The adhesive activates at a lower temp, so you can get it all tacked down and secured and then you heat up the iron only as much as you need to in order to shrink it to make it wrinkle free. Obviously the smoother you tac it down the less shrinking you need to do. Regardless it will only shrink so much. Covering is kind of an art in itself. A tear in the covering can be repaired using clear tape as others have recommended. Clear tape obviously does not have the shrinking capabilities.

On repairing the balsa, if the pieces fit back together and they are a snug fit, you can use thin CA for the repair. It is the consistency of water and will wick itself into the cracks and almost immediately it will cure and be solid. You can do this with the vertical stab as well if the fit is snug. You would wick it into the crease where the vertical stab and the fuse meet and you wouldn't have to remove or cut any covering. But be careful if you've never used thin CA before it can be really easy to glue your fingers to themselves or the plane, and its like water so you have to be careful not to use too much. If the parts fit is tight, it will literally cure so fast it will get so hot you will see a little puff of smoke. It will do the same to your fingers and will get so hot it will literally cause burns, not to mention the problem of your fingers being glued together.

Sorry for the long post! Hope that helps.

[rotorfan]

+1 to the above post.

[jdr00ejr]

Well, she's been reglued and band-aided with tape. She looks good and knowing ill have a bump or two, I'm not sweating the fact that I didn't do a real patch repair. Now, bring on the nice weather and a whole lot of nerve.

Also trying to determine what battery to use and what flight time to expect. Should I go 3S (I have a 3000mah) or 4S? Any thoughts on the matter?



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[Camss69]

The speed control and motor determine the battery choice.

What does it have in it?

[jdr00ejr]

Sorry, thought I had posted that in this thread already. Here's what I determined it had in it.

Turnigy Plush 60A ESC
Turnigy C3548-900 Motor



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[jdr00ejr]

Also determined the prop is 11x5.5.



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