AVA Fuse Broken

[Axle209]

My Ava went in from 50 feet, it loss contact with the pilot LOL. I would like to get some experience from some who have repaired AVA fuselage, it broke at glue joint were pod and boom meet.

[Twizter68]

Pics of the damage?? They would help us identify a good fix for you.

[tkallev]

Mine broke in the same place when I was mid-aired by a Sagitta 900 a few years ago at the RES Nats event.

I used thin CA to get the boom and pod realigned exactly, then wrapped unidirectional carbon completely around the fix extending 1 1/2 - 2 inches either side of the junction (sand the carbon boom and pod well first) using 30 minute cure epoxy. After allowing that to cure for at least 24 hours, I wrapped the carbon with light 3/4 ounce glass cloth and more 30 minute epoxy. Let that cure, lightly sand and you're good. I pre-wetted the carbon and glass cloth on a piece of glass, I used very little epoxy. Hardly added any weight but is super strong.

tk

[Axle209]

I will post pictures of before and after I get it fixed.

tkalley, I have a question for you: Were your push rods on the outside? I'm thinking I will need to score the glue joint and break the push rods free were they go over the bloom joint, before start doing surgery.

[tkallev]

My pushrods are inside the boom but the same fix will work for outside as well.

It would probably be best to separate the rod casings from the boom and pod where you are going to wrap the carbon and glass cloth for the strongest repair.

Make sure when you tack the parts together you don't introduce any binding in the control rods.

tk

[tonyestep]

I had the same damage three seasons ago -- my fix has lasted since then, still solid. I did what Tom did, but added one more thing. Since my pushrods are outside, I could put some reinforcement inside. I made a double-tapered conical plug from medium balsa. The fat end fit tightly inside the aft end of the fuse, and then it stuck out about 1 1/2" with a taper that fit tightly inside the boom. I epoxied it in the fuse, then put a piece of fiberglass sock over the boom and epoxied it on. Finally I wet out the glass sock over the joint and wrapped it with nylon no-sticky tape, the kind you can peel off when the epoxy is cured. This sounds heavy but added only about 3/4 oz to the plane, looks pretty good, and is bombproof.

[Axle209]

Thanks All