Ed Couch
Aug 11, 2002, 08:51 PM
Got close to fifty flights on the Park Hawk now and we are kind of getting to know one another now but this morning while cruising at about 70 percent on throttle the aft 4/40 bolt holding the wing hinge blocks snapped, the wings folded on the bird and down see came in all her blazing glory, thud, bang thump and it was all over. Once sick little chick. Like I said the bolt had snapped resulting in the loss of one of the small nylon hinge blocks. Back at the house I pulled the camera out and what follows is a couple of the pictures showing the damage caused. The major problem was the sail tore fore and aft along the half-inch tape and looked horrible but I had a friend who builds beautiful kites so I call him up and explain what happened and see if he had any one-inch black tape. In luck, got a bit of tape and the heat type tape that is used to hold the bird together with and put the sail back together and its not even noticable. Went to the local hardware store and found some larger diameter nylon bushing that would pass 8/32 hardware instead of the 4/40 bolt and give the hinge a bit more nylon to pivot in. Bet the thing won't break now. Anyway went back out this afternoon and the little thing flies just fine just a little meatier at the hinge line. Total cost of upgrade was a buck for the four nylon bushings and a dollar for the 8/32 nuts, washers, bolts. Keep the faith and keep on plugging. ed