Had a little scare with my brand new Vyper 46" tonight...the plans said "use a generous amount of thick or medium CA in the slot, glue the vertical stabilizer onto the fuselage." So I used a generous amount of medium CA (onto the vertical stabilizer, not the slot!) and then stuck the vertical stab into the slot...it got halfway down into the slot and stuck right there...no amount of movement would get it the rest of the way down. After letting loose one or two words that I don't like my kids to hear, I stepped back, with my heart racing and adrenalin pumping...my brain thinking "oh no what have I done!? I've ruined a brand new plane on step 2 of the instructions!
So I got out the debonder and a flat bladed exacto blade, poured generous amounts of debonder all over the slot, and slowly worked the blade into the slot...after a few moments I started seeing movement, worked the other side of the slot with some more debonder, and within a few minutes, I had the vertical stab removed from the slot...with no broken balsa or damage! Of course at this point my fingers are covered with CA, but that I can deal with. Then I got the debonder out and wiped up all the CA that got all over the place. Then I put everything down and stepped away for a minute so I could let the adrenaline rush calm down. Whew...that was a close call. I'll have to get a new bottle of debonder after this little escapade.
-Mike

Originally Posted by mschulz

censored:
I'll have to get a new bottle of debonder after this little escapade.
-Mike

It was worth every cent for the debonder to get that apart... <phew> I hate when the heart stops during a new plane build.

Mike... use epoxy you must not have been paying attention when that EXACT same thing happened to me with my glow edge. It might have been before your time on this thread. 5 min epoxy is your best friend I don't care what the manual says about that. CA will get stuck every time with the vertical stab.

It's so funny to hear about your reaction since mine was probably exactly the same. I remember the heart pounding feeling. I just ripped mine out with brute force cuz I didn't have any debonder. I had to spend 20 minutes gluing my stab back together in all the places it broke when I gripped it. Now I gotta try and find the post so you can feel like you have company

Originally Posted by brathanke

Mike... use epoxy you must not have been paying attention when that EXACT same thing happened to me with my glow edge. It might have been before your time on this thread. 5 min epoxy is your best friend I don't care what the manual says about that. CA will get stuck every time with the horizontal stab.

+1 on what he said.... I have used the 20 minute finish epoxy since it is thinner and I have even more time to argue and second guess the alignment.

here is my post right when that happened to me back in January.

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showt...k#post17013971

Ooooh post 1111. That is going to happen to the date on 11/11/11 in a few months

I got a couple of flights on my new 51" slick. a little trim on elevator and one click on aileron. Balance was perfect requiring a small amount of down elevator when inverted to stay flat.

It flies like a pig on 3s. Two 2200 mah packs in parallel are way too heavy for the amount of power I get out of them with a 700kv motor and 15x8 prop. It had unlimited vertical but the climb rate was really slow... the full throttle pull-out didn't inspire much confidence to fly very low.

I did do some nice inverted harriers though (up high). I'll have vids as soon as they are uploaded and I get a chance to fuse them together (4 clips).

Originally Posted by brathanke

I got a couple of flights on my new 51" slick. a little trim on elevator and one click on aileron. Balance was perfect requiring a small amount of down elevator when inverted to stay flat.

It flies like a pig on 3s. Two 2200 mah packs in parallel are way too heavy for the amount of power I get out of them with a 700kv motor and 15x8 prop. It had unlimited vertical but the climb rate was really slow... the full throttle pull-out didn't inspire much confidence to fly very low.

I did do some nice inverted harriers though (up high). I'll have vids as soon as they are uploaded and I get a chance to fuse them together (4 clips).

Cool.... New toy ready to go. Is that a 51 Slick? I have to get some White ultra cote to complete the repairs on the 51 I have here. My understanding is the 4S2200 is the best bat for this. I ordered some from HK US, not sure what is taking so long to get them.

anyone know whee I can find 4 blade props..
12x10, 13x8, 13x10, 14x6, 14x8

all I can find are 15.5x12 and 11x7 in 4B

Originally Posted by brathanke

Mike... use epoxy you must not have been paying attention when that EXACT same thing happened to me with my glow edge. It might have been before your time on this thread. 5 min epoxy is your best friend I don't care what the manual says about that. CA will get stuck every time with the vertical stab.

It's so funny to hear about your reaction since mine was probably exactly the same. I remember the heart pounding feeling. I just ripped mine out with brute force cuz I didn't have any debonder. I had to spend 20 minutes gluing my stab back together in all the places it broke when I gripped it. Now I gotta try and find the post so you can feel like you have company

Nate,
Good to know I'm not alone! I checked the dates - I joined this crazy fun twistaholics group in March of this year and your "event" happened in January. I'm not saying whether or not I read back in the thread after I found it - that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
It is funny looking back on it - this little "voice in my head" was saying to use epoxy but another voice was saying "stick to the directions" (which I don't usually do if they "don't make sense"...but this is my first 3DHS plane, and the reputation of 3DHS made me say, "ok they must know better". Lesson learned - the internal voice is always right whether I listen to it or not. Thankfully there was no damage, the vertical stab went fully into the slot, the covering aligns perfectly with the fuse, and it is secure in there now.
(whew)
-Mike

Originally Posted by mschulz

Nate,
Good to know I'm not alone! I checked the dates - I joined this crazy fun twistaholics group in March of this year and your "event" happened in January. I'm not saying whether or not I read back in the thread after I found it - that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
It is funny looking back on it - this little "voice in my head" was saying to use epoxy but another voice was saying "stick to the directions" (which I don't usually do if they "don't make sense"...but this is my first 3DHS plane, and the reputation of 3DHS made me say, "ok they must know better". Lesson learned - the internal voice is always right whether I listen to it or not. Thankfully there was no damage, the vertical stab went fully into the slot, the covering aligns perfectly with the fuse, and it is secure in there now.
(whew)
-Mike

Good to hear Mike!! When I did my Slick, I put the stab in and started CA'ing (generously as the manual says, lol) and next thing I know it is running down the fuse, hehe. Thank god for Acetone

Gonna head out and fly today after lunch and get some Video

Originally Posted by brathanke

Mike... use epoxy you must not have been paying attention when that EXACT same thing happened to me with my glow edge. It might have been before your time on this thread. 5 min epoxy is your best friend I don't care what the manual says about that. CA will get stuck every time with the vertical stab.

It's so funny to hear about your reaction since mine was probably exactly the same. I remember the heart pounding feeling. I just ripped mine out with brute force cuz I didn't have any debonder. I had to spend 20 minutes gluing my stab back together in all the places it broke when I gripped it. Now I gotta try and find the post so you can feel like you have company

I use 3o min or more. Gives it time to soak in and make a strong bond.

Originally Posted by mt_flyer

anyone know whee I can find 4 blade props..
12x10, 13x8, 13x10, 14x6, 14x8

all I can find are 15.5x12 and 11x7 in 4B

You will have to settle for 3-blade

Originally Posted by mt_flyer

anyone know whee I can find 4 blade props..
12x10, 13x8, 13x10, 14x6, 14x8

all I can find are 15.5x12 and 11x7 in 4B

Do any of these work for you?

http://www.zingerpropeller.com/4_bladed_propeller.htm

3dhs is known for really great planes... not really great manuals

Originally Posted by mschulz

Do any of these work for you?

http://www.zingerpropeller.com/4_bladed_propeller.htm

I have emailed them... this may work
Thanks for the info