I just got it in the mail yesterday. All is good from shipping. I want to reinforce the wood strut brace on the inside of the fuse. Mine seem to be glued in fairly well. My question is how did you break them loose so you could reinstall a larger brace with out doing damage to the plane?

I looked at the rc informer site and it looks like rich just pulled it straight out.

My wood pieces were glued together quite well. And, are still firmly in place after nearly one year of "use". I Just keep an eye on them, and will replace when I notice a little "slop"

I got them out and cut new longer braces. I will glue them in today.

What works well for filling in small dents in the foam and then sand smooth?

Originally Posted by bamaguy

My wood pieces were glued together quite well. And, are still firmly in place after nearly one year of "use". I Just keep an eye on them, and will replace when I notice a little "slop"

a word of warning repeated... my strut anchors "appeared" quite well glued in, and I had given them quite a test pull because I was intending on flying with 12000mah one day, needed to be confident the struts would hold the additional weight in-flight.

I had never tried flying with the intended... I was flying with one battery when all of a sudden she plunged, I fought to recover her, and on the way past I could see one strut dangling, and the port wing flapping up and down, a very scary 60 seconds of flying as I brought her in as gently as a thump as I could

I fly scale... my cessna has never rolled, far less looped, so the failure was by no means caused by abuse

post mortem shown one anchor was well glued, but the departed fuselage anchor barely had a dribble of glue- just enough to give the impression it was strong.

It is literally luck of the draw... I have since glued/fibreglassed mine in

and I am not the only cessna owner to have had this happen in mid flight with no warning...

Originally Posted by rwj

What works well for filling in small dents in the foam and then sand smooth?

if you are in USA, a product many have spoken about is Spackle... it doesnt exist here in Australia, so I cant offer any more advice than this, sorry

I just ordered this big one to replace my Airfield Cessna that is showing its age. I also wanted a bird that is large enough to accommodate my sound and telemetry systems. I ordered from PW-RC as myself and many others have had great service doing business with Phillip. I intend to fly this one in scale contests as all my other models are military types or 3-D Sbachs.

I will be covering it in a diluted mix of epoxy and alcahol which will be wet sanded then primed and painted to match a full-fullsize 182 I used to fly. Every time I tried to mask foam it pulls the under paint off so the epoxy will avoid this.... I hope! Great thread and good ideas.

acesimmer;

Way to go! Keep us posted, especially on your finishing techniques!

-Gary

Could someone please provide the following info so that I may order the parts prior to getting the model.

Spinner size?
What type of wheels come with the kit.... foam or quality rubber? Also what are the mains and nose wheel sizes?

Thanks much

Spinner 2 1/4, weels are foam but can't remember the size. I mounted 3" rubber wheels with no wheel pants for now. Axles that come with the kit are a bit of a joke. Upgraded to proper Dubro axles.

I want to use a futaba 3001 for the rudder and nose wheel and the same for the elevator. Are you guys making the opening just bigger to accomadate the larger servos or are you removing the existing servo mount and making a new one?

I just noticed the small screws for the 9g servo size, I will remove them an see if I can fit my standard servo in there. Boy it looks like it will be a real challange running the servo wires in those narrow chanels down the wing to the rx.

okay, I searched all over the pw-rc site, and could not find this plane on it did they take it off or what?

F-86..Go back to his website....Send Philip an e-mail......he is very responsive. If he is out of stock now, he will get you one!

-Gary

Originally Posted by F-86FLIER4LIFE

okay, I searched all over the pw-rc site, and could not find this plane on it did they take it off or what?

Sorry... I think I ordered the last one a couple of days ago. MOnday it was on the site and I placed the order. Tuesday I went back to look at what I was getting in the kit and it was gone?. I think that Phillip removes items that are out of stock until he restocks. I ordered the kit along with express shipping. The total cost is about $100 less than buying the ARF from HK USA. I purchased a couple of EMP big motors off Ebay for $24 total that includes shipping. Also purchased four 14x7 props, a couple of aluminum spinners. I researched and found out that the manufacturer for EMP is the same motor that Turnigy and other high cost motors with brand labels are one and the same.

So assuming the research is correct. I just need to get a few BB/MG servos to be the same as the ARF version but with better components. I thought that I would try the kit as I always end up replacing the no name garbage that usually comes with the ARF no matter the brand name. So I should end up approx $30 over buying the HK ARF then having to upgrade.