Last December I decided it was time for my 30 year old Bird of Time to come down from the shelf and meet the air once again . Hmmm! what a surprise for me after having her stored for nearly 7 years in my shop.
Somehow, the fuse was plagued with what it seemed termite damage. Before peeling the fuse down I figured it had a weird noise of its own resembling one of those "Rain Sticks" (sold at those touristy novelty stores), in a lesser extent but apparent when I handled it to inspect after coming down from the shelf. My surprise after being in denial for a few moments, ...it felt like crackers, I pressed a little hard and the monokote gave way. The wings however, where in perfect shape and form. No damage whatsoever.
Anyhow, after mourning the loss of a great half plane I decided it was time for the BOT to have a new fuselage. Trying to decide whether to buy a part from Tower Hobbies and get it done with right away or scratch build the fuselage, the latter idea won and I started the project.
It was done in a two week time frame, not working everyday but I gave her a good deal of attention for what the plane had meant for me for so long.
The initial idea was to rebuild the fuse and get it flying as soon as plausible, but after seeing how the fuselage came out I couldn't stand the look of the wings. Good thing I decided to overhaul them too. I found a few cracked ribs and both trailing edges on the outer dihedral panels were very soft and brittle, so,
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