well, it had to happen i guess

several thousand successful flights, and then... this

my repairs to the fin last time it cracked at the boom join (yet again) included some fibreglass reinforcement to the fin underneath the film covering, and so instead of the fin yielding, i transferred the stresses to the slotted boom, which must have cracked (again)

one launch too many, and the fin detached; there was a fierce flick roll and then lawn dart!! - but luckily after a recent period of deluge, the grass was fairly long and spongy, and the soil was still soft

i'm amazed that the canopy remained uncracked, due to clever padding to stop the pod from digging into it on impact (took me two prior dead canopies to effectively recognise a solution), although the rear of the pod has detached from the boom - unsurprising as i never sanded the boom to key it

the rest of the fuselage barring the tail tip that came off with the fin is pretty much good to go even so


the rear hold down bolt was unable to release (the "keyhole" is burred), and i had to twist off the rear mount, after removing the flaperon servos and pushrods

all in all it was a pretty clean procedure

i have already bogged up the crush area with microballoons, after splitting the top skin to facilitate peeling it back to expose the damaged foam

the spar in broken, and i shall research the best way to reinforce it

ultimately i will use finish cure to the reattach the delaminated skins,...Continue Reading