Sandringham Repair

piker · October 25, 2013, 05:54:31 PM

Well, it's time to start putting Humpty Dumpty back together again.

Some of you may recall the great Sandringham crash of TEMAC War Bird Day 2013. The plane is pretty beat up, but there's still lots of good plane there and it's a model worth putting the time into repairing. I think it'll go back together quickly. Wish me luck!

sihinch · October 25, 2013, 06:03:13 PM

Good for you, Robert.

Can't wait to see the progress.

Papa · October 25, 2013, 07:00:03 PM

That sure illustrates your assertion regarding the amount of damage sustained in a land crash versus water.

Looking forward to the blog.

Good luck.

Jack.

Tomahawk · October 25, 2013, 07:43:19 PM

I have to commend you Rob. That is a lot of damage and it is foam. Harder to repair than balsa. When I crash my planes I repair a lot of them. Looking at your pics, I would consider rebuilding some of it from new foam, like the fuse, as it would be easier than trying to straighten it out.
Someone did post a video of the crash on Youtube.
If you haven't seen it, here it is.

Chris

Short S.25 Sandrigham Flying Boat with Crash

bfeist · October 26, 2013, 02:26:27 AM

Ouch. That reminds me, I owe you that 110D.

Andy Hoffer · October 26, 2013, 05:49:20 PM

Wow. the video is a painful reminder of my last Pitts flight, which fortunately didn't sustain as much damage but took me a while to get in the mood to fix. (Repairs moving along nicely now, inspired by Glenn's new Reactor, which really wants some aerobatic biplane company in the sky.)

Rob, this will be a really important thread for showing folks how to dig in and come back from a serious crash. Your comprehensive set of damage photos is excellent. It shows not only the damage but the initial construction, which is very instructive. Looking forward to following your rebuild with discussion about how you approach each piece.

So glad you're resuscitating this magnificent plane. I know you will do a fantastic job, as always.

Andy

piker · October 26, 2013, 07:29:16 PM

Thanks for the encouragement, guys. I've been waiting all summer to get at this repair. Believe it or not, I'm looking forward to it.

Chris, thanks for the link. Yes, I've seen that. Jeff took the video and forwarded it to me after the crash. It's a nice piece of documentation

My first thought after the crash, was that the plane would be a write-off knowing how fragile the fuselage is on the plane. When we arrived at the crash site I remember Ed saying that really it doesn't look that bad. Most of the fuselage is still in great shape, as is the wing. It was at that point that I knew I would repair it. I think it will be a simple matter of gluing the major chunks back together again, reenforcing as needed, filling the dents and creases with epoxy and micro balloons, glassing the repaired areas, more filling and sanding, then an entire new paint job. I'm looking forward to making it like new and also doing some detailing that I never got to the first time around.

Jack. Yes, if that had happened over water, I would have been flying it the next day (if not the same day). Oh well

sihinch · October 26, 2013, 07:45:44 PM

Will it be coming back as a Sandringham or Sunderland?

piker · October 26, 2013, 07:54:49 PM

Hmmm.... interesting thought....

pmackenzie · October 27, 2013, 08:41:28 AM

If some of the foam is bent rather than simply broken try steam and/or boiling water to get it to return to its original shape.
DLG wing repair trick, here is an example of a badly crumpled wing Ivan fixed:
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=911087
Note how the kevlar doesn't generally break like glass would, so you end up with a bag of bent foam

Beautiful model, I hope you get it back together.
What caused the crash? Saw this model fly in the past and it seemed very well behaved.
Field a bit too tight, and you let it get too slow on the turn to final?
Perhaps you could add some flaps in the rebuild to help slow it down for landing?

Pat MacKenzie

Frank v B · October 27, 2013, 07:53:10 PM

Pat,

Thanks for the DLG repair link. I read through the entire thread. What a huge resource Aradhana appears to be and how unselfish he was with his time to log and photograph the entire repair process. He strikes me as the Keith Shaw of DLG.
Wishing Ivan success with his re-build project.

Good luck to Rob on the Sandringham re-build.

Frank

pmackenzie · October 27, 2013, 10:15:09 PM

That thread was from 2008.

He fixed it and it was perfect, flew it for a long time. Then fixed it again after another tip strike.

Still has it, just has moved on to other gliders.

piker · October 27, 2013, 11:14:12 PM

Thanks for the recommendation, Pat. I'll look for opportunities as i work through the repair. I haven't had a chance to move on it yet. Maybe 1/2 hour tonight...

piker · February 04, 2014, 01:34:32 PM

O.K., after I chucked my Stranraer off the workbench last night, I glued a bit more of poor sandy back together. It's a slow process as each piece has to be glued separately with 5 minute epoxy, which has to be held by hand until cured. Still, I made some good progress with the hour I had last night. The most major accomplishment was the gluing and closing of the split open keel area. This brought the sides back together again so the rest of the major chunks can be assembled. I expect to have the nose section of the fuselage pieced back together after one or two more building sessions. I'll provide more pictures soon.

sihinch · February 04, 2014, 01:52:42 PM

Come one Rob, pictures paint a thousand words!