Dynaflight Chipmunk Repair

[Rick Karg]

During a "Chiplet 3" hot pass down the runway, low in tight formation my G-38 flamed out. I was the lead plane so I couldn't just make a hard left and come in for a landing. So to spare my wingman I opted to allow the outside chipmunk to make the turn first. By the time we were all able to communicate the situation I was low on speed and altitude. So I decided to bring her in on the grass just before the corn on the south end of the field. Indecision led to a panic move to let the gear down. BIG MISTAKE! As the DH-1 settled down I saw bits of wood confetti fly into the air as the landing gear ripped out and proceeded to punch holes in the wing. In the end I need to fix the ribs, reinstall the gear, resheet, fiberglass and paint the wing as well as repair the cowl mount. Charlie Baker is going to put new bearings in the G-38 since they appeared to have a lot of play after a flight. I will be including pics shortly.

P.S. The main reason for this post is so Mike Stellern can see my progress and stop harassing me!

Rick

Chipmun Wing Damage

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[Rick Karg]

I was able to get a bit done this weekend. I had a little help from my two little helpers Luke and Macy who played in the basement while I worked. Here's a pic of the plane 2.9 year old Luke was working on.

Lukes' Plane

Next step is to sand down the edge of the existing paint and fiberglass and then fiberglass the repairs.

Sheeting replaced time to sand and glass

Let the sanding begin!

[Rick Karg]

I completed sanding down the painted and glassed areas around all the skin patches and applied some .75 ounce fiberglass cloth. I used a method Charlie Baker showed us that involves mixing Zpoxy 1/3 resin, 1/3 hardener, 1/3 91% Alchohol. This gives you a nice thin epoxy to work with and it doesn't make such a gooey mess. After I mixed the Zpoxy in a mixing cup (use small batches so they don't harden up on you) I brushed it on the bare balsa skin with a china brush. Then I carefully laid the .75 ounce cloth down. Using the china brush starting from the center of each patch I worked more Zpoxy mixture into the cloth making sure to make strokes away from the cente of the patch removing wrinkles as I went. After a few hours of dry time I used an exacto knife to rough trim the excess cloth.

.75 Ounce cloth and Zpoxy!

The next step is to put a little more Zpoxy mixture on the cloth to fill in the weave a bit more. I might try using slightly less alchohol to help make it fill a little better.

[Rick Karg]

Okay I've been busy but I need to post an update.
I have been working on the canopy by putting in more of the micro ply supports and I have also been working on preping the wing for paint by adding body filler. Some eye candy for ya.

Gluing new canopy framing in place

Evercoat "Metal Glaze" lightweight filler

Filler applied and stinking up the whole darn house!

[Rick Karg]

(in a really fast voice) Sanded, Sanded, Sanded, Paint, Put the rebuilt G-38 in, took the G-38 out because it wouldn't run after a week of effort, Put Stan's G-38 in, Converted to 2.4, Calibrated everything, Checked an re-checked, Packed into Kerry's trailer, Drove thirteen hours to the Joe Nall, Took it out of Kerry's Trailer, Assembled it,

Made one beautiful flight with a greaser landing probably best ever, Next flight.... PUT IT INTO A OAK TREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OUCH!

Dag gone it!

Next,

Shake it off with a smile. Proceeded to Rodney's RV for a cold beer, a wonderful cheeseburger and a nap.

Despite the Chipmunk tragedy I had a great time at the Nall thanks to all my good buddies. Next Build, 1/5th scale P-47!