tips on how to repair the nose of my RC airplane

by Joe
(riverview,fl)

Hello pilots,

I have a little experience in RC flying but not enough. I have a PT-40 trainer I have just bought about 4 weeks ago. I practiced ground control and everything for now while the plane is safely on the ground.

I took it out and done a little messing around on the field. Then I practiced getting it off the ground about a foot or two and setting it back down. I done this many many of times until I was completely comfortable with handing the ground control and take off.

I mustered up enough courage to put it into full flight. Then it done a complete nose dive into the ground and demolished the entire front end from the nose to the window.

What's the best way to repair this so I can use this one again to practice on before I go out and waste money on a new one?

Also, any tips for a beginner pilot would be very helpful.

Oh and this was a used plane when it bought it. This trainer was a steal for the price and all the things it came with.

Thanks to all pilots.

Keep your nose up and be safe!

Comments for
tips on how to repair the nose of my RC airplane

Click here to add your own comments

please join a club
by: Matt

Hi Joe,

To be honest with you, without getting the help on an experienced flyer it really doesn't matter how you repair it because the results are likely to be the same. You will crash it again and again.

I hope you don't take a offense to this, its nothing personal to you. But people who try to learn to fly on their own with nitro powered planes usually get frustrated and give up because they spend so much money crashing over and over.

Joining a club is the best thing you can do and it will save you tons of money, tremendously increase you chances of learning to fly without getting discouraged and quitting, plus you will meet tons of cool people to fly with,

I just checked and there are tons of RC airplane clubs near you. Take a look here.

Conde makes another good suggestions. RC flight simulators will also save you money by helping you learn to fly without putting your model at risk.

In regards to repairing your plane, is the fuselage damaged past the firewall? The firewall is what the engine mounts too. The entire thrust of the engine is transferred through the firewall.

If the fuselage is damaged past the firewall it is important that your repair is extremely strong.You will need replace the sides of the fuse at the nose, and splice the new section with the old by overlapping the new with the old on the back side with another ply piece. And use plenty of 30 min epoxy.

Make sure the check the center of gravity when you are finished because of the additional weight added to the nose.

Matt

Flight Simulator
by: Anonymous

I would strongly suggest a flight simulator if you are going to learn on your own.
This is helping me a lot.

I personally don't want to join a club and get all into that...I just want to fly a plane once in a while.

That being said - it is nearly impossible to "suddenly" learn to fly on your own with a plane. They move too fast and go down quick!

I know simulators are expensive, but much cheaper in the long run to crash a vitual software plane.

Don't fly your real plane until you can fly and land the simulator 100s of times without incident.

Also, as I learned, turn on the simulator's wind and challenging options also because you'll need to be expert at this also. My first real flight was a surprise when I lost my plane in the sun!

The hardest part about flying is getting used to turning gently, as the plane drops altitude, recovering.

Then as the plane turns back towards you every thing is reversed. Right is left and left is right. This shift has to become automatic in your reflexes - otherwise you'll think you are turning the correct direction and it will go further the opposite way!
The plane will drop like a rock and hit the ground (or water).

Click here to add your own comments

Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How?
Simply click here to return to Questions