Friday 22 April 2016

X Models Mini Blade Lives Again

Hi All,
Many months ago I took my 2nd hand Mini Blade to Wolstonbury Hill and flew its 'maiden' flight. It went extremely well, but on landing for about the 4th time, it hit a lump of ground and the fuselage suffered a crack - it was already slightly cracked, so I kind of expected it.




So I ordered a new fuselage from South Coast Sailplanes (the only supplier for X Models). It took months and months but never arrived. In the end they offered me a white one they had on the shelf until my yellow one arrives. I accepted and have now fitted it to the model.
It's very difficult to work with carbon fibre, you have to be careful what you're doing and I had to remove certain parts of the fuselage to fit the servos, receiver, battery, etc... but that has taken a while because I wanted to do it carefully to take away the minimum necessary material.
Anyway, it's now finished -



As you can see, it's now White with Yellow wings and tail surfaces, but who cares, at least it's now flyable !!
I am taking it to Ditchling in the morning to try it out - so wish me luck !!


Rob


4 comments:

  1. Hope it goes well tomorrow!

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  2. Good luck Rob, but I'm sure it will be fine. Sorry I can't make it tomorrow!

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  3. Just a tip for future. When cutting a hole in grp under the wing make sure that the corners are radius ed at least 4mm, 8mm drill, and keep at leat 5 mm from the edge. This will reduce the risk of cracks.

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    1. Thanks for the advice Kevin. I inherited the original fus and as you can see, the hole in the top was rather large, therefore it cracked. I have now taken great care on this new one....

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