Five Minute Fixup
Frequent RCSD Contributor Marc Panton Kicks Off a New, Informal Series
Assuming that readers jump on the opportunity, the Five Minute Fixup series articles are intended to be short — as in five minutes† reading time — that focus on saving a sad castoff from the rubbish tip. We can’t think of a better person to start the series off than Marc. We also ask readers to start thinking about their own Five Minute Fixup article — we’re sure there are plenty out there! — Ed.
†At least it was ’til the editors added all their ‘doodads’.
An interesting glider popped up recently on the For Sale boards I frequent: a 4m Simprop Solution XL. I have an old 2.8m Solution that’s had a hard life but still goes well on the slope, so the 4m immediately got my attention. More interesting was the SATS system (see Resources) which blows air from a row of tiny holes in the upper wing skin about one-third chord. The purpose is to disrupt the laminar flow into turbulent flow before it separates, much like turbulator strips do (also see Resources).
After a few emails and some photos, the deal was done and I collected a 4m glider that some might class as ‘slightly tatty’ but overall, pretty solid. The hinges with original tape were well yellowed. The ones that weren’t were covered in white duct tape. Underneath, there was the old yellow tape still! Aerodynamically, things were not helped by the 1–2mm (1/32–1/16in) lip where the flap surfaces were proud of the wing trailing edge in places! The wing servos were functional but had some slop. Again, more duct tape was present: holding the servo covers in place and hiding yet more old yellow tape underneath. Lastly, the covering film had some span-wise ripples and bubbles in a few places. All in all, it needed a bit of work, but nothing too major. I suppose it could have flown as is, but it would not have been pretty!
Lurking under the servo covers were a pair of full size Futaba S3003 and Hitec HS-81. These were replaced with four HS-82mg that I had on the shelf. All four were easily removed by hand: the Futaba were held in by silicon and the Hitech with a rubbery glue that put up a little more effort but not much.
Yellow tape residue and any left over adhesive was easily removed with some brake cleanerand clean rags. WD40 also works but take a little longer.
Once the residue was removed, the ripples were removed by running the covering iron over and pressing down with a clean, soft cloth. Next task: re-hinge the surfaces. This was done using Tesa transparent tape used to repair green house glass (link in Resources), attaching the inner hinge first then the top surface. The aileron and flap panels were also re-covered in vinyl as the film was a bit too far gone in places.
With the hinges done, attention switched to the servos and wiring. The flap servo rebates were backfilled as needed to take the smaller replacement HS-82mg servos, the aileron servos are a direct replacement, so no need for changes there. Linkages were checked over and found in fair condition, no need for changes there, just adjust and lock off with a dribble of CA to limit slop.
The existing wiring had a few solder joints and felt a little stiff, like the case was just ‘on the turn’ from pliable to brittle so I replaced them. The new servos had their stock length leads which is a pain to hide, so these were cut down and re-terminated. The junctions were secured with heat shrink to ensure they don’t come loose and tucked back into the wings.
With the servos re-fitted, using servo tape under and cross weave above, the servo fairings were finally cleaned up and re-fitted.
The final step was to refresh the graphics a little. The old stickers were removed and the residue cleaned up along with the rest of the wing. Fresh graphics were cut on the Cricut 3 vinyl cutter and applied to the flaps. A SimProp logo was re-made and applied to the right wing tip.
That’s it. Five minutes and it’s flying again. Here’s the proof:
©2023 Marc Panton
Resources
- Simprop Solution XL — “upgraded through constant model maintenance, stands out from the crowd of tall ships. A look at the construction kit is enough to determine this, because … it is unique in terms of equipment, quality and prefabrication …”
- SATS — “Simprop Artificial Turbulence System … serves to increase the performance of the model by positively influencing the flow on the upper side of the wing…”
- Turbulators — “often used to eliminate the separation bubble, and the additional form drag it causes…”
- Tesa transparent tape. — “First introduced in the 1930s, tesafilm® laid the foundation for a richly successful company history that continues to this date…”
- Cricut 3 — “Cutting machines designed for home crafters. The machines are used for cutting paper, felt, vinyl, fabric…” (Wikipedia)
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