Rebuilding the Giles 202
By Cecil Collum
(All photos may be clicked to enlarge them.)
On a nice Fall day, Giles Helbling was at the field flying his new .46 size "Giles 202" ARF that he had
purchased from Nitro Planes. (See Photo at right.)
The plane is perfect for e-flight so Giles installed an electric system in
the plane. During the flight the plane made an unplanned, nose-first landing that destroyed the motor box,
broke the first two formers, the side sheeting, the upper front fuselage, and the wing belly pan.
The damage sounds much worse that it really was but Giles already had another Giles 202, so he asked the writer
if he wanted to repair it
The next three photgraphs depict the damage done to the airplane. I think they are self explanatory!
Being mostly a builder, I said I would gladly rebuild it for him, but he told
the writer he didn't want the plane
so I could have it. This is one of those planes one will occasionally find in the dumpster that is too lightly
damaged to trash but the owner didn't want to take the time to repair.
This is right down my alley!
I took the plane home and, as is my custom, I let it sit for at least three weeks prior to giving it a thorough
looking over, but when I did, it was apparent that this rebuild would not require the expenditure of large sums of
money.
Like most scratch builders, I don't dispose of wood until it is too small to be of future use. When do I reach
that point? I can't really say, as I have some scraps from the first plane I built 25 years ago. They have literally
been around the world! The wing escaped serious damage except for the belly pan (See Photo at left).
As can be seen, the wing was the easiest repair job. No other damage was done to the wing and I was able to use
all but a smidgen of the covering. Most ARF's are assembled in a fixture and glued with a hot melt adhesive, to which
CA's and most other adhesives will not adhere. So any broken joints MUST be well sanded prior to joining with CA.
This step is vital to a successful repair job.
When faced with a task like this, I try to acquire every scrap of
wood that came out of the plane. I seldom glue all the pieces together as some do but use them as patterns to fabricate
new parts.
Continued on page 4 ...
On a nice Fall day, Giles Helbling was at the field flying his new .46 size "Giles 202" ARF that he had purchased from Nitro Planes. (See Photo at right.)
The plane is perfect for e-flight so Giles installed an electric system in the plane. During the flight the plane made an unplanned, nose-first landing that destroyed the motor box, broke the first two formers, the side sheeting, the upper front fuselage, and the wing belly pan.
The damage sounds much worse that it really was but Giles already had another Giles 202, so he asked the writer
if he wanted to repair it
The next three photgraphs depict the damage done to the airplane. I think they are self explanatory!
Being mostly a builder, I said I would gladly rebuild it for him, but he told
the writer he didn't want the plane
so I could have it. This is one of those planes one will occasionally find in the dumpster that is too lightly
damaged to trash but the owner didn't want to take the time to repair.
This is right down my alley!
I took the plane home and, as is my custom, I let it sit for at least three weeks prior to giving it a thorough
looking over, but when I did, it was apparent that this rebuild would not require the expenditure of large sums of
money.
Like most scratch builders, I don't dispose of wood until it is too small to be of future use. When do I reach
that point? I can't really say, as I have some scraps from the first plane I built 25 years ago. They have literally
been around the world! The wing escaped serious damage except for the belly pan (See Photo at left).
As can be seen, the wing was the easiest repair job. No other damage was done to the wing and I was able to use
all but a smidgen of the covering. Most ARF's are assembled in a fixture and glued with a hot melt adhesive, to which
CA's and most other adhesives will not adhere. So any broken joints MUST be well sanded prior to joining with CA.
This step is vital to a successful repair job.
When faced with a task like this, I try to acquire every scrap of
wood that came out of the plane. I seldom glue all the pieces together as some do but use them as patterns to fabricate
new parts.
Continued on page 4 ...
The next three photgraphs depict the damage done to the airplane. I think they are self explanatory!
Being mostly a builder, I said I would gladly rebuild it for him, but he told the writer he didn't want the plane so I could have it. This is one of those planes one will occasionally find in the dumpster that is too lightly damaged to trash but the owner didn't want to take the time to repair.
This is right down my alley!
I took the plane home and, as is my custom, I let it sit for at least three weeks prior to giving it a thorough looking over, but when I did, it was apparent that this rebuild would not require the expenditure of large sums of money.
Like most scratch builders, I don't dispose of wood until it is too small to be of future use. When do I reach that point? I can't really say, as I have some scraps from the first plane I built 25 years ago. They have literally been around the world! The wing escaped serious damage except for the belly pan (See Photo at left).
As can be seen, the wing was the easiest repair job. No other damage was done to the wing and I was able to use all but a smidgen of the covering. Most ARF's are assembled in a fixture and glued with a hot melt adhesive, to which CA's and most other adhesives will not adhere. So any broken joints MUST be well sanded prior to joining with CA. This step is vital to a successful repair job.
When faced with a task like this, I try to acquire every scrap of wood that came out of the plane. I seldom glue all the pieces together as some do but use them as patterns to fabricate new parts.
Continued on page 4 ...