Building Tips and technical articles. > ARF'S
What would have happened in flight?
Mark Mc:
I recently moved, and after I changed my mind from using a U-Haul truck to using PODS transport and storage, I packed all my boxes in the container, then strung a wire across the container to support some planes. I just attached the leadouts to the wire going across and hoped nothing would shift in transport. So, my PODS container arrived this morning at 0730. When I opened it up, everything was pretty much as I packed it.
The only casualty was a Smoothie ARF that I had bought a swap meet a few years ago and never flew. It was on the floor, and I figured that I just hadn’t done a good job of attaching the leadouts to the wire.
I picked it up and examined it for damage. Luckily, no damage to the covering and no discernible damage to the wing/fuse, since it fell on the excess folds of a moving blanket. But when I looked at the left wingtip, no leadouts. Hmmm…. A second look at the wire showed the leadouts were still attached to the wire to the left of the Ringmaster, just not the Smoothie. Examining the bellcrank end of the leadouts showed that the sleeve had never even been crimped!?!
What would have happened if I had actually flown the plane??? *SIGH* Now I have to do surgery and redo the bellcrank. Anyone else ever done this surgery before on a Smoothie ARF? Maybe a pic of the manual showing the location/attachment of the bellcrank? The plane was completed when I bought it and had no manual.
Mark
Mark wood:
--- Quote from: Mark Mc on December 20, 2021, 08:36:43 PM ---
What would have happened if I had actually flown the plane??? *SIGH* Now I have to do surgery and redo the bellcrank. Anyone else ever done this surgery before on a Smoothie ARF? Maybe a pic of the manual showing the location/attachment of the bellcrank? The plane was completed when I bought it and had no manual.
Mark
--- End quote ---
The Brodak airplanes with the stainless steel thimble have a history of failure. They are one too stiff and a don't bite in to the cable to secure it and two tend to crack and let go. The Smoothies have a corrosion problem as well. Call Brodak, they are are aware of the Smothie troubles and will probably send you a lead out kit. Show them your picture.
Dan McEntee:
We had an incident with a Brodak Oriental ARF that a club member got from another club member who was disposing of his model stuff. I don't think it had ever been flown. I went in on the first or second flight when something happened to the lead outs, not real sure if it was this same issue but probably was. That is what pull tests are for. A good initial 40 to 50 pound pull test before the first flight might had found that.
Type at you later,
Dan McEntee
Mark wood:
--- Quote from: Dan McEntee on December 20, 2021, 10:22:39 PM --- We had an incident with a Brodak Oriental ARF that a club member got from another club member who was disposing of his model stuff. I don't think it had ever been flown. I went in on the first or second flight when something happened to the lead outs, not real sure if it was this same issue but probably was. That is what pull tests are for. A good initial 40 to 50 pound pull test before the first flight might had found that.
Type at you later,
Dan McEntee
--- End quote ---
We concluded the same thing. Chuck lost a Vector 40 first flight. Those SS crimp tubes were cracked. It let go 1/4 lap in to the flight.
Tim Wescott:
--- Quote from: Dan McEntee on December 20, 2021, 10:22:39 PM --- We had an incident with a Brodak Oriental ARF that a club member got from another club member who was disposing of his model stuff. I don't think it had ever been flown. I went in on the first or second flight when something happened to the lead outs, not real sure if it was this same issue but probably was. That is what pull tests are for. A good initial 40 to 50 pound pull test before the first flight might had found that.
Type at you later,
Dan McEntee
--- End quote ---
I saw a Brodak ARF of some sort lose a leadout at a contest, right after a pull test. I can't remember what the plane was, but I remember that the pilot keep that one-line airplane off the ground by stepping into the bottoms of the loops and stepping away from the tops, then he lucked out when the engine died at just the right spot for a fairly smooth landing. All it needed was a new control system.
ARFs and control systems don't seem to go well together -- I had a Top Flight Nobler give up on me in flight because the controls bound up, and I remember being Not Amused by the controls in the one ARF Fright Streak that I owned.
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