SIG AKROMASTER building Disasters.....

[jim gilmore]

Ok, my big ops today. Drilled 4 holes for the j-boltd and I opened them a little so I could use blind bolts on the back side and went to press the blind nuts in. I do not have a bench vise so I took the fuselage and a small hammer. Yes ,a small hammer. I used a piece of 3/4 plywood to back it up. on the 3 rd wack the tail fell off.  It broke off leaving the rudder attached and intact. So now I'm in the process of epoxying it back on rather than epoxying the wings on. sigh...

[Dennis Moritz]

onward

[Clancy Arnold]

Don't force it, get a bigger hammer!!!

Clancy

[Randy Ryan]

Ok, my big ops today. Drilled 4 holes for the j-boltd and I opened them a little so I could use blind bolts on the back side and went to press the blind nuts in. I do not have a bench vise so I took the fuselage and a small hammer. Yes ,a small hammer. I used a piece of 3/4 plywood to back it up. on the 3 rd wack the tail fell off.  It broke off leaving the rudder attached and intact. So now I'm in the process of epoxying it back on rather than epoxying the wings on. sigh...

Sounds to me like you may have some wind-checked wood or very soft wood for the fuselage, did the tail break off through the wood or did just the stab fall off. If the wood failed you will continue to have problems with engine vibration and flight forces, the wood should not have failed under this light stress.

[Bob Reeves]

Ok, my big ops today. Drilled 4 holes for the j-boltd and I opened them a little so I could use blind bolts on the back side and went to press the blind nuts in. I do not have a bench vise so I took the fuselage and a small hammer. Yes ,a small hammer. I used a piece of 3/4 plywood to back it up. on the 3 rd wack the tail fell off.  It broke off leaving the rudder attached and intact. So now I'm in the process of epoxying it back on rather than epoxying the wings on. sigh...

If you don't have a vice use a C clamp, I put blind nuts in all the time with a 4 inch C clamp. Just back up the wood side with a scrap piece of 1/8 ply and screw it down...

[George]

I'm with Randy,

Investigate WHY the tail fell off or you may have problems later on. Could it be that the glue had not completely dried (or cured)?

George

[jim gilmore]

Well when the tail came off it took all of the joint and broke leaving the glue and wood attachen. so it was not the glue.. maybe there was a flaw in the wood ?

[jim gilmore]

Here's a photo of the Akromaster in the wing assembly jig...well it is blocked up to be square and straight while the epoxy dries.

[Russell Shaffer]

Steve Helmick (sp) told me to pin my Flite Streak stabilizers to the fuselage with toothpicks or something similar.  It really helps to keep things together in flip over landings.  It adds a lot of strength to a weak area and I haven't broken any off since I took his advice.

[john e. holliday]

I use the bamboo skewers thru stab into fuse.  Also triangle stock on the bottom of stab next to fuse.  DOC Holliday

[jim gilmore]

Ok, I'll try to continue to use this thread for any more changes I do to this model. I'm skipping the cheeck cowl because I do not think more nose weight would be good at this point. today I mouned the engine and moved it aft by a set of holes. The plane is fully assembled lesss a few minor things and I do not thing finishing will add enough tail weight. So I just moved the engine aft a bit. If I were to build another I'dmake the fuse 1/4 to 3/8 inch higher to make the tank mounting a bit easier. Iam now doing sanding sealer and hope to put silkspan on by monday.