I wish I could have been there to help Brett fix his ship; he helped me fix my Crossfire at a Nats a few years ago when a dust devil picked it up and slammed it into the ground.
From what they tell me, it was pretty much the same thing, the difference being that this was a fill 67-ounce airplane full of engine, tank, 11 years of oil-soaking. They also told me that it made a mighty sound when it broke, that tail was built to last and has carbon veil at the foam/balsa bond line and SGM silkspan on the outside.
It's a slightly more difficult problem than your fuselage, but the same sort of deal. In this case, it *probably* would have been OK to do something very similar, except with 15-minute epoxy or foam-safe Hot Stuff. But what I am going to do is to make some long and skinny diamond-shaped joiners out of 1/64 plywood, maybe 2" long and 1/4" wide, insert them between the foam and the 1/32 balsa sheeting right at the bond line, then glue it all back with 2-hour epoxy. That way I don't have to put fiberglass on the outside and I can safely maintain fibers at the break. Then refinish.
It would have been entirely possible to do this at the field and I was sorely tempted because I know I could have done a much better flight and I was second-to-last and tied with Howard (he and I flew back-to-back very early in the morning). This was the same setup I have seen end up winning time after time at Golden State, and the same as in 2015 when I did win, except I didn't have 18 mph wind to assist me. The problem was that I was also judging Advanced, and that appeared like it would be a conflict. As it turned out, there was an extended break for lunch and then a delay of some sort starting the second round of ADV and INT, so it would have been enough time.
Conveniently, most of the break is across the red trim color and the 1/2" wide white strip along he fuselage, so I can just sand down the red, repaint that, then just the strip along the fuse. The problem is the color match of the paint. I have been using Klass-kote color with 40-year-old Superpoxy hardener from a rusty can, which is almost opaque amber/brown, and that works OK to match the yellowed, almost beige, white paint.
Actually, the only place it will be clearly visible is a ding on the top of the wing where it landed on top of the fuel can, it's in the middle of a field of white and will be impossible to match. One might considered doing a "fueling hatch" but the entire idea was to not do anything like graffiti and it would look out of place. At this point, I think I will probably just do the best I can and just let it be how it is.
It won't pick up any weight because it already has a chunk of lead (that has been there from the very first flight) right under the stab and that can go. I will also replace the pipe with a spare since it is it is almost made from JB Weld at this point.
Brett
Topic: Golden State 2017 results? (Read 5297 times)