Saturday 5 June 2010

Ceres repair

Had an irritating off with my number two Ceres at Horcum. Despite flying it the whole time at the VR in France a gentle waffle back at Horcum led to a long lock out (which isn't unheard of at the Hole of Horcum... Filingdales?) and my poor Ceres avoided the soft, springy heather and tried to plough the rock path inverted.

Snapped fuz, squished tip and delamination and a worrying spar bulge in the other panel. I flexed the panel across my chest and a big crack announced the spar was gone.

The fuz repair was a doddle - clean up, lots of carbon, hint of glass, some awesome professional automative filler and primer.

Tip repair was fiddly but nothing special.

The spar involved cutting away the skin, Dremelling a couple of slots, filling up with carbon and reinforcing the shear web. Feeling all happy at the minimal weight addition I bent the panel across my chest again... This time another crack and the spar had also been compromised about 8 inches from the first break... bugger.

Anyway, more Dremelling, this time three slots that intertwined with the other two. More carbon, skins back on and raring to go. Just a bit of finishing needed although it's tempting not to do too much as it's pretty neat. Another flex across my chest brought beads of sweat but no new badness.

One thing I learnt was that the Beli CA range from T9 is fantastic. The Beli 1 is perfect, it wicks in really well, is black so you can see where its gone and it is absurdly strong. Even the dispensing system works really well. Get some, you won't regret it T9 Hobbysport.