My F-104 Took a near fatal tumble the other day......
Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2006 7:27 am
Just wanted to share my pain of my USAF F-104 diving off the ironing table and landing on its gear to shatter in several pieces. My fault as I was clearing my place and balanced the bird precariously, anyway my butt nudged the table and the F-104 ...sniff...sob.....had a flame out and fell.
Well after the shock of seeing the thing lying in pieces I gathered my senses and tentatively examined the rudely disassembled bird. It wasn't as bad as I thought, the wings had pulled out, one drop tank had also been released, all flaps and slats had popped out, but no damage to the paintwork! So then I espied the landing gear- my heart sank the main molded hinge of one leg had broken off! So the main leg just dangled uselessly, being limply held by the spring support arm. Briefly contemplated just having this as a 'wheels-up' display bird but then thought it needed a repair.
Reason I'm posting is to say that this thing is tough! It had fallen close to 4 feet to impact upon a hard uncarpeted floor. Anyway I managed to prise out the springed support arm from the damaged leg, This allowed me to remove the leg completely. Made sure that the spring support didn't disappear into the depths of the fuselage by inserting a brass tube into the mounting hole. I have found that model aircraft cement is best, mixed with some thick superglue you get a very strong bond indeed. This is because the mating surfaces will melt and fuse together. I used the mixture and fixed the hinge, thinking ahead that if this did not work I'd fashion a brass hinge. Anyway it did so I snapped the repaired leg on its hinged and re-attached the spring support and now it's sitting pretty and the landing gear cycles as it did before. Phew! That was a close one and a lesson of only placing clothes upon ironing tables as opposed to your beloved 1/18 scale models!
Regards and Happy New Year to all
JoeS
Well after the shock of seeing the thing lying in pieces I gathered my senses and tentatively examined the rudely disassembled bird. It wasn't as bad as I thought, the wings had pulled out, one drop tank had also been released, all flaps and slats had popped out, but no damage to the paintwork! So then I espied the landing gear- my heart sank the main molded hinge of one leg had broken off! So the main leg just dangled uselessly, being limply held by the spring support arm. Briefly contemplated just having this as a 'wheels-up' display bird but then thought it needed a repair.
Reason I'm posting is to say that this thing is tough! It had fallen close to 4 feet to impact upon a hard uncarpeted floor. Anyway I managed to prise out the springed support arm from the damaged leg, This allowed me to remove the leg completely. Made sure that the spring support didn't disappear into the depths of the fuselage by inserting a brass tube into the mounting hole. I have found that model aircraft cement is best, mixed with some thick superglue you get a very strong bond indeed. This is because the mating surfaces will melt and fuse together. I used the mixture and fixed the hinge, thinking ahead that if this did not work I'd fashion a brass hinge. Anyway it did so I snapped the repaired leg on its hinged and re-attached the spring support and now it's sitting pretty and the landing gear cycles as it did before. Phew! That was a close one and a lesson of only placing clothes upon ironing tables as opposed to your beloved 1/18 scale models!
Regards and Happy New Year to all
JoeS