Firestorm54 Airframe Repair: Summer 2014

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The cracked airframe on the Firestorm54 damaged <br />at the June 2014 Rock Lake launch... the airframe was cut to separate the <br />two halves to simplify the repairs... it was also an opportunity to remove the motor extender <br />that had become stuck against the minimum diameter <br />motor mount further up the airframe... a 54mm coupler was prepared... and test fitted... with registration marks... the consequence of adding an internal coupler to the airframe meant that <br />it would no longer be able to fit a 54mm motor tube, so a 38mm adapter <br />was test fitted to make sure it fit with the coupler... the coupler was epoxied and slid into place with additional epoxy added <br />to the seams and wrapped with elastics to ensure a tight fit... a few epoxy ridges were <br />left on the surface... these were ground off and the <br />airframe surface sanded... additional sanding was done to <br />remove excess paint... then it was wrapped in heavy weight fiberglass cloth, <br />in a counter spiral to the direction of the airframe... the fiberglass becomes transparent after <br />the thinned epoxy was applied... then the surface is filled with several <br />layers of hardened body fill... and sanded to a smooth <br />tapered finish... and once painted again, <br />it's ready to fly.