1/4 Scale Lama - REBUILD
Michael K.
Digging In
Welcome to Chapter 1 of the Lama Rebuild. To read about what happened, check out this article: https://scalehelipilot.com/articles/b4cfc49e-1491-4f3f-9fe8-7ee5883...
FUSELAGE CRACKS
For the rebuild, I started with the fuselage cracks. After the hard landing, there were cracks in the left and right mounting sections of the fuse. A bit of fiberglass cloth (Home Depot) and 5-minute epoxy did the trick.
SCALE PARTS
I simply re-attached the left vent with epoxy. Nothing burger.
HEAD
The cables that run from grip to grip had all sheared on one side. I bought small electrical terminals (Home Depot) and crimped them onto the cables. Again, a nothing burger.
PREPPING
The remainder of what I am able to do before the parts arrive encompasses disassembling the "cage" around the mechanics as well as the tail drive system. I inspected the tail rotor and it appears nominal. Now, all I can do is wait for my shipment of parts. I expect to have the tail lattice, main cage and skids all powder coated in gloss black. I have a local outfit doing this.
Stay tuned!
10 Comments
Hello Michael it’s terrible when something goes wrong and you end up crashing. I have a problem with my Hughes MD500E I just don’t know why it keeps loosing tail rotor. Put a new Servo on it and it worked for little while then it went bad so I put the old one back on and it worked for a little while but It’s still loosing
It. Are you going to go flying any more?
Since I'm selling the 429, I won't be flying until I fix the Lama, in all likelihood. If my Chinook gets painted soon, I'll be flying that.
Yeah, I’d say she’s doing a little dance. Not much love in that however.
Yup, I ordered a new shaft. No chances will be taken!
Nice! How does it work? Does a part of it slide after the bolts are removed?
I’ll add another picture!
I’ve had links in the past were the logo goes in. I Ive always looked at the link and determine which side needs to snap. One side you’ll be able to get both holes visible the other will only have one. You never want to force the ball-link past the small opening. It Stretches and deforms the plastic.
I’ve had problems with vario drivers and well qc in general and decided to make my own driver using Diabolo driver parts and the main hub from vario’s like yours.
Would you share your techniques in a separate post? I think many pilots (including me) would appreciate have an alternative!
Looking good Michael!