Ya know i had the same issue with mine, i just had to send it back in for warranty to replace it. I was flying some IMAC style stuff, and pulled to an inverted 45 downline, went to power up and fly out, and it powered up and locked in. Full throttle into the ground. Demolished itself. It was a real bummer cuz i love huckin that lil thing around out fron of my house too.

Zach

In reading the various dialogue here about estimated wing weights, etc. I thought the following Monokote weight data might be helpful. These numbers are from a personal Carden 126" and are very consistent across all the 126's and 124's I've done. All color schemes used 1/8" overlap at the seams with the only Monokote over Monokote areas being for striping and lettering. Certain colors like white are slightly heavier than other colors like red.

Left Wing - 5.3 oz.
Right Wing - 5.4 oz.
Left Stab - 0.9 oz.
Right Stab - 0.9 oz.
Fuse & Rudder - 6.9 oz.
TOTAL MONOKOTE - 19.4 oz.

Excellent information, thanks Dean!
I some how thought Monokote would be lightert than that.

Here I'm gluing the belly pan onto the fuse. This step is pretty straight forward, once I have it fitting the way I want I paint epoxy resin along the foam edge wherever it needs gluing. Masking tape makes a great "clamp" for this job. The belly pan has a bit of flex to it so it's very easy to get everything lined up perfectly.
The last pictures shows what it looks like after a bit of elbow grease with a 120 grit sanding block. Looks pretty good!

Henry,
Have you ever used Gorilla Glue (urethane) to glue the foam pieces to the fuse (turtle deck and belly pan). Just curious if you found a benefit with epoxy or if its just personal preference.

I have used Gorilla glue before on certian applications and it works just fine. I try and not use it for any "exposed" edges because it expands so much and then you have to clean it up constantly or sand it all off. If you get a good fit to start with epoxy works great, I guess it's more a personal preference that's all.

Missed a spot

Hey Henry that looks very good!

Thanks! I'm pleased with how it's turning out.
So here I'm finishing off the front of the fuse with some 1/4 inch balsa sheeting. There are a couple of ways to go with this, some people cut lightening holes here to match the plywood and cover the area with Monokote. That works great but I chose to leave it solid and continue my painted interior look. Sacrificing a few grams here, oh well...
The only deviation here from stock is I like to use a 4-44 bolt instead of a dowel for the center hold down of the cowl. This is accessed from the inside of the fuse. I insert a little hardwood dowel where the bolt goes through, just makes the area a little more durable.

Originally Posted by mbacosa

Henry,
Have you ever used Gorilla Glue (urethane) to glue the foam pieces to the fuse (turtle deck and belly pan). Just curious if you found a benefit with epoxy or if its just personal preference.

Hey Mike, I'm with Henry on this one. Not only does epoxy (West System or equivalent) look better, it sands WAY better. I even glue on my leading, trailing, and bevel caps with it for that reason.

Originally Posted by plane

Hey Mike, I'm with Henry on this one. Not only does epoxy (West System or equivalent) look better, it sands WAY better. I even glue on my leading, trailing, and bevel caps with it for that reason.

Thanks Rich. Not close to that point of course! BUT im slowly getting things together. Hopefully we'll b talking soon about vacuum bagging some foam.

Originally Posted by mbacosa

Thanks Rich. Not close to that point of course! BUT im slowly getting things together. Hopefully we'll b talking soon about vacuum bagging some foam.

Sounds good, I'm bagging my stuff as I type this.

So here I'm continuing my painted interior look by masking off the area that will be glued to the front of the fuse. And then painting the exposed area that you will be able to see. The pictures are pretty self explanatory.

And a couple of exterior shots of the parts all glued on and sanded...

To finish off the bottom of the fuselage all that's left is the tail wheel mount. A 1/8 peice of plywood is used for this. Because the edge of the plywood needs to be sanded to match the curve of the fuse I like to glue small strips of balsa to both edges of the plywood. This makes sanding the contours much easier since you're not sanding hard plywood and trying to match it up to the soft balsa. I used 1/16 balsa, just make sure you cut a 1/16 off either side of the plywood first!
I also installed the 4/40 blind nuts and cut a lightening hole.