Page 2 of 2

Re: Apprentice Hard Landing Tests

Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2016 8:02 am
by Dennis
An exacto knife and fine sandpaper have been used to remove the manufacturer's adhesive joining the firewall to the styrofoam fuselage. My observations are as follows: (1) the glue was poorly applied with less than 50% of the available surface used, and an uneven thickness suggesting very little compression used during the curing process; (2) the holes for the motor wires and pushrod were simply awful.

Today I will reinstall the firewall using an evenly applied adhesive that will be permanently compressed by two nylon rods with washers and hex nuts.

Re: Apprentice Hard Landing Tests

Posted: Sun Aug 14, 2016 8:19 am
by Dennis
Completed the reassembly of the Apprentice firewall. To make the holes in the fuselage for the 1/4" diameter nylon strength members, I used a machinist scriber to make two 4"-long starter holes and then widened them all the way into the cabin by slowly turning a long Philips screwdriver. I used two existing holes in the firewall for the nylon rods so I didn't need to modify the firewall. The inside bonding surface of the firewall was coated with an even layer of CA adhesive and placed on the foam surface of the fuselage. Nylon washers and nuts were attached to both ends of the threaded nylon rods and tightened to place the adhesive interface in compression. Later today I can fully reassemble the aircraft and test the motor and front landing gear pushrod. I learned a great deal about the Apprentice during this modification process and am grateful for the advice provided by the staff at Mighty Small Cars on Windmill Road, Dartmouth, NS.