Re"covering" the E-Hawk 1400

Still sore from the Katan Mini crash, I decided to work on another project I have on hand; whipping the E-Hawk 1400 I got from a fellow flyer (who was about to trash it in the bin) into shape. It had lots of holes in the fibreglass fuselage, hairline cracks all over the place, the wings were riddled with holes which was either covered with unsightly, gaudy stickers or patched up with mis-matching covering. I've decided on a predominantly white colour scheme, the classic glider look with some hints of colours later on. This will be my biggest challenge in reviving planes as its made up of two materials which I have no experience repairing before: balsa and fibreglass. Also not forgetting I have never had any experience covering balsa planes with Monokote or other coverings for that matter. I fear I may be in over my head for this one.

I had already filled up most of the holes on the fuselage with epoxy mixed with micro balloons. Sanded them down and maybe I'll just go over the fuse with watered down epoxy or something to improve the overall integrity of the frame.

The wing was an eyesore; the original yellow covering with patches of "stuff" all over the place. So I decided to strip it all down right to the balsa wing. Strengthen the wing joints with some fibre glass cloth and CA and now I'm in the process of re-covering the wings. Ran into so much trouble with the covering. Firstly, I had so much trouble getting the covering to stick onto the balsa wings, that was until Wei Yao told me that there could be a protective covering on the back side of the film. D'oh! Apparently there was a very, very thin layer of plastic which anyone could've missed. Thank goodness for friends with experience with these stuff or I'd be left in the lurch cussing and swearing. Then I ran into another set of problems. Unsightly wrinkes were appearing at the corners of the parts that I was covering everytime I attempted to tack it down. I then cut the covering into smaller pieces and decided to work on the wings in small parts, starting with the wing tips. Voila, with the help of my wife (to hold down the wing and parts of the covering as I tacked it down I managed a nice taut covering on the wingtips. I went ahead to cover one of the ailerons and the other wingtip until my heavy eyes made me decide to call it a night. I will continue working on the covering slowly over the week and hope that it'll be ready by the weekend.

Signing off,
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