My Wildthing 60 has died in the loft !

[Mike Etheridge 1]

Some club members have arranged a slope soaring meeting for Castle Hill in Kent tomorrow so today I dug out some slope soarers that have not seen the light of day for more than three years and got them ready for flight. One plane the Flair Heron is the oldest plane, and the other plane a Middlephase 2. I refurbished in 2016 has yet to fly. The biggest disappointment is my Wildthing 60. Having been stored in my loft in the dark,as were the other gliders, the tape covering on the plane has lifted and the fuselage has almost separated from the wing. Considering the Wildthing is the most robust of all my planes it would seem you cannot store it in places that have a great degree of temperature variation.

Edited By Mike Etheridge 1 on 15/09/2018 21:26:37

[Paul Marsh]

Just re-tape it and be good as new. Problem with high temps area, the tape dries out and the goes brittle.

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[Mike Etheridge 1]

''Bah Humbug'' that should make you feel better Tom !

[Mike Etheridge 1]

After starting out at 11.45 AM I gave up on the slope soaring journey which should have taken about 45 minutes. The M20 motorway was closed between junctions 4 and 6 as a bridge over the motorway was being removed. There was a diversion to the M2 which was blocked with the usual Dartford tunnel traffic. I had been on the road for an hour and a quarter when I decided that the route home via Bexley was preferable. It appears that the A249 which leads to Detling and Castle Hill was also closed due to a motorbike fatality. A shame my Middlephase 2 still has not flown. I am not sure yet whether my club mates made it to the slope ?

[John Muir]

That Wild Thing isn't dead, it's just resting. Takes more than a bit of lifting tape to kill one of them. I recently had to re-cover mine due to wear and tear, also treated it to a new pair of balsa elevons as the old ones had warped. Good as new and flying better than ever.

Shame you never made it to the slope, better luck next time.

[Piers Bowlan]

I left mine in front of a window that caught the afternoon sun, it wasn't long before the tape lifted. Soon rectified with new cross-weave and coloured tape .

[Paul Blakeborough 1]

Except for leaving models outside! The worst thing you can do is store them in your attic. The moisture and temperature variances are vast! ..... With Balsa for example... Imagine the wood core as a handful of drinking straws, and during the wetter months it draws up moisture..... following on with an unbelievably dry summer and the moisture dries out.... and then gets wet again... then dries out etc etc.. The wood expands, contracts etc etc... glue joints spring, electronics corrode... the list goes on. The current resurgence of old R/C gear, many modellers wonder why the gear can't be modified? Because the electronics have corroded, as it was stored in the attic!

Simply put..... If you don't want your models or gear to decompose, please don't store them in the attic.

[Piers Bowlan]

I agree about the temperature variation in the attic, too hot in Summer, too cold in Winter. However if the loft is properly ventilated with holes in the sofit boards etc. your loft should not become damp or at least not damp enough to make your models damp. If you do have a damp problem in your attic then I would be worried about mould and damage to your joists and rafters. I have found garages can be a problem through the lack of ventilation resulting in steel tools rusting and corrosion to electrical components.

[Mike Etheridge 1]

Fortunately we do not have a dampness problem in the loft Piers, but of course the loft is subject to excessive temperature variation. During the heat wave this year I left the loft hatch open the whole time to avoid extreme temperatures and was also mindful of Legionella issues with the cold water tank in the loft. The Wildthing has been in the loft for six years or so, and when I first built it I understood that the cross-weave tape that was not UV resistant and needed covering with coloured tape to prevent UV damage. I therefore thought that storing the Wildthing in the loft without any natural light would be sufficient, but obviously not. Perhaps keeping the Wildthing in a black plastic bag may help in a room or cupboard that is not likely to be subject to temperatures more than 70 degrees F may do the trick ?. Of course other materials suffer in lofts , Solar Film can wrinkle as do some other coverings but they can easily be remedied. I have a completely daft 'Flexflight' YAK 55 that has flown once extremely well but after a 3 year spell in the loft it twisted all over the place and has refused to fly this year so far.

As for plane storage , my garage and both my sheds get very damp in the winter so it is no good storing planes in them especially as they can be broken into, so my loft is the only alternative where I have about 30 planes stored most without problems.

By the way the other lads made it to Castle Hill OK and had a good flying session, but they had a shortish journey from Sheerness Island. I gather the M20 is closed again this weekend so that they can finish the bridge replacement.

Edited By Mike Etheridge 1 on 20/09/2018 13:10:18

[Pete Crosby]

My wild thing went the same way, as or the tape covering I just went over it with a covering iron.. seemed to fix the lifting tape issue.... the rest of the tape holding it together looked and felt sound... although it will need recovering this year to patch up those tatty areas..

Its wicked windy off my local fly site today, a nice steady 14mph (13/04/2020)

and can I go flying     today ... NO  (chrooooonovirus). lockdown and worst is I can see the flying site from my windows...but would have to go in car to site so non essential journey ... quite frustrated today

Edited By Pete Crosby on 13/04/2020 14:06:00

Edited By Pete Crosby on 13/04/2020 14:06:33

[Stuphedd]

I have just gone into the garage loft to check on my "Planes ", The garage is separate from the house and I live in the country .

My FU2 wings have lodgers !! I lifted them/it up and they were very heavy and rattled ,

I also feed the birds and have a 12kilo bag of peanuts handy , except they are now balast between every rib and in the "D" section ! a field mouse I guess is the culprit !

The only way in or out is through the 1" diameter hole for the servo wires , so its a long shake ? I shall have to join a band as a casternet player !

other wise it has died !