The canopy and belly pan.
The whole almost bigger enough to put you hand through.
After having not flown flown for nearly four weeks, yesterdays Xmas party at the flying field seemed like a good time to brush up on the P sequence.
Anyway, after unloading the car I had the Aries up on the rubber stand to strap in the lipo battery and bolt the wing on.
During this process, I walked a way for matter of only seconds when a wind gust came through, flipping the fuse onto the ground canopy first. I could hear a crack - it didn't sound good!!
After picking it back up and inspecting it, I was horrified to see the canopy had been badly broken.
The canopy area of the model actually fell onto the belly pan which was sitting near by. (see pictures above)
***UPDATE*** after the canopy damage, the plane was obviously un-flyable. I rushed home and did a patch job with hinging tape, then back to the field for some late afternoon practice.
All stayed in place - with no further damage apart from the canopy region resembling a mummy.
Clarkey at Oxai Australia has been informed, a new canopy has been ordered and will be installed upon arrival.
The tricky bit will be cutting out the old one and blending the new one in without it being obvious. I have two local club member's in mind for that job, one being a "Mr Fix it" and the other a "Hot shot" spray painter...
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