Shoestring

[JSC]

I seem to have a canopy and Engine cowl fitting from hell. Do guys have to remove engine cowl and canopy in order to change a battery? In order fit the engine cowl on it's like cracking and breaking, even after grinding the hell out of it, once it is FORCED in place there is no way the canopy will fit in place. Is there some trick I'm missing here
VERY disappointed, and left wing is a loose fit to the fuselage too.

[uavflyer2k]

Lots of info on the Shoestring on the RCgroups forum here:
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1490546

I had good luck with mine by just pushing the cowl on all the way to the canopy "step" and letting it set for a week, it seemed to take a set after that. it might speed up the process if you "lightly" heated the cowl with a heat gun, but not enough to burn the paint.

I suspect the cowls shrink or distort in shipping/storage, if you squeeze the sides at the cheek cowl they have a lot of give to accommodate the bulkhead.

Good luck
Ted

[JSC]

Once again,should it be that in order to change the battery, you should only have to remove the canopy and not the cowling too.
JC.

[EJSmith]

VERY disappointed, and left wing is a loose fit to the fuselage too.

The shoestring was a piece of junk. The cowl just did not fit. The wings were held on by spring clips, totaly in violation of the NMPRA rule book at the time. Solution? Change the rules to appease the manufacturer.

I threw the spring clips away. I installed two blind nuts in the root rib of each wing. It meant that some small holes had to be cut in the underside of the wing for installation. Easily patched. The wing is is then a tight fit screwed from the inside against the fuselage sides.

Ed S

[JSC]

I don't think I'll buy another Shoestring when the time comes. I'm going to try the Invictus next.
JC

[wkevinm]

My 2 cents worth,
I have had 2 shoestrings, and before I bought the Proud Bird the shoestring was my favourite airplane, well built easy to assemble at the field. As I recall Shoestring was the only ARF to place in the top 3 at the NATS last year mind you that is probably more to do with the pilot than the plane.