Stinson Reliant SR9 Repair ( Part One )

Where Are We Today

Arkona , Ontario

This post is about my hobby, Radio Control Airplanes, which I have been involved in for about 40 years. Last August, I had a friend do the maiden flight on my Stinson Reliant SR9. It actually had three flights that day, all which went very well, with minor mishap on the third landing. So this post is about the repair process for that mishap, which was a broken landing gear.

First off, I had to make a cradle to set it in while doing the repair, then open up the damaged area and strip out any broken pieces.

Cradle holding up the tail section

Cradle holding up the nose section

To reinforce the broken former's, I decided to double the former's with 1/4 inch ply.

The belly opened up and the cracked former's

Most landing gear are one solid piece, made out of aluminum, on this model the landing gear is two separate pieces, which I think is part of the reason for the structural damage.

 My solution to beefing up the landing gear was to tie the two separate landing gear together with another piece of aluminum. I used two pieces of 1/8 by 2 inch, as a 1/4 by 2 inch wasn't available.

Aluminum brace bolted in place

Landing gear back in and ready to close the underbelly

 Bolting the two pieces of aluminum to a 1/4 in. piece of ply, which was then epoxide to the support between the two landing gear. I then drilled and tapped through the two 1/8 in pieces into the two separate landing gear and bolted them together.

Removed the landing while closing the underbelly

All closed in and the gear installed again

Next, put the balsa sheeting on to close up the underbelly of the fuselage. This is as far as I got this fall before closing up for the winter. I will finish the rest of the repair in the spring.

Thanks for following along, comments are always welcome. Until the next time, take care and be safe.