Last night, I finally got around to unpacking the models which I had flown on October 7th. OK, I am slow at getting around to doing some things....
Anyway, I went to remove the spent engine casing out of the old Mini-Brute Hornet (Remember that one?), only to find that it was a very tight fit.
Grabbing some needle nose pliers, I twisted and pulled a bit harder on it. To my chagrin, the engine tube and engine hook pulled out partially along with the casing.
Internal glue failure from age and flight wear n' tear, no doubt.
I eventually ended up having to extract the engine tube, tearing it out piece by piece until only the centering rings remained inside the model.
A new piece of BT-5 engine tube will slide back into the airframe, but I will have to get creative with internal gluing techniques to secure it.
Replacing the engine hook is not possible, so I may have to settle for friction fitting engines the ol' school way.
There is another alternative which I will explore in a future post.
Stay tuned....