2019 Bringing the 2010 Fandango back to life
 1 Fandango repair During the Burford Day at KMFC in October 2019, a chap came up to me and asked if I had any planes for sale. I said, "Yes but you can't afford it." He said, "Yes I can. How much?" "$500." "Sold, when can I pick it up?" His name is Garry Lynch and he bought the plane unsighted. He called around to my place on his way home and collected it. (Photo taken August 2010 when the plane was new). |
 2 Fandango repair A month or so later he had crashed it. He was very upset, he'd lost sight of it in the sun. I told him to bring it to my place and we'd have a look at it. The front was completely missing. |
 3 Fandango repair The damage was severe and if it were my plane, I'd have trashed it. But Garry was so upset that I thought I could patch it up and get him flying again. The tissue on the right wing was torn but structurally the wing was OK. |
 4 Fandango repair There was major damage to the right wing. The tissue near the puple was torn and I would have to replace the panel. There were also two smaller holes that I could patch & refinish. |
 5 Fandango repair The left wing was OK but the left stab was ripped off. |
 6 Fandango repair I glued the left stab back on and reinforced it a bit. Then I repaired, reinforced and reattached the elevator. |
 7 Fandango repair There was nothing useable from the front end other than the engine bearer assembly. The cowl was badly damaged but I managed to repair that. In the months that followed, somewhere I changed my mind about doing a quick patch-up job and decided this would be a complete rebuild back to as-new condition. |
 8 Fandango repair The months passed and things started to look decidedly better. Here the reshaped canopy is done and the plane is masked ready for the Indigo Blue. |
 9 Fandango repair The repairs to the right wing were successful but it looked like the stars of the Southern Cross would have to go. |
 10 Fandango repair The Indigo went on quite well and now it is ready for the Orange. |
 11 Fandango repair. Ready for the Orange |
 12 Fandango repair The back end ready for the Orange |
 13 Fandango repair A bit of Metallic Purple added and voila! There, that wasn't so difficult was it? |
 14 Fandango repair The stars didn't completely disappear so I burnished the surface with Scotch Bright to give it a nongloss finish. That worked out OK. |
 15 Fandango repair The repair to the right wing went particularly well. Up close, it's hard to tell it's been repaired. |
 16 Fandango repair Even though the cowl was in a thousand pieces (or maybe five) it glued back together and fitted the completely new front end very well. |
 17 Fandango repair The fin is a little plain but I didn't feel like cutting a mask to make it fancier. |
 18 Fandango repair With a new carbon propeller and a new spinner, the plane is now ready to fly. Note: Garry phoned me in April 2020 and told me the plane flies very well and the engine is going great. He's happy. Return to the home page |
