F-16 accident

[Jon81]

Hello,

I'm new to the forum. So thank you for any advice in advance. I flew my G&C F-16 for my nephew this evening, and got a little cocky flying it as it was getting dark. Unfortunately I was unable to tell the direction of the aircraft and created a lawn-dart. The nose cone is utterly destroyed, and I was wondering if anyone had any advice for making a new one. I'm tempted to order one, but if I can fix it more quickly I'm all ears. Thanks.

[JugMan]

That can happen from time to time.... I don't have the F16,  but I use a lot of foam in my nitro planes for different things. You may want to try simply cutting the broken nose off clean at 90 degrees with a razor saw. Take some of the dow corning 2" pink insulation board they sell at Homie's Depot, and cut a rectangle of about the same size as what you amputated. Pick a piece with a clean 90 degree edge, to butt glue to the airframe, so it'll be straighter and won't vector off line. Butt glue your rough nose transplant to the airframe with foam safe glue. Go to bed. Do NOT use Gorilla glue, because it expands, and is hard as a rock, and is the most difficult glue to remove from human skin I have ever dealt with.... I like canopy glue from the LHS with the foam myself,  no melting,  water clean-up, long working time....  In the morning, the pink foam will sand extremely smooth with some 100 or 150 grit paper, when followed by some 220. Wrap the sandpaper over another piece of the pink foam for a block to get quicker foam removal, and better control. Finish it off with whatever paint you've got that won't melt foam (test with scrap). One sheet of foam is less than $10, and will repair about 900 airplanes... Get used to this repair drill, because you won't want to wait for spares all the time, and that's expensive anyway. This method will get you back in the air pretty quickly, and cheap too. Now if you get really crazy, a quick online search will get you info on hot wire foam cutters, which are extremely cool to play around with.