A co-worker discovered that I have an interest in r/c planes. He came to me last week with a story about how he had won a plane at some industry function he was at (he is in ad sales for a major Colorado publication). He flew it a couple of times, never really got the hang of it, and pretty much forgot about it until recently. He indicated that it had been crashed and might need some work, but asked if I would be interested in taking it (for free!).
That was a no-brainer. Of course. These things retailed for around $150 when they were on the market a few years ago, and hobby shops still carry parts for them.
He brought it to me on Friday, and I took it home. Turns out is was an Aerobird Commander IIst Saturday I spent some time working on it while my daughter was taking her nap. I had never been inside one of these before, but it was surprisingly easy to take apart. Once I had the controller board out (and charged the battery), I plugged it in to see what was going on.
The engine was responding intermittently, but some adjustment to the solder points for the wires seems to have fixed it. The elevon controls were not responding, so I had to take the gear assembly apart (should of had my camera, sorry, no pics). It was easy enough to take apart. The motor then spun freely and responded to inputs from the transmitter. I put it back together to confirm everything was moving smoothly, which it was. I then decided to replace the control lines. They were rather brittle. Not sure what the equivalent weight of fishing line would be, maybe 50# test or something? At any rate, I replaced it with 6# test and do not expect any problems.
I pieced it all back together, trimmed the control lines for the elevons, and decided to take it out for a test flight. It was way too gusty, so I should have just waited for another day, but I figured the motor could handle it. The motor did indeed handle the wind, but the plane was pulling left pretty drastically. I think I need to find a new tail assembly, as the foam seems to have developed some bad memory. Or I can try to fix it with a hairdryer. We’ll have to see.
All in all though, i consider the repairs to be a success, and I am quite pleased to have a quality plane for just a small time investment. If you have a crashed plane you want to unload, think of me. 
