Hobie Hawk restoration

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jmendoza
Posts: 167
Joined: 18 Feb 2018, 23:07

Hobie Hawk restoration

Post by jmendoza »

I have had this Hobie Hawk since the 1970s, it has flown up and down the west coast of California from San Francisco to Baja and has hundreds of hours of airtime, mostly slope soaring over coastal cliffs and the ocean below. The fuselage is on it's 3rd paint job, second set of wings and tail feathers, the servos finally wore out and were replaced, , 5th set of batteries, BUT, the Novak 6 meter 53 MHz receiver is still working perfectly.
I'm stripping and repairing the wings, then will be re-covering them with transparent orange. The Hawk was originally all orange but in 1980, Ron sailed his SR-71 right through my starboard wing and turned it instantly into tinsle. Since then the Hobie has sported a replacement set of wings and stabs covered in t-yellow. But with this re-covering it will be back to all orange once again. It will be in top trim for Weaselfest at Ellwood and Katie Martin at Torrey pines, both of which are nice slope soaring meets here in California. You will note that I had to build up the ribs with balsa where the foam collapsed due to overheating with the Monokote iron. There were also some delaminated areas of the plywood skins.
Hobies Hawk (1).JPG
HH Martin wing (2).JPG
HH Martin wing (1).JPG
HH wings (3).JPG
HH wings (2).JPG
HH wings (1).JPG
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PaulJ
Posts: 598
Joined: 16 Feb 2018, 19:01
Location: Ipswich, UK

Re: Hobie Hawk restoration

Post by PaulJ »

It always was and still is a beautiful model. Well worth the effort of restoration..... Best of luck! :)
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Wayne_H
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Joined: 17 Feb 2018, 05:26
Location: Temora, NSW. Australia
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Re: Hobie Hawk restoration

Post by Wayne_H »

I acquired a Hobbie Hawk back in the early 80's. It had one wing snapped through at about 1/3 span, so I used the in-tact wing as a brace when I repaired the broken wing, which worked surprisingly well :o As I recall, when launching on the winch or bungee, it was prone to the infamous "Hobbie Roll" (i.e. a snap roll) which sure got the adrenaline pumping the first time it happened! I ended up stopping it by adding a small fin strake from the level of the tailplane forward (from memory) about 5 inches - behaved like a lady after that 8-)

It ended up going to Germany in it's original moulded carry box in the late 80's. At the time the son of a German friend lived nearby us in Sydney & took it back to his Dad on a visit back to the fatherland. Dad ended up teaching his son to fly with it, which in itself was impressive :P The son was into sailing & knew the Hobbie Cat line of catamarans, but when he discovered that Hobbie also made a RC glider, he decided to try RC, and has been building and flying ever since!!

Look forward to pics of the completed restoration.
Last edited by Wayne_H on 07 Apr 2018, 12:43, edited 1 time in total.
Cheers,

Wayne
Once a Retrobate, always a Retrobate............ ;)
jmendoza
Posts: 167
Joined: 18 Feb 2018, 23:07

Re: Hobie Hawk restoration

Post by jmendoza »

Well, the Hobie is now restored and recovered, ready for the slope!
My son Bud is holding the Hawk.
Orange Hawk (2).JPG
attachment=1]Orange Hawk (4).JPG[/attachment]
Orange Hawk (4).JPG
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PaulJ
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Location: Ipswich, UK

Re: Hobie Hawk restoration

Post by PaulJ »

It looks fantastic..... How did you re-attach the delaminated skin to the ribs and I imagine it was quite a "challenge" to cover the top surface of the wing....? Well worth the effort though, well done! :D

Paul
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Wayne_H
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Joined: 17 Feb 2018, 05:26
Location: Temora, NSW. Australia
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Re: Hobie Hawk restoration

Post by Wayne_H »

It looks great - well done!! ;)
Cheers,

Wayne
Once a Retrobate, always a Retrobate............ ;)
jmendoza
Posts: 167
Joined: 18 Feb 2018, 23:07

Re: Hobie Hawk restoration

Post by jmendoza »

The plywood skin was re-bonded with 5 minute epoxy, I applied it with an exacto #11 blade.

Pictures of Kite hill flying the Ka-8 and the Explorer, Bud holding the Hawk
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DSCN1068.JPG
jmendoza
Posts: 167
Joined: 18 Feb 2018, 23:07

Another Hawk restored

Post by jmendoza »

I take and clamp the wings to a 4 foot long 2x4 piece of spruce to flatten the wing and cover the top first. The bottom of the wing is covered after removing the wing from the board. Alternatively, large tomes, or phone books can be placed on the wing to flatten it on a table for covering the top.

This Hawk fuselage belonged to Rich Carillo, he was the production manager at the Hobie Hawk factory. He gave it to me for repairing his Hawk. Some of you may recall Carillo racing rods, used in top fuel dragsters, that was his dad's company. My 1st Hobie was a T-red and white ARF version I purchased new in 1975 while in the USARMY, but I sold it when I was transferred to Ft. Huachuca, so this is now my replacement.
Carillo Hawk (1).JPG
Carillo Hawk (3).JPG
RS Systems made a special 2 channel radio system with this cute 2 servo brick especially for the RTF Hobie Hawk
Hawk RS Brick.JPG
Tobe
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Joined: 16 Feb 2018, 06:19
Location: Varberg or Stockholm, Sweden

Re: Hobie Hawk restoration

Post by Tobe »

With Ft. Huachuca you are bringing back memories! When I was teaching for the airlines we had a waiver to enter the restricted airspace around it to practice approaches there and we were always extremely well treated
Cheers,

Tobe
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ozrs
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Joined: 16 Feb 2018, 15:21
Location: West Australia

Re: Hobie Hawk restoration

Post by ozrs »

Richard
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