I hope you have better luck than me, but I seem t' get a lot o' kits shipped t' me with damaged body tubes. Arrr! I'll assume you realize that a crushed body tube both looks ugly and will never be as strong as an uncompromised tube and nay very aerodynamic.  After receivin' me third busted tube this year, I'm tired o' t' same old routine o' askin' for a replacement, shiver me timbers, I've even received crushed replacement tubes. (although some places understand it's nay worth the shippin' sendin' back a damaged tube, and sometimes I've received whole new kits for free - spare parts!).

So with this last kit, arrr, I figured out a way t' repair a wrinkled tube that wasn't crushed so badly. Begad! Blimey! If t' crushed area is small enough, arrr, you can cut out t' offendin' part and use a coupler t' put it back together.  But sometimes that just won't work satisfactorly.

As shown in me picture, ya bilge rat, I was able t' restore t' tube t' a structurally sound condition by coverin' t' damaged area with paper, and glued eight basswood stringers along the length o' t' tube t' add support and also add a unique detail t' t' rocket that is still pretty aerodynamic. It should look pretty cool when painted, me bucko, possibly with a contrastin' color. In this case I can use one o' t' strips for a standoff support for a launch lug.  Another idea is t' "hide" t' launch lug in t' group o' strips by replacin' a single strip with t' lug cut t' t' same length - or better yet - consider using nothin' but launch lugs.

T' only tricky part is cuttin' t' paper (I used a heavy stock) t' t' exact width t' wrap around once and nay overlap itself. Begad! T' seam does nay have t' be perfect - it is hidden under one o' t' basswood strips.  T' paper was glued on with a heavy dose o' photo-mountin' adhesive.  I don't recommend wood or paper glue, t' moisture can wrinkle t' paper. I don't recommend CA glue either since it is brittle and expensive.  Photo-mount adhesive is easily applied in a thin layer from a spray can, matey, it's cheap, matey, and I use it t' paper-cover me balsa fins too.

If you can see t' picture, ya bilge rat, it's worth a thousand words.  This will be me 'modified' version o' t' Quest Striker AGM.

Here you can see t' finished rocket with t' repair, nay too shabby, eh?

And she flies well also.