Landing Gear Door Fitment
Likely one of my most challenging model efforts on this build has been to fit the landing gear doors. I like the words "Pseudo Scale" because that is about the best I can do. I got bogged down with house re-modeling and the summer flying season. I really missed working on this so after hitting a wall last February, I just started again to get over this hump.
The pictures crudely show what I had to do. The key pictures are:
T31. The use of the Down and Locked "Amp-out," made by Wikes RC for D&L, is a type of switch that is a must. Without that little electronic piece, I'd go nuts tweaking the gear up and down. I used a 7.4 volt Lipo to drive one gear at a time for fitment. (FYI, the first one they sent me failed, but they sent me a new one. Nice people.)
T32. I used door scale-like outer door linkage from Sierra. It has some adjustment capability and it fit the 1/2" strut, the key factor. (Again, no commercial, but this is a nice piece.)
T33. The way to hinge the outer door was elusive, and I finally figured out to try putting the hinge on the removable hatch that gives service access to the retracts. A couple of the pictures show the large Dubro nylon hinge I used drilled out and attached with 2/56 screws. Between it and the linkage, there is a little "forgiveness" as the gear settles in the locked position.
T34. When all was fitted, the fiberglass doors laid up on the wing initially, were too high and uneven. That forced me to laminate more 1/16" balsa sheeting to the wing and then sand it even to the fitted doors. If you look close, you can see I added from the center to about 2 inches past the gear. All had to be block sanded and made flush with the original sheeting. I spent a lot of time adjusting the linkage fit before deciding I had to laminate to make this a smooth airfoil.
T35. & T36. I have the clamshells clipped and show the door articulating into the open position. I know my controller works, but I'll soon set it all up and check the door sequencing action.
T37. This shows the gear full down. (or up from point of view.).
T38. This shows the gear installed and I will likely add carbon fiber to the mounts to reinforce the maple gear. As mentioned earlier by others, the gear is the weak link and I am trying to build in some strength now.
With this fitted, I'm going to look at any last gear door bay esthetics and then finally close up the wing by adding the top sheeting. This will finally let me finish the rough building and sanding the airfoil shape.
Last edited by szempruw; 09-18-2017 at 05:47 AM.
Reason: Correct vendor for switch