RE: nice shrike 40 mod
Thought I would provide an update on a further mod. I flew it with wheel pants on the mains today. The wheels are still standard width wheels so I just put some pants on it from another plane. The speed increase was VERY marked! Air sound coming off the plane was probably cut more than half. Next step will be to go to prather metal wheels and a very narrow laminar flow countoured pant and to replace the metal main gear with airfoiled carbon fiber units. Love to have the telemetry unit some folks have but its just more than I can justify with the shrike. The speed increase was so dramatic that I am running out of power from the standard size futaba elevator servo to pull it out of a full throttle dive. I am running a 6 volt pack in the plane. So that will get an upgrade. I would not want to do anything higher than the low rate throw and it really isn't needed as long as the servo can handle it. The pullout was getting pretty wide today.
A note, the plane with the mod MUST be taked off with a fairly high elevator throw. Otherwise there is not enough pressure to keep the tail wheel gripping during the takeoff run. I switch down to the book low rate on climb out. Way I found out is obvious. Conclusion: the fuel tank clunk could not keep up with the cartwheels. Only damage was ruptured fuel lines and rudders knocked loose.
bob