RE: Yellow F-15 ARF Assembly Thread
Hi,
Other than being maybe an ounce lighter, there's no benefit at all to having the kevlar tanks in there. The plastic tanks we offer for that bird slide right in, and they're VERY tough. In my experience with crashes (which I have a healthy amount of), the plastic tanks have always fared better than the kevlar ones.
My solution to the screw/blind nut problem was to drill the small holes (just big enough for my ball-driver to fit into) behind the rear nose-gear door. Also, I use socket-head sheet metal screws without blind nuts. I know, I know, the jet is going to burst into flames immediately on coming out of the car without machined screws and blind nuts but........
1. In the event of a catastrophic landing, I would much rather have the screws pull out than the gear plate;
2. There is no vibration to speak of (which is the main cause of the blind-nut cardinal rule of model-building) to loosen the screws;
3. The sheet metal/wood screw is going to burrow into its hole with much less likelihood of cross threading without having to have the screw and driver perfectly lined up (which is very difficult at the field);
4. The likelihood of accidentally pushing the blind-nut up and out of the gear mount (which is a 'pack it up and go home' moment) is reduced to zero;
5. The modification I do to reduce the spread of the struts (an 1/8" shim on the outer gear rail) practically makes it impossible to use a machined screw and blind nut AND;
6. While I've experienced screws backing out of blind nuts or mysteriously disappearing even though they're loctited, I've NEVER had a wood screw back out of the hardwood gear mounts.
I know there are some traditionalists out there shaking their heads and thinking, "No way--you never do that! You always use blind nuts!", but I tend to do what works time and time again. I'll post more pics later....