mclina

I am looking to have some fun with my trainer (Alpha 40) this winter, and I want to try flying it on skis. I was also planning on converting it to a taildragger over the winter. My question is, is it easier to fly with skis on a taildragger or a trike? It just affects when I will do the TD conversion.

Also, has anybody converted an Alpha to a bolt-on wing? I find myself loading it in the car, but not flying it too much because I don't feel like messing with the rubber bands. I just fly my Four Star and then go home. I just keep the trainer in the car in case "something bad" happens to my Four Star. I am building a Bel Air 40 bipe right now, and once that's done, I'll have to leave one plane at home.

jagnweiner

My Feedback: (1)

I've done both and it is a little easier to fly as a trike, because you don't have to worry about nosing over and you have more surface area supporting the plane. On the other hand, if you buy skis, a trike set is a little more expensive.

If you are planning to buy the skis, I highly recommend those produced by Maiden Model Products. You should be able to find them on the web. They are the best I've ever seen and have a really good system for keeping them in place, which is a big problem.

mclina

Thanks. Those Maiden skis look very nice. I may try and make a set that are similar. If I fail, I'll shell out the $50 for the real thing.

jagnweiner

My Feedback: (1)

They are nice. The key is the machined mounting block that holds the set screws and the retaining springs. It allows them to flex and stay in place. Mine were in a pretty serious crash and I was able to just bend them back in shape. No other damage.

Minnreefer

I found out the hard way that skis won't work with very soft snow, we got 6"+ of powder and my plane just kept sinking into the snow, floats would work better in soft snow.

Good luck

seemefly_1

were did you get those skis?

Minnreefer

I got some just like those at my local hobby store,

maybe a silly question, why would someone in the south need snow skis?

Minnreefer

http://www.maidenusammp.com/
Just down the road from me

seemefly_1

most of my winter is in kentuckey

Charlie P.

I like the tail draggers. If you get old snow that has crusted up from sun & then refrozen the front ski tends to bounce up into the prop. Tail-draggers can be a problem on snow/ice in a crosswind. They REALLY weathervane . . . but generally the runway is wherever you want to make it so it's not a problem unless you're limited by footprints in the snow.

On the other hand a nose ski in a footprint can end a taxi very abruptly.

acarter

if it were me i would just get some floats, then you can use them for summer time too, and as said above the floats will work a lot better in soft snow. If you still want skis [link=http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0093p?&C=QDF]tower hobbies[/link] has some really cheap,

12xlr8

(Albeit this is a thread from last season, nothing wrong with freshening it up a bit with todays snow falling....)

For the ones who have never tried it, the usual problem with floats is that they get really torn up on the ice, and they have all the aerodynamics, installation complexities, and weight of....floats.

FWIW, MMP's been making some cool new mods for the 08 season too. The final mods won't be available until the beginning of December, but the big tweaks for the season are already on the shelf.

And the new bonus with the MMP skis, is that the owner is now finding more time to frequent the boards to offer some personal attention to it's loyal customers....

In all honesty, I've found that it never hurts business when people buy the cheap skis. They usually become the most loyal MMP customers afterwards. [8D]

The latest batch of MMP skis are on the shelf and ready to go when you are!

Thanks for the props guys!

Cheers!

T
MMP...