JIMARRINGTON

When I was building my SE5, I had heard that the tailskid/tail wheel was a problem in the design of this kit. Well I now have first hand knowledge. I keep ripping out the tailskid/wheel on my SE5a. After the first time where it ripped out the rudder, I had made it a separate piece from the rudder and used a spring to attach it to the rudder so that it would not rip the rudder out. When I changed it, I used nylon hinges to attach the tailskid to the tail post. It lasted about 3 trips to the field before it ripped out. Does anyone know of a good modification that will fix this problem permanently?


Thanks
Jim

Lnewqban

I have no experience with this model.
I understand the skid is independent of the rudder.
Some pictures will help with suggestions.
Does this happen on grass or tar?

JIMARRINGTON

Mostly on grass. The kit is designed for the tailskid to be a part of the rudder and they cheated a little bit by adding a small wheel in the bottom. The rudder and skid are mounted with CA hinges. Well this arrangement ripped out on the first flight. I modified it by cutting the skid off the rudder and remounted the rudder with CA hinges. Then I mounted the skid with nylon hinges and connected the skid to the rudder with a spring similar to the way a sullivan tail wheel hooks up. Matter of fact that is where I got the spring. This lasted for about 10 flights. I dont have any pics of it that I can upload.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks

JIm

BTW, I really love flying this airplane and want to get this resolved in time to fly this weekend.

JIMARRINGTON

Went to Wal Mart last night and browsed around the hardware section and found a 1" brass door hinge that might be strong enough to work. I started installing it last night. First I removed the balsa core in the tailskid and replaced it with plywood and glued the hinge in. I further plan to add some small bolts through it to hopefully keep it from pulling out. My home computer is on the fritz right now so can't take any pix. But here is a pic that I had saved on my work computer.

Jim

Lnewqban

JIMARRINGTON:

Excuse the late response.
I have found the manual of your model.

I can see that that arrangement is allowing the rudder to drag on the field, which is no good for any control surface.
Although it has a little wheel, the end of the skid has a sharp shape that can stick with pressure in grass and bumps for a model of that weight.
Whenever the model is moving fast and rolling on the skid, there is a pretty strong force and a torque trying to separate the bottom hinge.
The height of the skid provides undesired leverage that the bottom hinge has to fight and which becomes worst if the bottom hinge is located somehow higher than the lowest position.

I also see that the surface to glue that hinge to the wood is too small.
Please see the attached schematics.

I suggest cutting a bigger piece of CA material as shown, adding some balsa wood to increase the gluing area, and locating the new hinge as close as possible to the bottom of the rudder.
It is better to sandwich the hinge with two halves of balsa while gluing and then, sand the side surfaces even.
I would use epoxy and would pin both halves of the hinge as much as possible.
I believe a metal hinge would work as well, if the pivot axis remains in the center line of the tail and the rudder.
For that, pin with little nails and glue.

I hope you can solve that problem and enjoy your beautiful plane.