chuckb13

I am putting a set of floats on an old trainer i have. I have the cg set up and everything is sealed. The floats i bought were from another club member. The floats do not have a water rudder on them. Does anybody know where I can get just a water rudder and how do i hook it up. Or is there and alternative to a water rudder on the floats that would work. A guy from my club said i could use a piece of wire and hook it to the rudder and attach a piece of metal to the bottom. the rudder does not go below the elevator but at full deflection it is still farther out than the elevator.... ANY IDEAS HELP!!!!!!!!!

JimCasey

My Feedback: (1)

You can get an Ernst water rudder at your favorite local hobby shop, or from Tower, or other mailorder places. There are MANY ways to hook one up, but remember you drive it from the rudder servo or at least from the same channel, and it goes the same direction as the air rudder. I like to attach fishing line to my rudder horns, go forward, down along a strut, then back to the water rudder. You have to cross the lines once to get the direction right.

Yes, you can just use a wire attached to your rudder. Clean and solder a piece of tin can material to it. NOT aluminum-has to be steel, and use acid flux and silver solder. The rudder should stick down about a half-inch lower than a straight line drawn from the bottom of the back half of your floats.

If you don't have a water rudder, you can still fly. My personally engraved block of granite says:"If your motor is running you can turn with the air rudder. If your motor is not running...it doesn't matter"

chuckb13

IF I use option 2 how do i attach the wire to the air rudder.

JimCasey

My Feedback: (1)

Make a loop in the wire at the end away from where the water rudder is.
Loosen the screws that hold the rudder horn to the rudder.
slip the loop under the nutplate on the side away from the rudder horn.
If one of the screws goes through the loop it is better.
Tighten the screws back down.
Here: read this, it has pictures. http://www.flyinglindy.homestead.com/skisandfloats.html
Click on the pages and they get big enough to read.

chuckb13

That looks like it should work. THe only concern i have is that my rudder does not go below the elevator. I was going to notch the elevator where it meets the fuselage but the control horn for the elevator is directly in the way and cannot get around it. I am going to take the plane out this weekend possibly to a small pond and see if i can get the plane to turn with out a water rudder. if that doesnt work I have no idea what i am going to do.

JimCasey

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Chuckb13: Check your email.

chuckb13

JIM THANKS FOR THE HELP.... I decided not to use the water rudder on my plane. I had plenty of throw with the flying rudder. IT worked amazing. Had 4 very successful flights on sunday. It was a bit windy but couldnt have asked for a better flying session. Much appreciated on all your help

JimCasey

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It's a great hobby.

AndyCAP

I have a .40 size highwing plane (semi aerobatic) with a set of home made floats fitted. I would also like to fit a water rudder to it. Do any of you have designs/ schematics to show how this can be done (i tried to opne Jim's link above, without success.

I would like to look at both possibilities - (directly from the rudder with a wire or pushrod onto the floats (float mounted rudder)

Do any of you guys have drawings/schematics for how to construct a float mounted water rudder?

JimCasey

My Feedback: (1)

If you can't open Lindy's link (I just checked, it works-may have been temporarily down) then I can try to describe.

Bolt a wire to the air rudder and have it stick down so it is in the surface of the water by about a centimeter when the plane is floating but not moving. Solder on a small piece of thin brass or tinplate...about 2 cm square should do it. 2 cm hi x 3 cm long if you want larger. If it's on something like a a Kadet where the rudder is all on top of the fuselage, you can drill through and use the fuse for support of the wire.

If you want to attach a water rudder to the float you can get a water rudder kit from most hobby suppliers. You can make your own if you prefer: use a conventional (pinned) hinge in the transom of the float. fabricate a rudder from sheetmetal or an old credit card and bolt it to the hinge. When I did this I used a 4-40 (3mm) screw, extended it, and put an aileron connector on the end of it to make a control arm. I also used a nylon-insert nut so I could leave the rudder loose enough to pivot up and down