Hey All,

I recently got an Alfa P-47D ARF and I have been flying it without it's stock gear due to lack of smooth surface runway. Until, now I have had little problems with it. However, I have accrued quite a bit of scuffs, dings, and scratches in the foam on the underside of the wings. Although I have been belly landing it very gently on packed snow (the surface some what rough) I cant seem to avoid damaging the surface of the foam while landing. So I decided to try to fashion a set of skis to prevent any new damage to the belly and underside.

I took the stock struts and fastened homemade skis to them. The skis are made of two pieces of plastic laminated together with 30 min epoxy and formed around some pegs I placed in a piece of ply. I used small servo screws to fasten a block of wood to the top of the ski in which the axle sets. The ski is held taught with a small extension spring connected from the toe of the ski to the strut, and a length of fishing line from the heel of the ski to the strut. From my limited knowledge I believe they are quite well built and sturdy. Also, the pair only weighs 45.5 grams! I think thats good.

Ok, so now for the problem. I field tested them and I am having trouble. When I throttle up about 5-6 clicks on the Tx the tail lifts and the plane proceeds to roll over onto its nose resulting in prop strike. Heck, it doesn't even move forward more than a few inches before tipping forward. The CG is spot on.

Is this just the nature of warbirds? Is it impossible to retro-fit skis on a warbird taildragger? What can I do to solve the problem?

More info about the Setup:

Motor: Rimfire 400 Brushless
ESC : Silverseries 25A
Prop: APC 9x6 Slo-flyer

Another thought...
Could the prop just be to big for this application (with skis)? And if I where to get a smaller prop what would you recommend? The plane flew great, hand launched, with the 9x6, and I'd rather avoid changing the flight characteristics if possible. I believe I read on here that if you REDUCE the length of the prop by an inch, you should INCREASE the pitch by an inch, Is this correct?

I look forward to any responses.

~Noah