ORIGINAL: Antares100
Skylark-Flier, how did you figure the placement of the main gear on the fuselage relative to the center of gravity, or was it just trial and error?
Actually, that was easy. The nose wheel simply went to the back of the firewall, mains were mounted 1" behind CG.
The plane was built years ago for a specific purpose, to mount a camera on one side and air sampling equipment on the other for a company that was going through a lawsuit from EPA. EPA said their smokestack (300' tall) was emitting particulate, company said it wasn't. Camera & samplings proved it wasn't. Had to make several flights right over the stack (within 1' of the top)to do it though.
Even after all these years the mounting holes are still on the fuse, never covered them over. She was a DOG with all the equipment on her, flies like a sailplane now though.