ckreef

I taxi through grass to a rubber mat runway. It's actually an old conveyor belt off of a large newpaper printing press. The problem is the rubber mat is slick and the tail skid doesn't do well on it. Last night I installed a stearable tail wheeel. I used a Du-Bro Tailwheel Bracket (part # 375) and the associated Du-Bro Tailwheel for that bracket (can't find the part # but rubber wheel and aluminum hub). This is the bracket and tailwheel for a .40 sized plane which is a little big but..........

The front hole of the bracket is the correct length to match up with the back bolt that secures the vertical/horizontal stabilizers to the the airframe. just ream out the front bracket hole a little and install it with the rear bolt/nut. This correctly aligns the tail wheel wire with the rudder/elevator hinge line. I used a long thin screw to secure the back bracket hole through the horizontal stabiler into the air frame. This made take off, landing and taxing much more stable and manageable. Pictured below is the tail wheel assembly along with the extra weight for CG.

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Also I started out using a Zinger 9x5 wood prop. I then switched to a Master Airscrew 9x5 prop which I balanced as close as humanly posible. Immediatly I noticed the Master Airscrew prop vibrated and shook the airframe much more then the wood prop. After 2 flights I switched back to the wood prop.

I flew another 3 flights after work today (yea sucks I had to work on Saturday). The more I tweak this plane the more I like it. I already have metal gear servos for the rudder and elevator. I have order metal gear servos for the ailerons and will install them as soon as they arrive. She is a fast flyer (for her size) and I tend to fly the "snot" out of her so I don't want to strip the aileron servos in mid-flight causing a crash like I did with the electrostik conversion.