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Old 06-17-2004 | 07:57 AM
  #20  
Grampaw
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Joined: Oct 2002
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From: Opelousas, LA
Default RE: Taildragger as first plane?

Converting a trike model with tail feathers similar to the LT-40 is not too much of a chore if you're building from a kit, where you can plan for the installation, but if its an ARF it can be a problem figuring out how to connect it all up. On a model with a rudder that comes down between split elevators it is easy to set it up for tail dragger steering by hooking the steering wire directly to the bottom of the rudder. With a model that has tail feathers like an LT-40 it can be tedious getting a tail wheel steering wire up through the fuselage so that it hooks to the rudder. I had a trike with a similar tail set up once, and took the easy way out. I just made the tail free wheeling with no connection to the rudder. I steered with air across the rudder. Had to be at half throttle or better anyway to move about on our grass runway and it worked just fine. Kind of like the old WWI fighters. They had tail skids, and they were steered with a blast of air across the rudder. Everything old is new again!