William

Nice fleet of Jets.

I am in the assembly process on my SM F5E and will track your flying experience with a keen eye. Please can you confirm that all the throws and C of G position was as per the SM instructions.

Three more questions; did you take of with any flaps, and did you set up the F5E with a positive angle of attack when standing on the ground? I ask these as it would seem from other comments by guys flying these jets that it helps to lengthen the nose strut or mount the nose gear a bit lower. Also it seem that the take off run is shorter and with less speed when you use some flap for take off - hence not throwing the tires. What is your total dry weight?

Regarding the doors, it seems to me the best will be to attach them to the oleos, ala BVM style. If the retract hinges in line with the door cut out, then hinge the door on the wing and use a piano wire with two BVM style gear door strut swivel points The trick is to measure the distance from door to strut when wheels are retracted, then make piano wire that length and position BVM swivel points that far apart when door closed and wheels retracted. This way the piano wire will hold door open and away from the strut when the wheels are down. If the the hinge point of the door and oleo are different. First try the above method, some time you can make it work. However, if like on the Hawk, you will have to go to plan B. Then simply retract the wheel, place the door on the oleo so as to match up with the inner door and mark the retract hinge point on the door. now you cut the door on this mark and mount it on the oleo ( I drill and tap two small - 2mm - cap screws into the oleo for this purpose). You can then use the piece of door that you've cut off to stick over the exposed retract mount so that when the door is closed, it will appear all covered by the door, but when open will stay behind on the 'wing'. Regarding the two small cap screws - I normally use one of them as a shear bolt too. Simply position it so that it goes through the trunnion into the oleo leg. That way you also ensure that the wheel will track straight without having to tighten up the trunnion pinch bolt too much. Hope this all helps.

Sharing your experience will be great.

Thank you


Springbok Flyer