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Old 01-02-2007 | 11:30 AM
  #11  
Charlie P.'s Avatar
Charlie P.
 
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 5,117
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From: Port Crane, NY
Default RE: Big Stik 40

The nose wheel makes it easier for ground handling. The Sitk is long enough that there isn't much danger of nosing her over as a tail dragger.

I don't have an image but I can describe it. All I did to convert to tail-dragger was to add blind nuts and, I believe, a bit of 1/8" plywood backing for the main gear bracket so the wheels move forward with the axels just 1/2" or so ahead of the wing's leading edge. I then bent the lowers CAREFULLY in a vise just a bit so the wheels had about three degrees of toe-in. Makes it somewhat self-correcting for taxiing straight.

The tail wheel was a simple affair I formed with an angular "C" shaped piece of 3/32" music wire. I attached a piece of fiberglass reenforced plastic (from a sail batten, as I remember) to the lower fuselage and ran the wire up through a hole drilled in that in line with the rudder hinges. I used a wheel colar as a stop and bearing, bent the lower portion back and then at a right angle for the axle. The upper (where it came up through the plastic) I bent so it followed the shape of the rudder. I then formed a staple (actually a full circle loop) out of 1/16" music wire with 1" legs and pushed that up into the rudder (the legs were long enough that they went into where the control horn attached). I threaded fuel tubing over the wheel wire inside the staple loop and that snugged it up and left some give for side wobbles. It's easier to do all this before CA'ing the rudder/hinges in place.