I am just about finished with a small modification from my PT-40 Trainer. I actually have a couple of PT-40s (long story don't get me started). My newest will be my main flyer this season, but as I move closer to flying some more scale planes (Corsair, Cub, Chipmunk) I figured it would be helpful to get some tail dragger time so I decided to do a conversion on one of the PT-40s.

Pretty simple to do for anyone who has thought about it. I will be moving the main gear forward so that it will be placed under the leading edge of the wing. To mount the gear I laminated two 1/8th pieces of plywood together, then epoxied it to the floor of the fuse, reinforcing it with some triangle stock. I will then lay a small strip of 6 oz fiberglass and epoxy that down just to give it a bit more strength. I will mount them with 4 bolts, with large strong washers and nuts. I think that will be enough for the main gear. The tail gear is a bit more difficult. I have fabricated the gear out of a piece of music wire (not easy to bend by the way). I have epoxied it into the rudder, and made a couple of small adjustments to get the right angle. Total time to do the conversion, about 1 hour, plus time for the epoxy to cure.

So that is my very first modification, now I am wondering what will be the next??

Perhaps after I move on to the scale birds I can bash the old trainer into a twin. That should be easy enough!

The more I build, the more things I pick up and ideas I get. I can see how this can become an obsession.