Tail wheel on the model is installed as shown in the photos. You don’t have to install it before you glue the rudder hinges. I found it easier to get the wheel pants setup at the proper angle with the tail wheel installed. It doesn’t really matter too much as we block the tail for the model up so that the fuse is “zero” to out table. This is the same thing we did when setting up the main wing incidence. However this time the main gear struts are on the model. Due to the fact the landing gear plate could be installed at a slight angle or there could be minor differences in the struts after the last bend before the axle we want the model to sit level on the runway. Using a reference from the end of the strut say measuring up ¼” on both sides may work but then is the struts are slightly different now the wing could be unlevel to the runway when its just sitting there. This is nit picking of course but a sure way to make sure the model looks as good sitting there as it does flying it this little trick.

Using a square on the rear of the fin align the hinge slots so that the fin is 90degs to the table. You may have to add small scrape of the balsa under one landing gear strut. Some models might need a 1/16” balsa scrap and other might need more depending on how well the gear plate was installed and if the end of the struts is finished the same length. In the case of my Focus Sport no shims were needed. So now since our table is flat I used a spacer under my sharpie marker to give me an equal distance mark from the table surface. The fin is square to the table and when we glued the fin on the fuse it was square to the stab. The stab is parallel to the wing so now the wing is parallel to the table. This means equal height marks from the table will mean our axles will be the same distance from the table and the axle line will now also be parallel to the wing. So when its sitting on the ground the wings will be level with the ground.

A horizontal mark is made for the axle…then a vertical mark is placed in the middle of the strut front to back. This cross hair is where we drill the hole for the axle.

STOP everything. At this point before you drill your holes….The supplied axles are not long enough to handle the supplied wheels and wheel pants. They are about 3/8” too short. So I replaced the bolts. I used 6-32 bolts 2” long. You could use a 1.75” long bolt as I had some extra to be cut off. The supplied bolts are a 4mm, If you want to replace the 4mm bolt and use the supplied lock nuts and washers great. Those bolts can be found at just about any good ACE hardware or True Value. Unfortunately the Lowes and Home Depots of the world don’t tend to have the extensive fastener section of the ACE. Home Depot wants to sell you 100pcs of a given bolt and you only need 2 of them. Plus the selection of metric stuff is pretty small. I have a ACE right by the house nad they are awesome at little metric fasteners. I was lazy and choose to just use a 6-23 bolt and hardware I had in my supply. The holes in the wheels are slightly larger than the 6-32 but I placed a small brass tube section on the bolt as the axle part to take up the extra diameter and to give the wheel a smooth surface to spin on. If you leave the bolts bare the threads can grind away at the plastic wheel hub. The small brass tube fits over the bolt and inside the wheel hub as a spacer. I then was able to bolt it all up together.

If you are not going to use the wheel pants then the supplied axles work very well and are sized perfectly. The supplied wheel pants are rather larger and as a result the supplied axles don’t get the wheel in the middle of the wheel pant.


So when drilling the holes in the aluminum gear struts you either need to drill for the 4mm supplied axle or for the smaller 6-32 bolt. Decision is yours. But I wanted to make you aware of this little issue. That way you can make your decision before having to go to the hardware store and find a 4mm bolt due to the fact you hole in the strut was too large to take the 6-32 bolts.

Below are the photos of the tail wheel and the marking for the axle holes.