What's the common concensus on using wheel pants??? I just got my FuntanaS which comes with wheel pants. Should I use them or leave them off? Pro's and Con's???? I know one con, if you land hard and sheet your gear off, the pants can put holes in the bottom side of your wing.

I'm against pants... wheel pants that is... (Notyhing beats a comfy pair of Levis though!! )

Don't get me wrong, they do look good, and really do dress up a model, especially scale..

But:
Another part to build (nothing really wrong with that, really ) but, another part to fiddle with and fit. They never really point the same (one is always slightly higher..) some of them can be a pain when the wheels finally get on. They foul in grass feilds, they always break; never more than 3-5 flights before one is lost! and you need to buy paint just for them... some are better than others, but most (that come with kits) are 2-piece plastic shells that never go together right..

I basically concur with dr_wogz. The airplane in my avitar is my own design which is dressed up with wheel pants, but I remove them when flying off grass and I made most of the initial flights without them. They do look cool in flight though. I only have two models with wheel pants and my approach is to provide firm attach points and make them easy to remove and install.

I've added a picture.

I've flown a few planes with and without wheel pants, (SIG SE, GP 300 Extra, Graupner Extra) and you can just tell the difference, but I can't really say whether it's better or worse with them. You very quickly get used to the difference and it ceases to be an issue when flying.

-David C.

It is a question of preference if you are flying a slow plane. They are needed to fair the fixed gear on a fast airplane.

Schmleff

I use the largest pants and wheels that will still look good, and have had absolutely no problems with mine on a grass field this season. Maybe I'm just lucky...

I have had good results with the pants on my RV-4 by mounting them both on the landing gear and on the outside end of the axle with a wheel collar type pant mount. This makes them so strong that you can almost think of them as skis in long grass. Sporty