See the thread under Lancair Building Tips in the "Scale" sections. I put some pictures of my one piece gear, that I TnT make up.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_11...tm.htm#1760998

I just ordered a one piece landing gear from them. I've got to install it, glass the center wing section and I'll be done. I installed a Saito 100T twin with onboard glow driver. It's battery along with the six volt pack for the receiver are installed on a subfloor aft of the wing. I haven't yet checked the balance but a prelim obtained by laying the pieces out on the elevator suggest that I shouldn't be too far off.

I noticed on another thread that somebody glassed around the baggage door for strength before cutting it out. I ended up running rails over the door to support the subfloor which seems to have given adequate strength to this section without glassing it. The door itself has a shaped former for strength.

This is such a nice plane I'm tempted to make a second so I can learn from all the errors I made with the first one.

Okay, guys I got the gear down to TnT Landing Gear www.tntlandinggear.com and had them make up a one piece gear. The initial fit looks really good. I took the stock gear down to the guys along with the wing, to make sure we got the right amount of diehedrial bent into the gear.

The second picture shows that i've removed the portion of the root rib that will now accomodate the one piece gear. Also, i'm now ready to fiberglass the center section by removing the covering.

If any of you are interested, the latest edition of flying, May 2004 has a beautiful Lancair on the Cover. As of now that's my paint scheme, as this plane has fiberglass damage, due to shipping. I got this plane cheap!!!!!

Al,
You may be referring to my post about glassing the door, although you got it partly right. I cut the door out first, the cover it with duct tape and tape it back into position from the outside. Then glass the inside of the fuse around and over the inside of the door (the glass won't stick to the door though, because it's covered in duct tape, which epoxy won't stick to). Then remove the door and trim away the doors opening in the fuse to all but a lip for the door to rest against all around...no former needed on door.
Way better method than just applying a couple of wood "stops" around the inside of the opening.
Hope this is clear. It was not done so much for strength, but simply looking like it should...the way it would if they did it in manufacturing.
L8
Paul Reese

OK. As soon as the TNTlanding gear arrives I'll be ready to balance and fly thanks to all the direct and indirect advice in this thread. I can't wait to see how thiis thing does with the Saito twin. It's a bit heavier than with the OS61 but I've glassed the center section of the wing so hopefully I'll leave the field with no more pieces than I arrived.

Al,

On my sigle piece gear, I found I had to remove a little bit of the front and back of the mounting portion of the gear, due the additional fiberglass.

Michael

I received the new one piece landing gear and installed it without problem. I had glassed the center section in three pieces so the original measurement worked just fine. I checked the balance and only had to add 3/8 ounce. I'm real happy since the Saito twin is several ounces heavier than a similar single. This worked because I used a 1300 mA 5 cell receiver battery and on-board glow driver battery all mounted well aft of the hatch door. I'm really happy with the finished product but now I'm afraid to fly it. I think I'm going to wait til I can find one of the club's best pilots for the shake down flight. Hopefully I can do that in the next month. Stay tuned.

And the pictures are...where?

I have to take some first, then I have to figure out how to upload them.

Uploading is easy, Al.

When you hit the reply button, notice down in the lower left corner of the reply box you see "Upload images". Click on that, find the pictures you want to load by using "Browse". You can load up to 4 images as long as they don't total more than 3 megabytes on each post. If your pictures go over the size limit, it'll let you know so you can start over and post less pictures or make them smaller in size.

Let's see them...LOL

Don

Al,

Don't be afraid to fly it. It's a *****cat!

Bob

I'm going to try to upload my first picture. My apologies in advance if I screw this up. This pic is from below showing the muffler attachment. The brackets are mounted on hardwood blocks attached to balsa. This was reinforced with fiberglass cloth.

Looks good Al...Load more pictures! LOL.

Don

Here's a side view showing the throttle servo. The micro servo is attached to a balsa spacer with double-sided tape. The spacer is glued to the firewall. The red standoffs were purchased from [link=http://www.aerografixs.com/]aerografixs[/link]. I laminated 1/4 aircraft ply with the outer layer attached to the standoffs then glued to a second layer to recess the bolts. I used two vertical strips each about 1/2 inch wide.

Here's a front view of the uncowled engine. Note that the needle valves stick up well above the cowl line. As it turns out, the intake manifold rubbed the top of the cowl as well so I had to cut reliefs for them as well. The exaust pipes just barely clear below. I'll have to post a picture of the installed cowl, later, since I'm setting up to bench run the engine, now. I suppose I should really buy/build a test stand to break it in but I'm too lazy. In any event I'm moving and have to start packing up my shop. The good news is that my new shop will be much larger.

As I mentioned earlier, the final balance required only about 1/3 ounce. Here is a picture the battery compartment. The small jack and LED are for charging the on-board glow driver. The glow battery is aft of the reciver battery. All of this is mounted on the plywood tray you see here. The tray is mounted by clamps to two side rails that run from just behind the wing mount back to the first former. I have a toggle switch installed in the left door and a DuBro switch thingy for the receiver mounted on the right door. I elected to use a toggle switch so I'd never get confused as to which switch was which in case of an emergency. Inside the window you might be able to see the buzzer that is supposed to sound when there is power to the glow plugs. Mounted on top of that is an LED for the same purpose. Unfortunately, the Radio Shack piezo buzzer is not reliable.

That's about it for now. I'll post a picture with cowl in place when I reinstall it.

One other thing I did differently. Since the throttle servo is out of the way on the firewall I had room on the servo tray to use a separate servo for steering on an extra channel. My JR 8103 has the option of that channel not being affected by the trim tab so I can trim ground steering without affecting the rudder and vice versa.

Al's installation illustrates why I really want to try to install it "upside-down": with the exhaust up and the needles down. I just can't see having the needles sticking up out of the cowl. Has anyone tried mounting a Saito twin upside-down?

Finally got to fly mine with the OS 61 and the Top Flite in cowl muffler.

I was experiencing some surging and fuel starvation at over half throttle. Engine is set up just a hair on the rich side.

Anyone else having fuel delivery problems with this setup??

Bob

I've got the same motor/muffler setup as you. As the weather warmed up I noticed lack of power after being in the air a few minutes.
Checked the head temp after landing and it was HOT! Way hot. Even with the baffle in the cowl and the vent at the bottom, it was over heating. I opened up the cowl around the landing gear even more and started running the motor richer. That cooled it off enough. The days have not gotten 'hot' here yet so there still may be heat problems in store for me. Me thinks I'll be carving around that gear opening even more!

Good luck!


Chip W. (wing still ain't broke... . . . ! No worries. I jinxed it several posts back! Still flying)

Thanks for the pics Al...nice setup. I see you cut open the hatch
Paul

Thanks for the feedback lokeetl. It was 92F the day I was flying. I'll have to check the head temp the next time I fly. The cowl I have does not have a baffle in it but the bottom was opened up to clear the Pitts Style muffler the previous owner had on his OS91FX. It would seem that there should be plenty of air going through but who knows.

Thanks again for the tip. If need be I'll throw a 4 stroke in it.

Bob

Rick,

Don't you think the exhaust pipes might have to stick through the cowl somewhat?

Bob

I thought about mounting the twin upside down but the exhaust pipes won't clear. I flexed them as much as I dared on this installation. Given what Horizon Hobby charges for replacements I didn't want to press my luck. I have mixed feelings about the needle valves. Yeah, they sure stick up. But on the other hand, they are accessible unlike some of my prior projects with other engines.

I'm hoping that I can scrape up the $$$ to build a "Mark II" with the same hardware, replacing only the fuse and cowl. I think I can clean things up a bit. I learned a lot about working fiberglass with this project. I also discovered I could move the engine about 1/8 inch back and maybe 1/16 down. I think I won't have to relieve the intake manifold area if I make those changes. Also, I want to try to fiberglass the door opening as was suggested here earlier.

As near as I can tell, the only way to have a really clean cowl is to use a OS61. As much as I like that engine, I'm sooo tired of that two stroke sound.

Bob, seems to me I saw someone selling close clearance variable angle headers someplace... that's what I had in mind, thought from a quick eyeballing it looked like it might fit. I will check on the details and report back.

My question was prompted less by the clearance issues, and more about operational issues. Is there any functional reason that this engine wouldn't work as well the other way around?