Can someone help me?

Just finished building the Kyosho GeeBee Z, and it looks great, however, the landing gear is way too flexible, moving fore and aft quite easily. I'm very concerned that it will tear out on my first grass runway landing.

Can anyone suggest some specific corrections that I can make to this ARF that will add some strength and rigidity to this gear before I attempt its first flight?

Thanks for any help you can give me.

Rayko

I would try to make a new set of gear. That's what I'm going to do on mine. I was worried about the flex on Gee Bee but tried it anyway, It lasted 3 flights before one gear sheared off at the 90 degree bend in one wing block.

Thanks for the reply... Are you planning on just replacing the existing landing gear wire with a new one, or are you planning on replacing the landing gear wire with something very different?

I've been toying with the idea of adding strength to the rear wheel pant fairing, and permanently attaching it to the wheel pants in order to make the landing gear very stiff, thus avoiding the wire flexing altogether. However, I'm not sure if there is enough internal wing support at the base of the fiberglass fairing (which is mounted to the wing), and am concerned that the fairing itself will punch a hole in the wing on landing.

Please let me know how your solution works out.... I'll be holding off my first flights until I can correct the problem.

By the way, how did your first flight go?

rayko

I plan on getting some music wire and bending a new set. I'm going to repair the pants,a new set is quite expensive.

I don't think the area where the rear strut leg attaches is strong enough to support the gear flex on landing.

The first flight was pretty scary, it took alot of up trim to fly level. Once it got trimmed out it flew nice and looked good. I'm going to move the cg back a little to help on landing.

Both of mine are loose after a less than perfect landing. It appears the block inside the wing that holds the gear from moving forward or back comes loose quite easily. Considering the fact that the belly pan is on the bottom, I think I can do surgery on the top of the wing, and the repair will still fit within the wide fuze.

Thanks so much for all of your help.

Fortunately, I wood-screwed the belly pan under the wing (just in case), so I can easily remove it in a worst case scenario if I have to get inside the wing to repair the landing gear blocks.

It seems that Kyosho did not do a very good job designing this area of the plane. A lot of folks seem to be having problems with the gear, and the gear mounting blocks in the wing.

The wing appears pretty stiff in the area where the rear wheel pant fairings are mounted. Despite the potential problems of punching a hole in the wing during a hard landing, I think I'm going to try and beef up the rear fearing, and secure it to the wheel pants thereby creating a second landing gear mounting point in order to keep the gear rigid, and stop the wire flexing.

What engine did you fellows use in the plane?

I've put in a Saito 72 in an effort to put some more weight upfront to help balance the plane out. From reviewing other posts throughout this year, it appears that this engine is OK, despite Kyosho's recommendation of 56 or so for a 4-stroke engine.

What size engine have you folks decided to put in your GeeBee's?

Also, from some of my readings of past postings, it appears that the factory recommended CG of 70mm (2-3/4") may result in a slightly sensitive flying plane, therefore some folks are recommending a CG of 2-1/2" which is about 64mm. It appears that this slight change enhances the way the plane flies quite considerably.

How has your CG worked out? And, what CG did you finally settle on for optimum flight?

Thanks again for all of your help... It's a really cool plane, but the last thing I want to do is have the model live up to it's original nick name of - "Man Killer", and "Widow Maker".

I'd hate to have to plan on bringing a trash bag with me when I go to the field for its first flight.

Rayko