Hello All,

I am considering converting my Kadet Senior ARF into a taildragger.

My question is: Is it necessary to use a steerable tail wheel, or can I simply use a free rotating caster wheel?

My logic leads me to believe that because of the "barn door" rudder on this bird, it will not need a steerable tail wheel.

Is my logic correct? What are your opinions?

Noah

Either way would work. Maybe a little more control with a regular tailwheel.

G'day

I have done it several ways over time.

My first attempt was when I rebuilt my very first Kadet Senior after it crashed in a friend's hands. I rebuilt it as a tail dragger (completely new fuse) and I made the tail wheel steerable with its own servo. Some time later I sold it to a friend and while he was flying it, the tail wheel fell off in flight leaving the metal bracket as a de facto skid. He kept flying it like this and later when I bought it back I kept flying it this way with no problems though it was not all that easy to taxi.

My current one which is a tail dragger uses a Hitec HS-225MG "mighty mini" servo to operate a simple "pull pull" system to operate the tail wheel. The servo is located in the tail in the bottom of the fuse. This has now doubt added some weight in the tail but it works extremely well. All my other Kadets were built according to the plan but this one has reduced dihedral (about half the original) and barn door ailerons similar to the ARF version. It flies really well and is quite easy to take off with plenty of grunt from a Saito 72.

I did recently build a Kadet Mk 2 which I made a tail dragger with a free wheeling tail wheel. This was a disaster on our rough field. It was very difficult to keep it straight on take off so it has been retrofitted with the original trike setup and handles much better on the ground and in take off.

I have also converted a couple of Boomerang 60 Trainers to tail wheel using a simple wire skid. The Boomerang 60 is probably sold in the US under a different name. It is a large (and compared to a Kadet, heavy) 60 size trainer with a flat bottomed wing and a rather soft steel in the landing gear. I became fed up with having to straighten and re-bend the under carriage wires so I made it a tail dragger. The simple skid worked fine but this was partly because it was rather overpowered with a 90 four stroke and could take off in about six feet. It was a pain to taxi though.

Executive Summary. I would build it as a steerable tail wheel either using a take off from the rudder servo or the simpler system like mine of using a small but strong servo in the tail to power it. The pull pull system I am using works really well. I think the tail wheel I am using is made by Dubro.

Cheers

Mike in Oz

Not hard to drill a couple of holes in the fuse and direct connect a steerable tail to the rudder.

Mine with a Saito 52 4C gets some torque pull on taxi and will weathervane into the wind so I would recommend steerable.

Tom

I've tried both ways and found that I liked the controllable tailwheel. Even more so when flying from a not so well manicured grass field. I used a pull - pull string hook-up using the same servo that controlled the rudder but used the holes of the servo arm to ensure that I wasn't over controlling the tailwheel. You may see and example of my tail wheel setup on my BTE Flying King located at this link:http://www.flyinking.com/tschuy.htm It's the same of what I did on my Kadet and it worked well. Simple to hook up and reliable.

Cheers,<br type="_moz" />

OK I disagree with your logic and this goes for most any taildragger. If you do not choose to use a steerable tailwheel which is always the preferred method then use only a fixed tailwheel not a freeswivel unit. A free swiveling tailwheel will present ground handling problem that a fixed non swivel tailwheel will not and remember with most of our models you can still taxi and steer with a little practice.

Many folks don,t realize that many full scale taildraggers that have tailwheels that can be kicked into free swivel also in many case have a manual tailwheel lock that locks the tailwheel into a fixed position for take off and landing.

John

Wonderful advice from all!!

I believe, if I decide to convert the Kadet to a taildragger, I will most definately go the steerable route.

Tschuy, I like the pull-pull setup you have. Dose the rudder servo have to be in the center of the fuse to use that setup sucessfully? Because right now, the rudder servo is offset.

Mike109, I will be flying from a rough grass field, and based on your experience free-wheeling tail wheel was NOT the way to go.

JohnBuckner, thanks for being blunt! My logic was off. I guess it wouldn't be too much more difficult to make the wheel steerable. Heck, if I am going to make the effort to make it a tail-dragger, why not go the whole nine yards right!?

Well, If I decide to make the conversion, I'll ask here if I run into any problems or have any questions.

Thanks All!

a little late, but for what it's worth.
        
       i asked the same question a couple months ago and got pretty much the same replies. it made sence to make it steerable for ground control during take-off. those little clumps and bumps in the grass are pretty big hills and potholes in comarison to the size of wheels on our planes!.

It does work best to have the control horn centered... But not necessarily required. Just be aware that there will be a differential in turn response. In the direction where the servo horn is of will be less responsive. Say that if the servo horn is off centered to the left, the left turn will be less sensitive. However when turning to the right you'll notice much more tailwheel response. In most cases an adjustment to the linkage will allow you to lengthen or shorten the linkage connections to the control surface.

Both Dubro, Sullivan and Sig make steerable tail wheel kits. Not sure how much fwd you'll need to move your main gear to get the plane to track straight. I'm guess just aft to the leading edge of the wing or about an inch behind.

Good luck and send photo's when you get it done...<br type="_moz" />

I have made 2 Senioritas tail draggers and working on a third (V-tail version). You Really want the tail dragger steerable, there isnt enough weight. Move the main wheels to the leading edge of the wing. The steering will be poor when compared to 4-star or midstar. Its enough to get the plane on the runway and off. ENJOY!!