I've read several posts where people said that wheel pants should not be installed when flying off grass. Is this true with short grass. The plane I'm asking about is a super sportster. Our field has a paved runway but ocassionaly I land in the grass in a crosswind or run into the grass from the runway. The grass is about 3/4" - 1". Should I put them on or leave them off.

Since you take off from the runway and sometimes you land on grass, it is totally dependent on how good you are. If you come down hard or off level take the wheel covers off.

The problem with wheel pants and grass is the small size of the wheels of RC models in general. If you were flying a plane that used appx 6 inch or larger wheels... no problem with the grass and the wheel pant.

Small wheels means the grass is going to be hitting the wheel pant. A weed can crack a lightweight fiberglass wheelpant, sendng part of it into the wheel... stopping that wheel. Some plastic ones would be less likely to fracture... and carved balsa ones tend to just get deneted. But any will potentially be knocked out of alignment, again.. stopping the wheel from turning.

Its hard enough controlling some models on the grass fields than on smooth pavement. Add a wheel being stopped and you are definitely in trouble.

I've had two Super Sportsters now; the first I installed the pants and had one kick up through the wing on the first landing. (The landing was fine, smooth as silk.) I thought it was a fluke, must have hit a rock or lump, so put some clear tape on the wing and flew it again.

Next landing was fully as good as the first, pant on the other side kicked up through the wing. [:@] Our field is mowed every week, and I doubt the grass was over an inch long. Took them off the first one, never installed them on my second.

You could try it, but I wouldn't.
Dennis-

The grass can catch and bind in the space better the wheel and the pant. THe YAK has a grass field pant that looks different.

i had a super sportster also. EXCELLENT flying plane. The landing gear on that plane are in a bad location though. Too close to the CG. The wheel pants also tend to go through the covering. Leave them off. I had a 46fx with a macs tuned pipe. Flat out level flight i had to be pushing 100MPH. Terminal velocity full power dives provided that plane with enough speed to see god. Never once had a flutter issue or anything. I was even able to hover it!

sean

I ended up pulling the pants and adding retracts. The grass can be a pain, but if you don't land of it often, I would put the wheel pants on.

I've got a Kyosho Super Stearman.
I fly it off grass.
I fitted larger wheels and enlarged the fibre glass wheel pants opening to suit.
Waste of time.
Both got badly knocked about.
They're both OFF now.

I tried wheel pants on my Cap years ago. I enlarged the opening on the bottom as much as I could (quite a lot), and I drilled the hole for the axle as low on the wheel pant as I could to expose as much wheel as possible, and I used the largest wheel I could cram in there.

Result? Took the wheelpants off after a couple of flights, and was much happier that way. YMMV.

I also have the Kyosho Super Stearman and have had other planes with wheel pants. I always put them on when building (with high hopes) and I always end up removing them after a couple of flights, usually with lots of cracks in them.
[sm=disappointed.gif]

I was hoping to hear more success stories with these wheel pants. I decided to leave them off based on the feedback here. That's too bad because panted wheels look a little better. Great planes must have modified the landing gear. I put the landing gear on and the wheel hubs are in the center of the leading edge of the wing (fore - aft) I've read where people suggested bending them forward but mine is where everyone said they bent theirs. I have a gap between the the leading edge of the wing and the side of the fuse. It's about 7/64" (a 7/64 drill bit just fits in the crack). Does anyone else have this gap between the wing and fuse. I was expecting a little tighter fit than that. Is there a reason for it? If not I can make a shim.

grass and wheel pants, well i can tell you that one landing in the grass and you will have tons of grass in the wheel pant.

Amazing that I don't see more people leaving their pants off.

zetor,
If that's the Super Sportster ARF, then the gap between LE and Fuse seems to be normal. It seems they must not have their tooling set up too well, but it doesn't seem to affect performance.

Geistware,
I ain't touching THAT comment.
Dennis-

I fly this off grass...No problems at all.

One of the guys I fly with at our grass field has an Extra 300S .40 size. He took his wheel pants off this weekend since one side jammed a wheel on a slightly bouncy landing. Both had been cracked all the way around the mount severely before, and were patched with epoxy. After the wheel jam, he took them off for good but was disappointed at the resulting look. Hey, who wouldn't be, eh?

Luke[8D]

You could make the wheel pants so they're a slip fit and just put them on for display at home and then take them off at the field. I've had pretty much the same problems with wheel pants as everyone else, but I did learn that using thinner wheels helps a lot - less binding.

I have a Herr Pitts With the thin Williams Bros WW 1 wheels on it No problems in the grass so far. Many flights on it. But as you say doesn't work on everything.