Finally finished the conversion from Trike to Dragger. I removed the dihedral from the wing, but it took 2 weeks with my schedule. I had to hacksaw the wing where I had epoxied it. Then took a piece of basswood and cut a rib to fit in the gap that was left when I flattened out the wing. I used a 60 size tail wheel because I wanted the largest practical diameter tire on the rear that I could get, since I fly off grass. I mounted 3 1/4" tires on the front. Still using the Evolution engine, after I replaced the bearings in it. Now I am using a Master Airscrew 11x5 prop. All this because I ripped the firewall out when the nosegear struck one of my runway markers, a gallon jug painted fluorescent, filled with water..... Now I just need a day to get out and fly it.

Looks great. Now it even looks like a real airplane. Thats a good way to learn more from your trainer.

Forward thinking, I had to add a "pad" to mount the tailwheel to , and had to beef up the belly with doubled up 3/16 ply to accept the main gear. The hardest part of the whole thing was the added Ultracote at the forward fuselage from where I had to repair the firewall, and at the top of the center of the wing, where I cut off the old covering to make the new center rib. Now I also hope that I put the main gear far enough forward so it won't tip over. I taxied it the other night, and even using full up elevator, in the rough grass,(not my runways) it wanted to nose over. That was before I had the wing finished.

Nice bird. I've done several conversions similar to that one & I know that you will have a ton of fun with that machine.

Here are some better pictures. You can really see the orange ultracote now where I patched the nose up, and the clearance beneath the tip of the prop. I didn't need to make it beautiful, I just want it to fly....

Hey, It does look beautiful. Great job! I may have to consider the same for my Avistar. It's crashed a few times and fixing it up and converting it will give me some experience for building my 4* [8D]

Tiger 60 is on the menu for the future.... Super Tiger 75 up front. Should punch through the wind here ok....

1st Flight report

Well, get used to using both sticks at the same time. You must hold up elevator if you want to taxi. Period. After noseing over once, took it for a lap around the runway. Because of the setup of the tailwheel, it makes longer turns. Can correct that by remounting hole for pushrod closer to the wheel.
Takeoff was relatively uneventful, after gaining some speed, let go of the up elevator, the tail just pops up off the ground. As soon as flying speed was reached, the plane basically took off on its own, about 10 degree climb. This was at full throttle by then. Left bank at the end of the runway, now that was different. MUCH faster than before, but not wild, just rather quick. By the way, the wind was 15mph easily, not too gusty, but at the leading edge of a weather front. I could see right away that the plane just wasn't nearly affected by the wind as it used to be. I left in 1/2" of dihedryl on the wing. I would barely have attempted this with my Alpha before the modification. The 11x5 Master Airscrew did provide an increase in speed, evident even going into the wind, which had picked up some. Elevator and rudder response remained much as before, and with the throws left at near maximum from when I had decommisioned it as a trike, there were no surpises here. Basically, the aileron response is much increased, and the roll rate is increased from before. It behaves more like what I imagine a Sport plane is supposed to handle like, snappier. This was only in the first few minutes of flight. It required no trim to make it fly where I wanted it to. I wanted to land it in one piece, so I made about 8 passes lower and slower, 1 touch and go, and then brought it in. I was really worried that I would nose it over as it slowed down, but it didn't happen. Once I defueled it, got it back into the shop, I moved the main gear forward 1/2 the diameter of the front wheels. This is also coincidently the area that straddles the first bulkhead under the LE of the wing. I will try again tomorrow, or whenever I get a chance. So far, the move was a good use of the old trainer, looking to see what else I can squeeze out of it....

2nd Flight

I put the Main gear forward 1/2 the diameter of the tires, that really helped the nose over problem. Still have to use both sticks... Drilled a new hole for the tailwheel pushrod about halfway to the pivot from where it was, and that tightened up the turning radius a bunch. It will turn in about 8 feet now. With the wind gusting to 17 - 20 mph, full throttle will cause some ballooning turning into the wind, I saw fair evidence the wind was blowing when I made my first bank at the end of the runway. No loss of altitude, but the wind pushed it good. Had to give some up elevator going with the wind, it started to sink, but nothing alarming. I may try an 11x6 or 7 prop just to see what it does..Got rained off the field.

Hey bingo nice job!!
When you cut your wing and rejoined did you use about the same
lenght for the wing joiner?? Did you enclose it? or did you just
epoxied to the outside of the joiner section that was there?

Have fun

When I made the joiner, I had to make it straight. I had to recut the holes in the wing ribs to accept the new angle. I traced the outline of the root of the wing, and cut a 1/4 " thick basswood rib. Then I took it down so that it fit like a wedge, or slice of orange. This was due to the wide gap left at the top of the wing when it was laid flat..

Thanks for the reply.. I think I see what you mean... I was
thinking of cutting and putting the wing on my Avistar with
no dihedryl... But I'm still just thinking..
Thanks again!!

Since I had epoxied mine quite well, it was tough to cut. I don't have access to a bandsaw, so I wrapped tape around part of a new hacksaw blade and proceeded slowly. I forgot about the steel or aluminum locator pin tward the trailing edge, and cut right through that too. Cutting the holes for the joiner, I cut them oversize so I knew I would have room to adjust with. That and plenty of 30 min. epoxy to fill in the gaps. My backup plan, had this failed, was to use the wing from the one I bought at the "Attic" (Horizon Hobby). Because the box was damaged, I saved 30 or 40 bucks on a perfectly good airframe, which I used to fly while I was pondering how I was going to repair this one. I saw someone else had converted theirs to a taildragger, and when 2 of the blind nuts screwed up on me for the nose gear, this mod came to mind.

I think I have a winter project for my Alpha ,great job!!!!!!!!!!!!

I had a modified (dihedral removed) wing for my Avistar that I was planning on transitioning into after a little more flight time. Someone had given it to me years ago. However, the covering was shot and upon removal, there was significant structural damage. So I scrapped it and am building a new symetrical wing based on the Tiger 2 rib. I will also convert the Avistar to a taildragger prior to the new wing.

You'll have fun with it once you are done. Flatening the wing has added a lot to the manuverability of the model. Getting used to the taildragger configuration was pretty elemental, once I got the landing gear forward enough. Quick advise, just make the back of the wheels even to or just slightly to the rear of the leading edge. I had mounted them too far back, and had to move them. You just had to be very careful or it would nose over. Turning became easier when I drilled a new pushrod hole about half way it to the axle pivot from the original hole. Landings are a piece of cake, usually I can set it down on all 3 at once, just for grins, try to keep the tailwheel from touching the ground for as long as you can. I add throttle to keep the tail up.. It's fun, I just ordered the Tiger 60.....

I've always heard the modified wing on the Avistar is a great second step. I've already got a T2 waiting in the hangar for next spring (see avatar) that I built as a taildragger with dual aileron servos. The similar wing and taildragger on the Avistar should be a perfect transition to the T2. I still need to decode on power for it though. I've got an older MAgnum Pro .46 on my trainer that is very fussy getting to idle. I'm thinking of going with the OS .46 AX this time around. Although part of me woule like to go to a 4 stroke, I'm not sure there is one with the rignt balance of power/cost/weight available.

I loved my alpha td conversion. It would knife and almost blender. Fly inverted forever, and thats with the stock dihedral. Yours sounds like fun. I retired mine for a Giles G-202 but she will fly again[X(]

Now that I have been flying my first low wing, it's pretty cool... But I miss my alpha. When i leave for College i will have to give up the hobby for a couple years and when i come back the alpha will be my choice for a refresher plane no doubt.

It does look good, but the mains are to far back. That's why it wants to nose over. []

In general you want the mains around 1 inch in front of the leading edge. When I say the "mains", I am talking about the axle being 1 inch in front. I did that with my LT-40 and have no problems with it wanting to nose over and ground handling is superb. I did use the same tailwheel you have and added a carbon control rod connected to the opposite side of the rudder servo from where the rudder is connected and exiting the fuselage on the opposite side of the fuse from where the control horn connection is on the rudder. Took about 3 hours to complete and works like a champ. I think the total cost for the control rod and tailwheel were around 20 dollars. Nylon rods work well and are cheaper but tend to change trim settings based on temp and humidity.

The pictures that I posted were pre-moving the gear forward. I moved them up 1/2 the diameter of the tires, no more noseovers. I used a steel pushrod for the tailwheel, its what I had around. Everything works fine now... It is familiar, but comes around a lot faster than it used to. I think I had best watch how hard I turn it, I have gotten kind of mean with it lately.

Cool,

Yea I posted that before I read the whole thread...sorry

i have a Alfa also.....i was gonna basically throw it away after stripping it of parts for another plane but you guys have given me an idea...i think i'm gonna convert it to a TD and take out the dihedral and use nylon nuts instead of rubber bands......and if that works out i'd like to change it to a low wing and try to make it into a symmetrical wing, also i think i'll try to cut off the corners on the fuselage and give it more of rounded look instead of the box look it has now.

If I hadn't had a second Alpha to fly in the meantime, I would only have done one mod at a time. I was going to work on the nylon wing nuts next..... Taking the dihedral out was time consuming, but probably did more for the plane than just turning it into a taildragger. If I had more time, the low wing thing would be a kick, maybe use an Arrow wing. I think there are some posts about cutting the corners off, and adding rounded corners.

Get yourself a foamy electric to go, you can take it with you. You may be afraid to be called a geek though...