Last weekend I converted my Tiger 2 to a tail dragger. I didn't get to fly due to weather and had to wait until yesterday.
Only thing I can say is, take off isn't much different - just let the tail raise, build up a little more speed then add in a little elevator.


I put the plane on the CG machine and it was fine but when the plane got in the air - NOSE HEAVY. Got it trimmed out ok, but I can still feel it being nose heavy. The plane after assembly came out to be tail heavy so I had added 2 ounces of weight to the nose and an aluminum spinner. Going to take off the nose weight and test its CG again.

Landing wasn't bad at all although on the 2nd landing the plane seems to skip a little instead of stick like glue in the trike configuration.

shakes,

That's great to hear. Taildraggers are allot of fun, especially when you convert a trike to a taildragger. You will have more tendency to bounce a little when you first start flying them but it will get better. Now the fun begins. Now you can "wheel land" where you land on the mains first and let the tail settle or "3-point" landing where you land with all three wheels at the same time. Harrier type landing where the tail touches first then the mains.

Touch and goes will take on a whole new meaning also.

Enjoy

You may have had just a tad of negative incidence when it sat on the trike gear - that would cause the "Stick Like Glue" landings.

Like Bubba said, get ready for a whole new world

I have a Tiger 2 that I built as a tail dragger this winter. I am hoping to fly the plane soon (this weekend if the weather permits). This will be my first experience with a tail dragger and will be viewed as successful if I bring the plane home in one piece.

NJJD

do a little taxi practice first to get the hang of how it turns on the ground. the rest is easy. good flying plane that you will probably never want to get rid of.

Quick question about converting a trike gear to a taildragger...do I need to reposition the main gear? Or can I just slap a tailwheel on it, rebalance it, and call it good?

BTW I have a H9 Alpha 40.

Rubberduck

You will need to reposition the main gear forward. I placed the main gear on my LT-40 so the center of the axles on the main gear are about 1/2 inch in front of the leading edge of the wing.

Others may have different ideas but this is how I did mine and it worked just fine

So true, I really love this plane!

Cool well done.
Tail draggers ground handling varies a lot. My GP RV-4 is as easy to takeoff / land as a trike but my GP Ultimate bipe can be a bit af a handfull. Wait till ya get one of them

This is something I never did understand ... for me take off and landings for trikes or tail draggers are the same. I think its about just watching the plane and making it do what you want it to do.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/Alph...2118831/tm.htm

Converted Alpha to taildragger, with pictures. To steer the tailwheel, I just used the opposite side of the rudder servo, and at the tailwheel, the side opposite of where the rudder linkage is attached.

Actually, they are quite different. The biggest difference is due to the fact that with a nose wheel, the wheel is doing two things:

First, it is holding the plane at a fixed pitch, so you don't have to be concerned with your elevator until you're ready to rotate.

Second it is steering the plane by using direct contact with the ground

With a Tail Dragger, as soon as the tail lifts, you must start to "Balance" the plane with the elevator - too much UP and the plane can lift off before reaching the proper air speed, not enough, and the pull of the prop can cause you to nose over.

At the same time that you are doing this "Elevator Ballet", you must steer the plane with the Rudder (Not the wheel). Since the Rudder works on air pressure instead of positive contact with the ground, there is a LAG time between the time you apply it, and the time it actually responds.

Moreover, there is a momentum effect: Once the tail of the plane starts to move in one direction, it's momentum will keep it moving that way for a split second even after you have given control in the opposite direction, whereas a wheel will give instant response.

Think of it as driving in the snow, where your wheels WILL turn you, but you slide around a lot.


Your plane has a balance point. The wheels are set so it will rest on all three wheels when proerly balanced. If you re-balance it so it does NOT sit on those three wheels, it isn't balanced anymore, is it?

What's worse is that by re-balancing so it sits on it's tail would mean adding tail weight - which means a tail-heavy airplane - which means you'll be bringing it home in a trash bag. []

Huh? Let me see if I understand...when converting to a taildragger, I want the plane to balance on the mains, correct? And the mains need to be positioned roughly near the leading edge of the wing as to avoid nose-overs.

I have a Four Star 40 tail dragger, my first tail dragger. It is a bit of a handful on take off primarily from what Minn described above. But, after remembering.. a little down elevator at first, release it, allow the tail to come up and then fly the thing.. it all happens pretty fast with he 4* but it is a sequence that I have begun to do automatically, even with my trike.

Then comes landings. Now, even after many flights, I sitll bounce it a couple times. I have to lean to soften the landings a bit more.

Rubberduck

When Minn is talking about "balance" is his very good explanation, he is talking about once the plane is moving and using the elevator to "balance" the plane so it does not want to nose over and has nothing to do with the center of gravity (CG) in this case. Scale Warbirds are best known for wanting to nose over and the main reason is the main wheels are behind the leading edge of the wing so the CG is closer to the main wheels.

In the case of a trike gear configuration, the main wheels are back behind to CG point which gives inherent stability. In the case of a taildragger, the mains are in front of the CG point so placement of the mains are crucial to the plane wanting to tip over. The problem is that with retracts, the mains need to be behind the leading edge so that they can retract up into the wing. Non retract planes have the main wheels axle slightly ahead of the leading edge which helps with ground and takeoff roll handling.

In a taildragger configuration, it is possible to have the main wheels to far forward which will make ground handling difficult at best.

I know this is not the best explanation so maybe someone else can explain it a bit better.

dicksoucy,

I used to have the 4*40 and now I own the 4*60 for those days that I just want a nice easy sport flier to putt around with.

I found that coming in too fast along with make a 4* bounce. They love to land 3-point. You can slow these things up allot and once you get the timing right it's possible to grease them on pretty much everytime. There was 6 months in between flying my 40 and then flying my 60. In that time I went to 120 size and larger planes with higher wing loading so I got used to coming in faster. I bought the 60 and found myself doing bunny hops down the runway because I was so used to landing faster.

It actually took me a few landings to remember how to get a 4* to plant itself on the ground.

Stick with it, it's will come to you.

Rubberduck -- I think that everyone is busy with the wheels & you may be missing the "point of balance". Balance the plane in EXACTLY the same location that it was balanced before -- the wheel location has no bearing on the airframe balance point. However, the airframe balance point has a real bearing on the wheel location. Just make sure that the wheels are located suitably ahead of the correct airframe balance point.

Hint -- when all the stuff is installed & the airframe is correctly balanced, the wheel axles should be more or less directly under the leading edge of the wing -- or a bit ahead of that point (but not much). Which is what the other guys said -- sort of.

I'll try to put my own spin on this, but this is just based on aerodynamical knowledge relating to full size aircraft, so it may not be fully applicable here.
You want your center of gravity (CG) to remain exactly the same as it was as a trike, since this will determine how well the aircraft flies. But since the main gear were aft of the balance point, and the nose wheel that supported the fore portion of the plane is now gone, you need to move the main wheels forward of the CG, while maintaining the same CG as before. Depending on the Main gear to tail gear weight ratio, and the differences in moment caused by their distance from the CG, you will likely have to re-balance the aircraft by moving some of the weight backwards. Most likely by moving the battery pack further aft. The weight ratio of the two gear will be the biggest factor on how much you have to adjust it. If you have a heavy main gear and a light tail gear like my Sig, you will have to move it further, but if there isnt much difference in the mains and tail wheel, then you may not have to move it much, and in a perfect situtation, the arm of the tailgear may be able to counter the weight of the main gear. I hope I havent gone and confused the situation more.

Let me make it a little shorter an sweeter.
You need the CG to be exactly the same as before.
You need wheels on both sides of the CG, most likely mains an inch or two ahead of it, and a tail wheel just about at the rear of the plane.

Minn - guess I am just used to it and take it for granted what it would be like for a beginner. I usually just look at the plane and input to make sure it does what I want it. Also, I am starting to learn to fly on the wing. A nice long roll out with a shallow 10-15 degree climb.

When converting a trike geared plane to a tail dragger, a good starting point for placement of the main gear is to have the wheel axles directly under the leading edge of the wing when the plane is held level as in flying attitude. Get them to far forward and your landings will be difficult, lots of bouncing; and take off directional control will be more difficult. Get them to far aft and noseovers become quite frequent, especially at low taxi speed but directional control is much easier. Also, give the wheels a slight bit of toe in, about 3 degrees, to make takeoffs easier.