hi guys, i'm wanting to turn my avistar into a taildragger. and anyway, i know your supposed to move the mains forward to the leading edge of the wing. but on the avistar there's a former or support right at that point inside the plane. so i could mount it right in front or right behind. and i have searched the forums, and have found that people where doing it in both spots. so my question is which spot would be best? i didn't read where anybody came back and talked about the pro's or con's of either way. i'm really torn on which way to do it(not knowing which way is best for this plane), and it's getting to the point that it's going to be holding up my build. so if you guys could help me out, that would be great. pics would be great, or if you need one let me know. thanks alot

Is there a way you can install the mains behind the former and angle them forward? That would probably be ideal.

this is the main that i have http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXNM65&P=0 and was hoping to use it(to keep cost down) so i can't bend anything or not to sure about angling them. both mounting spots in the pics i seen look good, i was just wondering if one spot was better than the other

Put a sheet of ply in front..and a piece behind if you want.
Then use tri on the side...then epoxy the heck of out of it.

but drill the mounting holes as close as you can to the former.
bascailly have the bind nut almost touching the former.
So bascailly the center of the wheel is slighty forward of the leading edge.
The former will also act as a support, kind of like the Savage's chassis vertical plate design

That's the way i did mine. No crazy bounces.

Even the 4* design is more forward than that.

Too farward will cuase the model to bounce.
Not enough foward will cuase the model to nose over and kill your prop.

The con of mounting the screws in front is...you have to cut the screws so they don't punture
the tank. If you have a drimel...no biggy.

if you don't...drill the holes as close as you can to the former, behind it.

It'll be okay..my Ace 4-40 (shoulder wing ) was like that. It didn't nose over

so, your saying to split the difference. good idea. and that way i could put 2 screws in front and 2 behind the former. i think that might work the best as it would put the mains right at the leading edge. wonder why nobody else came up with that. i went through alot of posts with the search feature. and i came up with some good info and pics, but nobody split it like that. it was either in front or back. so you say that's how you did it, and it works great?

Here's a series of pics from my Avistar converstion.

yours was one of the ones i found through the search feature. how do you like the mains mounted where you have them? i also found 1 that was mount on the front side of that former, but it looked to far towards the front to me. and i was also just suggested to split the mounting block and mount the main at the former. but this is my first time bashing a trainer, so i don't know. i'm just trying to figure out the best spot the first time. since it will be glued in place. also i have the same main bracket

also, what did you use for the wood for the main mounting piece in the 3'rd pic? it kinda looks like luan, stuff the floor guys use.

Could us post a how-to on how you did the tail gear with more pics?

Interesting because I have my 2nd Avistar, and I'm planning on making it a taildragger. I think the previous examples will work for you just fine. I intend on putting the axles right in line with the leading edge. Put a piece of ply in front and behind that former. It looks like krossk uses a double pushrod off the rudder servo, one for the rudder and the other for the tail wheel. I'm sure that works fine, but I itend to link my tailwheel to the rudder. If you have your plane balanced correctly and the mains near the leading edge, you should really be OK. I did this same conversion to a Spad Debonair, and it handles better than I expected. Very rare to do a nose over. Just pay attention and use judicious throttle management while taxiing. Landing and takeoffs are pretty much the same.

i'm either going to do it like what was posted in the pics, or i'm going to do it like was suggested and split the mounting ply and put the mains right under that former. to me the second idea sounds better. that way the mains are right at the leading edge of the wing and you get the added support of the former.

The loads put on that main gear are going to be greater torsionally than the weight of the plane. You're more likely to twist it off in an aggressive landing, than break the gear or push it into the fuselage. Four 4-40 bolts, two in front of the former and two behind it, should secure it. But I would definitely put some ply glued in like flyX suggests. The idea is to spread the loads that are going to be put on that gear. With the ply going a bit forward and rearward of your bolts, you'll accomplish that. Epoxy is your best bet. I once saw a guy with a gear like this just twist off during a landing. I don't think he mounted it properly.

Oh and the reason I have a second Avistar? I could easily be in a more advanced or sportier plane, but I had so much fun with the first, I wanted to do it again. The Avistar is a good plane.

well guys, i got the mains mounted up. i split the mount and put one piece in front of the former and one piece behind the former. and epoxied them in. this way the mains are right at the leading edge of the wing and right under the former. now on to my next question, what is the best way to mount the tail wheel ass. this is the one i have http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXFV47&P=0 now i would like to do this with opening up the tail section if i can. what do you guys think? thanks

Sorry for the delayed reply - I forgot to subscribe when I replied and have been out of touch for a bit.

I think the mains where they are located is ideal. I didn't fly it much last season, so it's been a while, but had no noticeable issues with T/O or landing. The wing w/o any dihedral was more of an issue for me - a bit twitchier than I expected, but that's another thread...

It's regular 1/8 modeling ply (no lite-ply here). It was just a scrap piece I had left over from my boat racing days that had a rough surface finish that was unacceptable for exterior use.

Sorry - that's all the pics I have. As far as the installation, I just screwed the Dubro tail-wheel bracket into the bottom of the fuse and added the wheel collars and control horn as in the pic. The toughest part was getting the Sullivan Gold-n-rod from the rudder servo to the tail. For that I took a piece of sharpened brass tubing and chucked it up in my drill and eye-balled the run from the rear of the fuse to the servo. Then remove the drill, but leave the tubing in the fuse. I then slid a piece of control rod through the tubing to keep the alignment while removing the brass. Then use the control rod to guide the outer (red) sleeve back through the fuse. From there, remove the rod and replace with the inner control rod. The pics show the rest of the control hook-up. I think the whole process took me about an hour.