Nose Gear Stability
 

Ok so this is my second time build an RC plane.
I threw this together over the course of about a month from design to first test flight.
However! I am running into the same problem as my first build, (didnt solve this problem then either) The nose wheel seems to bend, Im taking off from a grass field so I know my issue as of right now is the fact that im using 2.25 dubros. Bigger wheels will be ordered, but I want to beef up my nose wheel without adding too much weight in the end so I doesnt bend. Any ideas? Should I convert to a tail dragger?

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j1...25110520PM.jpg

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j1...25110446PM.jpg

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j1...25110505PM.jpg

A Fults dual-strut nose gear works great. It weighs a little more, but you can make up for that by using a smaller wheel if you need to.

There is no reason at all to use two nose wheels. That's just extra weight. Use a beefy single wheel unit with the spring formed at the top. Those are plenty robust for most applications. You might tweak it now and then with a bad landing, but that's better than ripping out the firewall.

No one has suggested using two nose wheels. I've never seen such a thing on a model (scale airliners aside).

From the pictures, it looks like the nose gear strut and axles are home made from something like Dubro metal pushrods. If that is the case, that type of wire is totally unsuitable for the application as it bends much too easily. You need to use K&S music wire or, as TopGunn suggested, buy an available nose gear setup from your LHS.

Yes see I did use the push rod metal......I will be purchasing a ready made set up and possibly some three or 3.5 inch tires to be able to dominate grass fields.

Top_Gunn- His current setup is a double nosewheel, see pics.

Ah, so it is. As you say, not a good idea.

I fly off grass fields and I only have one out of 13 planes that has a nose wheel. That one has a Fultz dual strut nose wheel.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2026271

A friend of mine hates tail-draggers. I hate trikes. It mostly depends on your field. Rough, grass fields do not encourage nose wheels.

+1

Hi Dragono,

I like the looks of the dual nose wheel. Is the mounting plate part of a bulkhead or are the two layers of ply glued to the bottom of the fuse? You may want to gusset behind the mount if the latter. I use a servo saver setup if I run a nosewheel, this helps it is simply a light coil spring on either side of the servo on the nose gear cable or rod. I agree with Charlie P though and do not like using a trike setup, I am always pranging it up with my gracefull landings. :rolleyes:

I like to use a fiberglass main gear held on with two # 12 nylon bolts(on my 40 size aircraft), this alllows it to break away without doing extensive damage to the fusealage. I also like to use the dubro semi-scale tail wheel system. http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXRWW7&P=7 this tailwheel does not show up under the fixed tailwheel section on the towersite. I had to do a search using Dubro and go through all the Dubro product till I found it.

Calvi