Wheel pants assembly.
 

Hello,

I have recently finished a Sig Somethin' Extra and am now up to the stage in the manual where I have to put the wheel pants together. The manual states that the cut outs in the wheel pants for the wheels, and the mounting bolts need to be trimmed out with a dremel tool. Is there any other way to cut the wheel pants othere than using the dremel?

I also installed a Dubro Tailwheel bracket instead of the stock wire gear in the rudder. How should the tailwheel be attached to the rudder? I am considering drilling a hole in the bottom of the rudder and reinforcing it with some fiberglass cloth. Then I would be able to just bend the end of the wire going from the tailwheel to the rudder and insert it into the hole. Will this be a good way of doing it, or are there some other ways to attach the tailwheel steering to the rudder?

Thanks in advance. Also, what glues can be used to attach the canopy? RC-56?

Wheel pants assembly.
 

RF,
YEs, there is another way of doing it without a Dremel, but it is basically the old file and sandpaper thing. A dremel makes it much easier.

As for the tail wheel, I wouldn't recommend a hard install into the rudder. Unless you tailwheel hinge and rudder hing are perfectly aligned, this could cause binding. A simple method of attaching it, while allowing it to move slightly is to put a piece of fuel tubing over the tiller and then strapping it to the rudder with a piece of thin sheet metal (like a piece of a Coke can).

Wheel pants assembly.
 

Go get the Sullivan tail wheel, it looks similar to the DuBro but it attaches to the rudder with a spring. In the event of a violent movement the wheel can move but the rudder won't, saving the servo.

Wheel pants assembly.
 

minn did you make that drawing? thats a pretty good representation of how it should be.
if you did, what did you use?

Wheel pants assembly.
 

I do it like Minnflyer said but I use the plastic piece off of a torque rod type aileron setup instead of the coke can deal. I reckon ya'll know what I'm talking about. The plastic piece that is threaded down on the torque rod that the clevis hooks to. Just cut a small slot in the bottom of the rudder and then drop one drop of ZAP in there and push inn the flat part of the plastic piece. That leaves you with a hole to run the wire through............John

Wheel pants assembly.
 

I have used a easy hinge for the rudder attachment. Cut a slot in the bottom of the rudder, then wrap a hinge around the wire and put both ends in the slot, and super glue.

Thanks
 

Thanks everyone,

I have decided to go with the method MinnFlyer suggested.(Got some cans ready to go :D ) Is it also possible to make a removable canopy on the Somethin' Extra? I have read a couple of How-To articles about making detachable canopies but am not sure if I can make it work for the SE. If anybody has done it, can you please explain how you did it? Thanks in advance!

RF