steerable nosewheel
 

im building a kadet seniorita and was wondering if the steerable nose wheel is a necessity or not? where i will be flying it wont really pose any need for taxiing around, it will be point it towards the wind and open the throttle. although if i dont need one, i was also thinking of rigging the cable up so i could just hook the cable up to the servo if i decide to use it.

RE: steerable nosewheel
 

Not hooking up the Nose wheel would be a BIG mistake. [&o]

On take off and landing there are lots of minor corrections needed to hold an AC strait for a smooth run.

Taxiing around Brandon may not seem to be a priority but "Controlling" your AC as you apply full power is!! [:@]

A tiny bump in the field, the way that the grass was cut - all can influence the ground handling of the AC, then there is the safety issue of controlling the AC if something or someone suddenly gets in your way... :(

It will cost pennies to hook up the steerable nose wheel, it could cost you MUCH MORE not too. [:'(] :( [:o]

Why would you even consider not conncting it up?? [:o]

RE: steerable nosewheel
 

Don't kid yourself. bbbair is right. You'll be doing more steering on the ground than you think. You can't just "point and go" most R/C planes. Any why NOT hook up the nose wheel steering? Lazy? It ain't THAT hard to do. Certainly not rocket science...

Dr.q

RE: steerable nosewheel
 

okay! okay! i'll put it in....

RE: steerable nosewheel
 

Re: "im building a kadet seniorita and was wondering if the steerable nose wheel is a necessity or not? "< not if you remove it and convert the plane to a tail dragger which is better on grass runways anyway, no nose gear to get bent!
Re: "where i will be flying it wont really pose any need for taxiing around, it will be point it towards the wind and open the throttle. "< sounds good in theory but in practice there is always something pushing against the wheels to move the plane in a different direction than you planned. You will probably need around 50' for the plane to reach takeoff speed and a lot can happen in that distance.
Re: "although if i dont need one, i was also thinking of rigging the cable up so i could just hook the cable up to the servo if i decide to use it."< if you have the cable any way why not hook it up?!? Btw, when you do hook it up, set it up so that the wheel will only move about 1/8" to 1/4" in each direction. It doesn't look like much but trust me, its all you need! Any more than that and the plane gets too touchy to control at higher speeds. [8D]

RE: steerable nosewheel
 

I actually flew a plane for a whole day that didn't have a steerable nosewheel. But, it did castor on its own, so the rudder remained effective. I believe that you are talking about fixing it into place--not a good idea. I wouldn't even recommend a castoring nosewheel. I just did it one day because my linkage broke at the field, and I wasn't ready to go home. I also had enough experience to handle the situation.

RE: steerable nosewheel
 

One caution, when you hook up your nose wheel steering, do not over do the throw. You only want about plus or minus 5 degrees travel on the nose gear with full rudder deflection. Usually use the hole closest to the servo center at the servo end and use the one farthest out at the nose gear tiller arm.

RE: steerable nosewheel
 

Looks like take offs have been covered but it is a real bonus to taxi it back after a landing...
sorry had to be a little sarcastic

RE: steerable nosewheel
 

if you are going to convert a nosewheele to a tail drager you MUST move the main gear forward significantly or the planewont ballance on the ground.... will either nosein when the engine revs up or will nose in before theengine even starts :-D

i also like to put a small bend in the nosegear so that the center of the wheel sits about 1/4" behind the pivot point,loads the servo less and actsas shock obsorption, sure ur more likely to break the gear.... but really how oftenare you gonna snap a steel rod?

definatly hook up the nosegear, ive done rocket science.... this, this is not it....

RE: steerable nosewheel
 

my lanier shrike is a tail dragger (literally, no tail wheel!), and doesn't have rudders... takeoff is EXTREMELY interesting! the best method is to run up the engine to full power while I'm hanging on to it, and then let go and get my hands on the tx in one quick maneuver, as the thing is basically airborne nearly instantly. not for the faint of heart!

RE: steerable nosewheel
 

sounds like lotsa fun!!!!!!!

RE: steerable nosewheel
 

A buddy I fly with says "a flight is not a complete flight unless you taxi all the way and back into the pit area." Without a steerable nose gear on a trike,,,that's about impossible to accomplish. You'd never get in a complete flight where I fly. ;)

RE: steerable nosewheel
 

true, but i be flyin by myself most of the time on private property

RE: steerable nosewheel
 

but to end this post, i broke down and intalled it! i just finished 2 seconds ago! everything seems to be fine, but i think this bird will turn really wide tho! but it is probably enogh to keep it straight and true down the runway.
another question: a little off topic, but should i balance my model before covering it and then rechecking after or just do it after? my instructions dont reccomend wich is better. i personally think that adding weight if necessary before covering would be better cosmetically speaking. just my opinion, but if its better the other way, ill just do that

RE: steerable nosewheel
 

Well, having connected mine up in my new Tutor 40, someone at the club twice told me to disconnect it to save the rudder servo in the event of a front wheel first landing. And twice I've said that I'd rather leave it in and risk have to spend a whopping £7.50 or so on a replacement :D

RE: steerable nosewheel
 

Balancing it before you cover is the best way - if you can do it.
Then cover and recheck.
This keeps the AC clean and neat. Any extra weight that you add afterwards will be minimal.

RE: steerable nosewheel
 

Lateral balance should always be checked before covering. install the engine, all servos, receiver (not battery), and temporarily install the control hinges (do not glue in) and balance it laterally. This is important.

However, balancing it fore and aft at this point is useless. Take everything out, cover it, and then re-install everything. Use the battery and rx to help adjust the CG balance. If that is not possible, then consider moving some servos (which might in turn knock your lateral balance back off). Try not to add dead weight. Planes will typically always be noseheavy until covered. Covering adds more weight than one would think, and most of the covering is behind the CG in a typical model.

RE: steerable nosewheel
 

DUBRO makes a "servo saver" spring kit that will allow steering and shock absorbing of the nose wheel.

RE: steerable nosewheel
 

I hate nose wheels. I had lot of problems with them. Had to correct the stearing lot of times. Tail drager is much better choice.

RE: steerable nosewheel
 

well if i do damage the nose wheel in a rough landing (will probably have a few of those) would it be hard to convert my plane to a tail dragger. would have to cut the landing gear block out, or would it be better to glue in another one and use aluminum gear. as far as tail wheels go, does anyone know where i can find a setup that will just "plug in" without too many problems?

RE: steerable nosewheel
 

Andrew,
I'm not trying to knock you or put you down in any way, but I think you are worried about things that aren't really a problem.
I've flown quite a few planes with nose gear on them and I've found that it's really pretty hard to damage them to the point that they are unusable. The gear themselves have a spring coil that allows the gear to flex backwards as you land and that will absorb a lot of "rough treatment" from rough landings. The plane in this picture is my Balsa USA Thunderbug and you can see that it's got a nosegear on it (you don't always have to have a taildragger just because you advance to a more advanced plane). This plane is my "throw around" plane. Everybody should have a throw around plane because they are the plane that you don't really care too much if you crash them, and you're not worried about trying new things with them. This plane had 164 flights on it last summer and trust me, I've really abused the landing gear on it. A flying buddy of mine and I worked last summer on doing formation touch and go landings. This means that we flew the approach side by side and tried to touchdown at the same time on the runway. Because of this there are a lot of times that I force the plane to land very hot, which is very rough on the landing gear because of the speed of the plane and because of forcing the plane down. The gear held up with no problems at all. The most that I had to do was to bend the nose gear back forward a bit every few weeks.

As for your last question about an easy landing gear to "plug in" if you do go to a taildragger setup. Use the Sullivan tail wheel assemblies. They are really easy to add to a plane because they have a spring wire that is connected to the bottom of the rudder to provide steering for your plane. I also like the spring for steering because it isolates the rudder from hard turns on the runway because the spring absorbs the shock. You can find them at Tower Hobbies here:
[link]http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXFV46&P=0[/link]

Hope this helps

Ken