make a trike into taildragger?
 

Hi there, I hope I'm posting this in the right area. Anyway, I've been away from flying for a couple years and am getting back to it. I have a trainer on the way and it has standard nose gear as most trainers do but I want to make it a taildragger since that is all I used to fly. Any suggestions on placement of forward landing gear would be appreciated otherwise I'll assume as long as CG is correct it should work.
Thanks

RE: make a trike into taildragger?
 

Make it so if you stand right over the wing you can line the axle up with the leading edge of the wing. That works well by putting your landing gear right under the bulkhead that is at the leading edge of the wing.

RE: make a trike into taildragger?
 

Placement of the gear WILL have some effect on taxiing, but in general, place the gear so the wheels line up with the leading edge of the wing

RE: make a trike into taildragger?
 

Awesome! Thanks for the advice

RE: make a trike into taildragger?
 

And don't forget the tailwheel!

RE: make a trike into taildragger?
 

I did this with a Kadet Senior at that location. Very happy with the ground handling now. I think it is better than the trike.

Tom

RE: make a trike into taildragger?
 

Generalizing ___

The main wheels axle vertically down in line with the leading edge of the wings at their root is good.

Another method which pesonally I prefer is to put 10% to 12% of the total weight on the tail wheel when the model is sitting on a horizontal surface.

That method takes care of highly backward swept wings and allows lifting the tail on take off and controlling the tail in a wheel landing.

Half a penny's worth ___

Zor
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RE: make a trike into taildragger?
 

Thanks for the great info. Now I'm wondering how to attach the tail wheel bracket to the rudder since this is a trainer with a one piece elevator. I guess part of the hobby is just making it work but if anyone has ideas I would appreciate it.

scottty

RE: make a trike into taildragger?
 

Scotty,

I am having trouble from your writing visualizing your situation.
What are you referring to as "the tail wheel bracket"?

If it is the part of the tail wheel assembly that is fastenedto the airplane, it should be fastened to the fuselage rear end and not to the rudder.The rudder should not take the impacts of the tail wheel.

If the "wheel bracket" is that part of a tail wheel assembly that makes it turn, again it should not be connected directly to the rudder. It should be connected to the servo through some springs that alleviate tail wheel impacts to the servo.

Sorry I cannot help any better because I cannot see your tail wheel and have no idea what you call "tail wheel bracket to the rudder?

I cannot see what the "one piece elevator" has to do with the tail wheel assembly mounting, the rudder or tail support and directional control.

Can you post some pictures?

Regards de Zor.

RE: make a trike into taildragger?
 

Does this help?

RE: make a trike into taildragger?
 

That will work Minn but I'd go one step further and use a brass tubing 'bushing' right through the fuse from where the tailwheel exits on the fuse bottom to where it emerges in the hole through the elevator. He can buy the appropriate tailwheel wire and tubing at the local hobby store. It just requires some 'creative wire bending'. I'm guessing 1/16 -3/32 wire for that size plane (Hobbico .60 trainer is pretty hefty) ?

RE: make a trike into taildragger?
 

More idea.

A design I made for a Mosquito rear assembly.

The tail wheel mounting is removable and so is the feathers.

Impacts are taken by the fuselage.

Just consider the tail wheel part of the design.

Zor

RE: make a trike into taildragger?
 

I would go with at least 3/32. Maybe even 1/8"

There's really no need for a bushing all the way through. Although a small one on the bottom wouldn't hurt

RE: make a trike into taildragger?
 

Well, these ideas should give him a good start!

RE: make a trike into taildragger?
 

yeah the diagram makes sense. all of the planes i used to fly had two piece elevators and large rudders and if i remember right the tail wheel bracket mounted to the fuse and a wire ran along the bottom of the rudder. again, thanks for all the ideas!!

scotty

RE: make a trike into taildragger?
 

This is what I did with a Goldberg Eagle II.http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l1...1/IMG_1654.jpg

RE: make a trike into taildragger?
 

Beautiful.
Congratulations.

Zor

RE: make a trike into taildragger?
 

That's exactly what I want to do. Thank you so much everyone for taking the time to chime in!!! I really appreciate it

Scotty

RE: make a trike into taildragger?
 

Tiger 60 with a Saito 100

RE: make a trike into taildragger?
 

Hello AJsToyz,

Your model plane is gorgeous.
I like the yellow and white; it goes so well together.

I am finishing my Spectra sailplane in yellow and white and a medium green.

I enjoy these conversions from tri-gear to tail draggers.
It puts the nose pointing more upward where an airplane really wants to go.

I learned to fly on tail draggers; Cessna 120 and 140 and then Cessna 170.
That gave me a love for airplanes with their nose up and proud of being airplanes.

When Cessna introduced the 150 on tri-gear they were advertising "Drive them up the runway on take off and drive them down the runway on landing. Once airborn the pilot did not notice any difference in flying and still had to develop his flying skill.

Have we not the same situation with our models ?

Wishing you the best enjoyment of the Holisay Season you ever had.

Zor

RE: make a trike into taildragger?
 

Zor,

Yes, pretty much the same situation, and thank you for your kind words. :D I really didn't care for the red and the yellow and white seemed perfect for this plane. I was used to flying planes with three wheels and wanted to try a tail dragger, so thats how that came about. After I learned how to slowly accelerate, both landing gear configurations became very easy to use.

Andy

RE: make a trike into taildragger?
 

You may have to add some weight to the nose to compensate for the tailwheel weight and the removal of the forward weight created by the nosewheel.
Be sure to check the CG.

RE: make a trike into taildragger?
 

The directions are unclear about CG. The written text says 67mm behind LE and then a picture shows CG at 89mm behind LE. I'm at about 77mm or just forward of 1/3 width of wing and fuel tank is bone dry. Sound about right?

RE: make a trike into taildragger?
 

You may want to start at CG at 89mm behind LE. Better at too far back than not far enough. You can always change it. As has been said a million times before, A nose heavy plane may fly poorly but a tail heavy may fly but once.

RE: make a trike into taildragger?
 

OK, I'm confused. You said "Better too far back" but I think it would be better if it were slightly forward since tail heavy could be tragic. I've only flown one tail heavy plane and it was hilarious and ugly, oh and it didn't end well!