Goldberg Falcon III convert to taildragger?
 

Gentlemen,

I am building a Goldberg Falcon III and would like to convert the airplane to be a taildragger. I would like to do this for the weight savings and cleaner setup without the nosewheel and nosewheel steering setup. Also, I would like to have the taildragger so that I can have some more experience with one. The trouble is that the plans indicate which tailwheel bracket to purchase (not that it REALLY matters), but they do not show how to change the main landing gear to accomodate for this. I imagine that I might be able to flip around the swept gear legs around so they sweep forward and be far enough in front of the CG for a stable setup, but that could look crappy and probably affect its stability. Do you think I should go ahead and fill in the original cut-outs and move the gear forward?

Thanks in advance for the help.

Chris

RE: Goldberg Falcon III convert to taildragger?
 

Its an easy change, and a good one, but you need to move the gear forward. You can buy halco gear which would be better. If you don't want to buy them, you need to move the gear forward so the center of the wheels are close to the leading edge. They don't have to be dead center, but close would be good. any farther back, and you will have a problem with nose overs, forward won't hurt you much. Many will say it won't take off, but there are many designs with the wheels ahead of the wing, and I have a few as well and they work fine.

You will have to do the same construction as they are on the plans, but forward, probably right under the bulkhead under the leading edge. You will have to cut the doublers there to allow for the gear legs if you go with the standard gear that came with it. Make sure you beef it up a little and glue the doublers in well.

Good luck, it will be a great mod.

RE: Goldberg Falcon III convert to taildragger?
 

Here are some pictures of progress I have made...Not much time to build, but it is coming together easily. At this point I have to finish up the main landing gear, the tail gear, get a fuel tank, finish the fuse, mount the wing, cover, and hookup everything. then, its off into the wild blue.


Chris

RE: Goldberg Falcon III convert to taildragger?
 

a few more pics

RE: Goldberg Falcon III convert to taildragger?
 

another

RE: Goldberg Falcon III convert to taildragger?
 

and another...down with ARFs :)

RE: Goldberg Falcon III convert to taildragger?
 

:) a couple more to go...

RE: Goldberg Falcon III convert to taildragger?
 

one more...

RE: Goldberg Falcon III convert to taildragger?
 

Looks great, good work!
How did you find the quality of the diecutting? Mine was a bit iffy in spots.
Are you putting separate servos for each aileron?

RE: Goldberg Falcon III convert to taildragger?
 

The kit I have is laser cut kit that has router cut fuselage sides...no diecutting though. I think that the goldberg sukhoi I built last year also had router cut fuselage sides with laser cut formers and ribs. The sheeting is always a little hard so I like to replace it with better stuff, but I didnt care to with this plane.

I have two hangups with the kit thus far: the rudder and vertical stab balsa is HARD, so I will be replacing it with softer stock so I dont cut my fingers off when slotting hinges. Also, the firewall is not big enough to accomodate a rotated engine mount...I wanted to rotate it so that the muffler hung below the fuselage, but I couldnt get the mount on there and couldnt find an appropriate mount anywhere else, oh well.

As for dual aileron servos...the dual servo setups seem more popular these days with the advent of large scale aerobatic aircraft and with the introduction of a larger selection of more expensive servos that people seem to think make flying better. On the Falcon, I will only have one servo in the wing center. I will use JR 531 premiums throughout, they have 50 in/oz or more so I should be fine. You could use a single aileron servo in any 40 sized monoplane, when around a 60+ size airplane I would start considering the dual ailerons. Flaps might be neet to mess around with though they would make dual aileron servos necessary. anywho, enough rambling, have a good one.


Chris

RE: Goldberg Falcon III convert to taildragger?
 

Awesome thread Chris. It's nice to see people still building this kit. My father and I have and are still flying a Falcon he built in 1971. He attached bailer's twine from the tips of the wings to the landing gear because wings started bowing a whole lot in flight. Besides that and of course several engine and radio upgrades through the years, we're trying to keep it flying regularly as long as we can. One of these days we're going to give it a complete overhaul.

Keep us posted on your progress...Thanks

Damon

RE: Goldberg Falcon III convert to taildragger?
 

Damon,

"He attached bailer's twine from the tips of the wings to the landing gear because wings started bowing a whole lot in flight" That is hilarious! The kit is going together very easily. Everytime I build a kit I have a hard time wondering how some ARF guys have any fun. It is easy to make any modification I want when building from a kit. I removed all dihedral fromthe wing because I am a little past the training stages of this stuff and thought it would be better to have a "go where you point it" plane. Anywho, the hardest part thus far was making four dihedral braces out of 1/8 ply to replace the ones that are for the wing with dihedral. It was hard because I dont have a scroll saw or band saw, just a utility knife...it actually went smoothly, but just a pain in the hand. I will be taking a break from building for the next few weeks as I finish up my final semester at school, but will definately post more as I get her covered and finished up.


Chris

RE: Goldberg Falcon III convert to taildragger?
 

Damon, you mentioned a complete overhaul of the kit you have, let me know if you need a tracing of a wing rib or something; I might still have the die cut sheet my ribs came out of. Also, it might be easier to start new with a kit...they are laser cut and for around $80 it wont break the bank like some other kits out there. Just somethign to think about.


Chris