Help with gear door geometry????
 

Posted this in the Warbirds forum, but didn't get any bites... hoped someone in this forum might have some input...

"I have a problem with the gear door on my SBD and could use some help. The doors are actually just "shin gaurds" that cover the gear struts when the gear retracts, but do not cover the wheels. The idea is that when the gear are up, the end of the doors lines up with the edge of the wheel well... and when gear are down, the end of the door extends down past the outer edge of the wheel just a little bit.

The problem is that the hinge points for both the gear and the door are pretty much right at the bottom surface of the wing on the fullscale plane... but on my plane, the door hinges on the bottom surface, and the hinge point of my Robarts is much deeper/higher in the wing. Consequently, when the gear come down, the bottom edge of the door sticks almost halfway down the tire.

Seems like my only options are to cut the door length to line up when gear-up, but too long when gear-down... OR... cut the length so that they line up to the top edge of the tires when gear-down, but are too short when gear-up.

See attached pic... Am I missing something here?? "

Thanks,

Neo

Help with gear door geometry????
 

Are the gear struts in the pic of both versions in the compressed or uncompressed position?

You got the wheel's churning.

Help with gear door geometry????
 

You need to give us the model no. of your retracts so that we can know what we're working with.... are they pneumatic? etc. etc..

Help with gear door geometry????
 

Your not missing anything. You'll have to make a choice one or the other. Or go through the hassle of changing your retracts pivot point to give you both. Welcome to the world of size constraints. Regards G.

Help with gear door geometry????
 

Both pics are in the uncompressed position (as best I can tell). I'm not sure of the model number, I had them custom-made by Robart for the Bates 85" SBD Dauntless (pneumatic). Here are pics of the installation (before adding the hatch and door)...

http://www.renderwurx.com/rc/SBD/htm...g/retracts.htm

Thanks,

Neo

Help with gear door geometry????
 

GPaloz is right. The only way is to get the pivot point down.

Wouldn't that be what you would want anyway, since it would put you at the proper (scale) height from the ground??


Good Luck!!

Help with gear door geometry????
 

No room. If I lower the pivot point, the retracts would have to be installed on the outside of the wing. The height is scale now... the length was designed with the higher pivot point taken into consideration and compensated for to get the proper scale height.

Basically, the "depth" of the retract and mounting rail is nearly as deep as the wing chord. Probably nothing I can do here, just deal with it. Thanks for your help anyway.

Neo

RE: Help with gear door geometry????
 

Problem solved...

[link]http://renderwurx.com/rc/SBD/html/paint/gear.htm[/link]




http://renderwurx.com/rc/SBD/gfx/pai...r/gear0017.jpg

Tom