Nexstar
 

Has anyone put floats on a Nexstar. I need to recover my Nexstar and thought how cool it would look with a S.A.R.S. scheme and wing struts and of coarse floats:D Thx Lureman

RE: Nextstar
 

If you are going to do it, I strongly suggest that you reduce, or eliminate the dihedral. The Nexstar, like any high-wing AC with substantial dihedral, will blow over fairly easily in cross winds -- this makes for serious frustration, & can result in some water damage as well.

It flies extremely well without dihedral.

RE: Nexstar
 

Brit I was reading the beginners forum about the nexstar and it was very good reading. I did not know about all the problems with this plane. I had a few of the problems to with the thrust but all I did is reduce throttle on takeoff and use the rudder and I was in the air no problem. I went in the basement and looked at my plane after reading the forum and sure enough. man did it have right thrust built in so I think I'm going to take all the fab off and waterproof the wood with urathane and do a tail dragger conversion and set it up for floats and flatten the wing a bit. I like the look with engine in cowl how and what cowl did you use Brit and put engine back on center. Looking forward to you input britbrat thx Lureman

RE: Nexstar
 

The cowl in the pic was built up from balsa.

First, square up the firewall to what standard you want. I use zero right thrust & ~ 1/2 of the stock down thrust if I'm removing the dihedral from the wing. I use balsa wedges to square the firewall, then cap the balsa with 1/8 ply. Cut out the fuel access hole.

Re-mount the engine, centered on the firewall (upright or sidewinder -- whatever you like) & remove the carburator.

For the cowl nose-piece, I start with a 3/4" thick balsa block, cross laminated from three layers of 1/4" sheet. I cut it to fit the max outside dimensions of the fuse/nose, then hole-saw the port in the center of the raw block for the engine crankshaft. Tack the block to the backplate of a plastic spinner with CA & little 3/32 balsa stand-offs. Mount the block on the engine using the spinner back plate to hold it in place. You may have to trim the ends of the "cowl cheeks" to get enough clearance to mount the block onto the engine.

Next, using 1/4 thick balsa sheet, I join the block to the fuse nose, filling the gaps at the sides, top & bottom.

Cut through the tack-blocks holding the nose-piece to the spinner & remove the spinner & engine from the plane.

Sand & file the nose block to shape, along with the balsa-sheet filler pieces. Fill irregularities with microballoons.

Grind a recess on the back of the balsa nose piece for the carb & do trial fits until the engine will mount with the carb in place.

Finish-sand the external surfaces & grind away excess material inside the engine compartment with a dremel. Paint the engine compartment with rustoleum or whatever fuel proof paint that you like.

Touch up the external covering.

Done.

The whole business can be done in a couple of evenings

RE: Nexstar
 

Hey Brit thx for the advice. I think this is going to be a fun project I like making things that are good even better[sm=thumbup.gif]:D

RE: Nexstar
 

Lureman,

I completed the installation of floats on my Nexstar around Thanksgiving. We have had significant snowfall in Chicago recently so I conducted the test flight about one week ago. The floats were purchased from Falcon Trading Company, http://www.falcon-trading.com/prod.c...Float%20Planes & are sold for $90 as "Float Set for Trike Gear Models." I removed the speed brake & wingtip droops last Summer & the first flight with the floats was conducted in about a 12-15 mph wind condition. All I can say is AWESOME, the floats did not change the CG & the flights were more stable than with the wheels on. I attempted to mount the GEE BEE brand floats & failed miserably. If you want to be flying after about 1 hour of labor, then buy these floats. I will tell you that the wing's angle of incidence adjustment (preferably 1 degree) is very simple because one screw on the nose gear allows you to move the leading edge of the wing up & down in relation to the floats. FYI...I am an amature pilot & have no build experience so this is a no brainer for your Nexstar. Practice on the snow, rather than water, because you won't need a canoe! Have fun.