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Working shock absorbers?
I have an Altech Pilatus Porter which has wire 'scale' landing gear. The plane lands hot and heavy and I break the wheel hubs. I would like to make some scale working gear but how can you make a shock absorber? I could use some telescoping tube and springs to act like oil shocks but would like the true absorber action. I thought about auto shocks but they're too big around to look realistic. Any thoughts? Bill
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RE: Working shock absorbers?
Ws smalley, I have also thought about making some shock absorbing landing gear, in my case for a Ryan STA. I thought about looking into the sprung shocks that are used for RC cars. I believe they come in differant sizes for differant scales, some are complete with springs and are adjustable and rebuildable. Just an idea, I haven't looked into it further.
Best regards from old bird. |
RE: Working shock absorbers?
ORIGINAL: wsmalley I could use some telescoping tube and springs to act like oil shocks but would like the true absorber action. ... Any thoughts? Bill I have made up a couple of sets of shocks with telescoping brass tubing and a spring from a hardware store - they work great, cost very little and look cool. That's 3/3 - it doesn't get much better! :D ;) Depending on the size of the AC you will have to test out different sizes of tubing and springs - just routine modeller stuff - other than that the shocks are an easy build! Enjoy!! [8D] |
RE: Working shock absorbers?
depending on the scale of your plane there are small shocks that should work just fine...take a look at the mini-t or rc18 or for a bigger model the mini lst...threre are smaller if ya need them but these are oil filled and you can tune them for more weight with thicker oil and stiffer springs
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RE: Working shock absorbers?
I know the tubing/spring works- I've made some for a Grumman 'Duck', but what I was hoping to do was get the dampening effect of the oil shock. The spring can kind of work against you, I think. What is a mini-t, or rc18, are these auto shocks?
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RE: Working shock absorbers?
yes 1\18 scale stadium trucks pretty small stuff it might just be what your looking for...parts are faily cheap too
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RE: Working shock absorbers?
On grass fields, landing gear stress tends to be from the front, not from below.
So I arrange the landing gear legs to swing back in tubing, with extensions into the fuselage hooked up to rubber bands. It saves gutting out the fuselage, the only maintenance is to replace the rubber bands every few years. Not my idea, it came from an old Air Trails magazine. |
RE: Working shock absorbers?
Have you already decided that the various oleo struts from manufacturers such as Robart won't work or can't be modified to your liking?
http://www.robart.com/RoboStruts/380_Series.aspx |
RE: Working shock absorbers?
I'm not a serious scale moderler, but I spent a long time making landing gear for
a Chipmunk from tubing and springs and it looked great, and worked great until I had to made a fast downwind landing on grass, where it tore both legs off and trashed the wing. I rebuilt and arranged a torsion bar, still no good. So now I fly low-wingers without fixed landing gear and handlaunch. |
RE: Working shock absorbers?
even if I'm too late i tell you. I've never made a plane with retracts but mabey if you have a roomy fuslarge you could extend the retracts inside and hide the shock absorbers?
Hope I helped, Anthony:) |
RE: Working shock absorbers?
ORIGINAL: bbbair ORIGINAL: wsmalley I could use some telescoping tube and springs to act like oil shocks but would like the true absorber action. ... Any thoughts? Bill I have made up a couple of sets of shocks with telescoping brass tubing and a spring from a hardware store - they work great, cost very little and look cool. That's 3/3 - it doesn't get much better! :D ;) Depending on the size of the AC you will have to test out different sizes of tubing and springs - just routine modeller stuff - other than that the shocks are an easy build! Enjoy!! [8D] Got any pictures????? |
RE: Working shock absorbers?
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This is the way I did mine. The airplane is 4.5#; we are flying off of a very rough dirt field, and the gear worked just fine. I found that the inherent friction of the system made viscous damping unnecessary.
Les |
RE: Working shock absorbers?
1 Attachment(s)
ORIGINAL: da Rock ORIGINAL: bbbair ORIGINAL: wsmalley I could use some telescoping tube and springs to act like oil shocks but would like the true absorber action. ... Any thoughts? Bill I have made up a couple of sets of shocks with telescoping brass tubing and a spring from a hardware store - they work great, cost very little and look cool. That's 3/3 - it doesn't get much better! :D ;) Depending on the size of the AC you will have to test out different sizes of tubing and springs - just routine modeller stuff - other than that the shocks are an easy build! Enjoy!! [8D] Got any pictures????? But you'll have to zoom in a bit. ;) |
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