FT Old Fogey Landing Gear issue

[Drewidicus]

Just finished a scratch build of my first Old Fogey. I haven't maiden'd it yet but when i installed the Landing gear it seemed really flimsy and would just roll really far forward. Also it is really narrow because it would spread sideways with the full weight of the plane on it. Is there a better method for making landing gear that is a little more rigid? Right now it seems like it just wouldn't work.

Thanks,

Drew

 

[Tactical Ex]

You could try my landing gear setup http://forum.flitetest.com/showthread.php?9227-Rediculous-Landing-gear

 

[Biff45452]

Just finished a scratch build of my first Old Fogey. I haven't maiden'd it yet but when i installed the Landing gear it seemed really flimsy and would just roll really far forward. Also it is really narrow because it would spread sideways with the full weight of the plane on it. Is there a better method for making landing gear that is a little more rigid? Right now it seems like it just wouldn't work.

I used a clothes hanger for the wire on my FT Flyer which is ok in the strength department but tends to get bent on landings. One thing I had to do was use way stronger elastics to attach it, if the elastics are too stretchy the landing gear will flop forwards when sitting and flop backwards on landing. I've heard on the forums here that thick music wire is the best because it retains it's shape but I haven't tried it.

 

[ktmrocks]

One thing I had to do was use way stronger elastics to attach it, if the elastics are too stretchy the landing gear will flop forwards when sitting and flop backwards on landing.

Translation: By "Elastic", our brethren from Canada mean "Rubber Band". This side of the 49th parallel an "elastic" is the band which holds up your jockey shorts.

Translation aside, I wholly concur with beefing up the rubber. Assuming that the gear wire is sufficiently stiff. With these foam board airplanes, I find that using several lighter weight rubber bands does less damage to the air fame when installing them because you don't have to pull on them as hard to stretch them on.

Cheers

 

[Mostly Harmless]

A good source of landing gear (as well as push rod) material is the Home Depot. You can get a pack of marker flags (http://www.homedepot.com/p/Empire-3-5-in-x-2-5-in-Glo-Orange-Flag-Stakes-100-Pack-78-002/100148662) which gives you 100 pieces of 21" wire. Plenty stiff enough for landing gear and still fits the Dubro EZ connectors for push rods. I've used these for landing gear as well as push rods on my FT Flyer and Bloody Wonder.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Empire-3-5-in-x-2-5-in-Glo-Orange-Flag-Stakes-100-Pack-78-002/100148662

 

[Drewidicus]

A good source of landing gear (as well as push rod) material is the Home Depot. You can get a pack of marker flags (http://www.homedepot.com/p/Empire-3-5-in-x-2-5-in-Glo-Orange-Flag-Stakes-100-Pack-78-002/100148662) which gives you 100 pieces of 21" wire. Plenty stiff enough for landing gear and still fits the Dubro EZ connectors for push rods. I've used these for landing gear as well as push rods on my FT Flyer and Bloody Wonder.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Empire-3-5-in-x-2-5-in-Glo-Orange-Flag-Stakes-100-Pack-78-002/100148662

21 inches? wow that is a good deal I bought some at lowes but they were only 15.5 inches so they wouldn't work for the Old fogey. I will have to try and find those.