Landing gear?

[flyranger]

I need ideas for attaching Landing gear to my FT Bushwacker. Using folded 1/16 in thick aluminum screwed to two lite ply pieces sandwiching the bottom layer of foam. Works until my usual hard landing (need practice obviously) straps it off. Anyone?

 

[joelspangler]

I screw/bolt into popsicle sticks or thin plywood inside my fuselage. Make them as long as possible toward the front/back of the aircraft. If you can't glue them well, the best bang for your buck would be to have them in front of the wheels as much as possible.

 

[Piotrsko]

Hmm breaks off where the plywood ends. Not going to be much of a solution untill you spread the forces over enough foamboard to exceed those forces. I had success with two layers foamboard, some plywood like you did and woven string packing tape inside and outside. Didn't stop the breakage, but got a bunch of landings before it got so wobbly it flopped.in flight

 

[Merv]

I have found not matter how I brace it something else is going to break. So I have decided I'm going to choose where it breaks, something easy to replace. For me, thin zip ties are the answer, the ones about 1/8 inch wide. I zip tie the landing gear on, so when they break off, it's an easy fix. I can replace the zip ties just about as quickly as replaceing the battery. Like you, I have reinforced the foam with a wood sandwich to prevent pullout. I use tongue depresser type hobby stick, plywood would work equally well.

 

[Foamforce]

I agree with Merv that having an engineered failure point makes things easier. The rubber bands holding wings on is the best example. That design has saved a lot of wings. Another I’ve noticed recently is the skewers holding power pods in on the Bloody Wonder/Baron. The skewer elongates (wrecks) the holes in the power pod but not in the fuselage because the fuselage has the doubler, so it’s twice as strong, so it doesn’t rip at all, while the sacrificial power pod takes all the damage. Back to Merv’s point, holding the landing gear on with thin zip ties is a good idea. Lighter FT planes use rubber bands to attach landing gear which works great.

Another thing to consider is allowing more flex in your landing gear. Your gear looks like it might be too stout to flex much which would transfer all the force to the attachment point. If you made your gear longer and thinner so that it could flex upon impact you would see less damage. The beauty of the simple FT landing gear wire is that it flexes so well.