Tiny trainer Landing Gear

[Heavy313]

So I bought some "Ultralight" wheels and attempted to make landing gear out of a coat hanger. While they do work and I am able to both take off and land without burying the nose (most of the time) I have noticed they effect my flight envelope quite a bit... I used to be able to have unlimited vertical however the plane will now stall out in a vertical climb. Also the plane now falls out of barrel rolls. Any advice for different material, profiles or anything would be great.

 

[Ron B]

try some lite weight wheels
is your CG still where it should be?
I quit using a mobius camera on one of my planes as it was so sluggish you could only fly circles and had to use more elevator.

 

[Heavy313]

Thanks Ron. I feel like ultralight is light weight? And I check my Cg every battery change is there a lighter/stronger material I should be using instead of coat hangers?

 

[smashed2bits]

Music wire is the stuff they use for the pushrods. I also get marking flags from the hardware store. They are hardened so you can use a much lighter wire. Also your tires look big, they are causing a lot of drag. They have a light and really narrow wheel in the FT store.

 

[Tench745]

Coat hangar is heavy and very flexible. Music wire is spring-steel and will flex more without bending out of shape, so you can go with a little smaller gauge for the same strength. Also, you would be amazed at the amount of drag round struts create. If you put a paper or balsa fairing on your landing gear's wires it would reduce that drag considerably at the cost of a little extra weight.

 

[mrstamp80]

Got these from lazer toyz, i think it was like $2.50 or something like that. Works pretty good.

 

[Heavy313]

Mr stamp, cool thank you! I like your cockpit, also what prop is that?

 

[BobK]

Wheels are cool, but I really feel you are losing performance with your landing gears on this plane. Remember any extra drag or weight is going to kill performance on these little planes. Adding an ounce is like strapping 100# on your back and climbing a mountain.

 

[mrstamp80]

Mr stamp, cool thank you! I like your cockpit, also what prop is that?

It is a gws7060 prop, I am running a emax cf2805 1700kv motor and a 3s 1000 pack. It is a little heavier setup than what was designed for but, it is what i had laying around. I made the cockpit out of foam board so it didn't add much weight. I get about 9-10 min flight times cruising around.

 

[Heavy313]

Redesign! Pop rivets for bearings, a coat hanger axle and popsicle struts! The new design isn't angled forward so I feel I might get alot of flop overs on landing.. We shall see!
I'll let the photos speak for themselves.

 

[rockyboy]

I really like the pop rivets - I will be trying that idea myself to upgrade my landing gear!!

If this overall doesn't end up working for you, there is a bent wire approach I found on the forums here that brings the landing gear legs up the side of the body and hooks to the same bamboo skewers where the wing attaches.

http://forum.flitetest.com/showthread.php?17139-FT-Tiny-Trainer-BUILD&p=202806&viewfull=1#post202806

I have found this to work really well at transferring the landing stress to a strong location, and with the rubber band attachment method it can be moved from my Tiny Trainer to my Das Little Stick very quickly!

 

[Heavy313]

Oh man @rockyboy thank you for sharing that with me! Marker flag wire is very easy to come by! That may just be design #3

 

[rockyboy]

Oh man @rockyboy thank you for sharing that with me! Marker flag wire is very easy to come by! That may just be design #3

Excellent! And please let me/us know if you do and how it works out. I have found that with this design the whole landing gear assembly can flex enough, and pop off if necessary, to help shed energy and save the plane from damage on some of my rougher landings (that are of course caused by cross winds... always cross winds... )

 

[wlouisharris2000]

It is a gws7060 prop, I am running a emax cf2805 1700kv motor and a 3s 1000 pack. It is a little heavier setup than what was designed for but, it is what i had laying around. I made the cockpit out of foam board so it didn't add much weight. I get about 9-10 min flight times cruising around.

That's the same prop I use. They do the trick but I am constantly breaking these props so I make sure I have 5 or 6 extras on hand. A lot of guys use a 6 inch prop but I can't generate enough thrust.

 

[wlouisharris2000]

There was another thread Torf posted on the TT landing gear. It's a pretty good design, I never actually got the landing gear setup on this plane. The place where I fly has a parking lot that is always in use and I would need some pretty big wheels in order to navigate the field; thus I skip the landing gear.

 

[westbows]

I think those skinny ultra light wheels would be a better choice for this model. A lot lighter and less drag. or cut one of yours in half on a band saw.

 

[rockyboy]

I think those skinny ultra light wheels would be a better choice for this model. A lot lighter and less drag. or cut one of yours in half on a band saw.

*doh* I don't know why I didn't think of cutting one of those foam wheels in half with the band saw before! I have a couple wheels that are too fat for their diameter, and that would be the perfect approach to make them suitable for foamies!

 

[Heavy313]

@westbows yeah I just picked up some new wheels, I'll maybe just redo the landing gear, I think your right about the drag from those big wheels