Coverting trike to taildragger?

[DeaninMilwaukee]

This question is regarding a gasser " stick" plane, but is applicable to electrics as well.

I want to convert my trike gear to taildragger. I'm thinking all I really need to do is push the rear wheels forward to just in front of the wings LE, and then add a free pivoting tailwheel as far back as practical and I'm done.

Am I right here? Anyone else ever do this? Is there more to consider than this? Opinions requested please.


Dean in Milwaukee

[Megowcoupe]

I haven't built a trike in a while- I tend to convert them to taildraggers. As far as I'm concerned, what you're talking about should work pretty well. Couple of caveats- most of us don't use a free floating tailwheel, but tie it to the rudder. Also- a long and high tailwheel will improve ground handling- thanks Dave Robelen who pointed this out in the Playmate.

Sam

[Bill Glover]

Originally posted by DeaninMilwaukee
Anyone else ever do this

Yup, all the time. Mainwheels approximately in line with wing LE is a good start point - too far forward and it will want to chase its tail on ROG, too far back and it will nose over on landing.

If by 'free pivoting' you mean a castoring tailwheel then the answer is NO, it will make takeoff difficult. Fixed tailwheel (or skid) is fine, you can steer easily when taxying by using down elevator (to lift the tail) and rudder with bursts of throttle - I have models that will spin round on the spot like that :)

Incidentally you can steer trike u/c models with fixed noseleg in a similar way but you hold full up elevator to lift the nosewheel and let the model pivot on the main gear.

Steerable tailwheel is fine but not normally necessary, adds a little weight/complexity and you really need a resilient linkage to make sure the rudder servo doesn't get shock-loaded if the wheel hits a bump.

[Dereck]

Hi Dean
Above is all good stuff. Models vary - my dear old Four Star has the wheels forward of the wing LE by nearly an inch.
(I was going to say it handles rough grass like an SUV, but that would imply lousy handling, immense fuel consumption and a tendency to fall over on corners :) ) Despite that, it never fails to take off straight.

Other models better have the wheels under the LE or else! There is no way to know ahead of time, but I'd start with under the LE for tarmac, fus level, or a half inch ahead for grass.

Holding the tail up - if you fly off grass, and favour simplicity, a fixed skid is real hard to beat. On tarmac, skids tend to lose grip and make taxying around fun in a wind.

Easiest steerable tailwheel I've used yet is one of those cheapy brackets (Dubro or whatever my LHS sells) mounted just ahead of the rudder hingeline, with the top wire bent into a hook at its rear end.

A screw or hook into the rudder, somewhere half bottom chord back, and a rubber band between them gives you a steerable tailwheel that decouples the rudder servo from whatever impact groundloops and the like hand out.

NEVER hardmount a steerable tailwheel to the rudder (BARFmakers please note!) - unless you like changing beat-up rudder servos.

I've owned two trike gear models in 22 years of RC - and one was my basic trainer, when I didn't know better. Why haul three wheels around every flight when two will do?