do I need a steerable nose gear?

[Unterhausen]

I stayed up half the night building the fuselage for my UAV. I decided to build on the fly because I figure I'll never get anything done if I don't. I'm hoping to get it mostly done tonight, at least in radio controlled form. Autopilot will have to wait.

I'm building a twin boom pusher, 46" wingspan, 25oz AUW, v-tail. I'm really torn between putting a skid on the front, or going with a steerable nosewheel. Is it really worth putting in an extra servo and a steerable landing gear on there, or is that really just vanity on a plane like this? It wouldn't be a problem to put it on there, the design is very open. Maybe I'll post pictures tomorrow if I can get over the idea of showing the sloppy mess inside the fuselage.

[macboffin]

I woulsn't consider such a plane without a steerable nose leg. Helps you keep it out of the rocks and weeds, especially on landing, the extra weight is not much penalty.

[jparisse]

I base most of my airframe decisions on where I'm going to land.

That said, I also put my antennae on the undercarriage so landing gear is a must (steerable too, IMO).

Jeff (Workshop)

[Unterhausen]

Thanks for the inputs. I have other planes a little smaller than this that only have skids, but they are tail draggers. I don't think this plane is big enough to taxi well on anything other than smooth dirt or pavement. I'll have to see if I can figure out how to get my radio to drive the nosewheel servo.

[macboffin]

Use a"Y" lead from rudder or aileron output. Put a "U" bend in the link from servo to leg arm to absorb any shockc.

[Unterhausen]

I was planning on using a flaperon mix, so there should be one of the tail servos heading in the correct direction.

I was thinking I would have to come up with a 4 bar linkage for this, but if the connection is flexible, I guess that wouldn't be necessary.

[macboffin]

I was planning on using a flaperon mix, so there should be one of the tail servos heading in the correct direction.

I was thinking I would have to come up with a 4 bar linkage for this, but if the connection is flexible, I guess that wouldn't be necessary.
Noselegs do take a pounding, some sort of spring in the linkage is essential.
If you saw a slowed-down or frame by frame video of a noseleg at take-off you'd wonder how they stay on!