How come those new DuBro steerable tail wheels are overlooked?

Description
The Micro Steerable Tail Wheel comes with the strut and a 1/2” dia. wheel. This mount can be steerable or left free to travel. Mounts directly to the tail of your aircraft with CA (cyanoacrylate) or epoxy. The arm for steering is included and is 1 1/16” wide. This unit is paintable ABS plastic and will add functionality to your aircraft without adding a lot of weight. 1/pkg. (1.75 grams/ea.) $3.95us.

http://www.shopatron.com/product/pro...d=DUB926/101.0

I looked at that tail wheel up at the hobby shop and thought it was a little big and bulky, plus setting it up to be steerable I thought would be a little harder to do, so I opted to go with the home made tail wheel as seen in the picture.

It was easy enough to make, the mounting bracket is made from the outer case of a 3.5" floppy disk, and the tire is just your standard 1/2" Sullivan tail wheel

I ran the wire deep into the rudder following the red line in the picture and wedged it under the control horn so there's no way it can come loose, and the bracket keeps the bottom of the rudder rigid.

there's also this option, I'm going to use this skid on the Sig Bristal Scout, it comes from e-flite and the part number is EFLA202

Originally Posted by Basketcase

Hey Buzz, yeah but the tail is in perfect focus.

My little foam wheel was lost in the grass long ago. Some of those runners in the grass act just like arresting wires and stop the Moth quick. I guess one too many tail hook landings ripped it off and I didn't notice till later.

Eventually replaced the missing wheel with a toothpick tailskid which worked great in grass but wasn't too good on pavement.


Jimmy, DuBro makes some hard plastic tiny tailwheels that work well and are really light. Sullivan makes a nice looking rubber and aluminum wheel but it's kinda heavy for a moth.

Wayne

I've landed in some crazy places with my M&M tailwheel... and it just keeps truckin along. I don't use the other tail wheels because they are heavier, and there's linkage involved. I saw a picture of your "tail skid" and it's almost gone.....no wait. It IS gone! Any word from the Navy sea and air search yet?

Originally Posted by Doug Sipprell

Uh.....Buzz, just what does the F stand for??

Oh, never mind, I just got it! F = Friend. Glad to have you as one!

RD

You made the dang F look like Texas! Stop drawing on my hat!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Basketcase
Umm, a blue hat with an orange F? I'd say it belongs to a Gator.

Ahhhh, yes. University of Florida graduate school. I studied psychology, and used it on women.

Originally Posted by Doug Sipprell

Dang, should have thought of that. Then again, I'm from up North, so what the heck do I know??

RD

Nothing. Doug, you don't know a darn thing! lol ! Hey, Wayne....when you told him it was a Gator hat.... I'll bet he thinks all of the alligators in the swamps wear them! j/k Doug.

BTW, I got my little digital cam corder. If I can figure out how to upload video and edit it... there will be a feature film on the 25' Moth! Look for it in theaters near you soon!

Here is a pic of mine. I had a Burger King wind up Fred that wasn't working so I sawed him in half and gutted him. Could have dremeled him outto be real light, but I'm still having weight issues up front, so I left in the plastic. Need to add a lot of weight on the back yet. Here is a pic of the stearable tail wheel...in its younger years Need a smaller wheel. Wayne, I ended up having a 3 MM nose adaptor. I received the wrong one a while back and now it turns out I can use it for something.

Originally Posted by conceptmachining

Here is a pic of mine. I had a Burger King wind up Fred that wasn't working so I sawed him in half and gutted him.

Nice looking bird, but what is up with the angle of attack of your wings?
That cabane strut is waaaaaay off. I'm sure it is that way for a reason, but.......?

Hi Jimmy, the paint job and Fred Flinstone look great. I like your color scheme too. Tailwheel should work good too but I agree a smaller one would look a bit better.

Do you have a LHS that carries DuBro stuff? These 1/2" plastic wheels are about the right size but sound funny on pavement.
http://www.shopatron.com/product/pro...161.5173.0.0.0
The smallest foam wheels they have are 1", probably the same size as the GWS wheel you have now.
http://www.shopatron.com/product/pro...161.5173.0.0.0

I have to agree with Buzz, now seeing a picture of your plane the top wing is too far back and tilted. I know you don't want to mess up your lower wing but you really need to get those struts mounted in the dimples so the top wing will be in the proper position. The inner strut mountings should line up with the plastic plates in the fuse. They don't need to be exactly perfect,close will do.

I think if you get the top wing positioned properly it will also solve the CG issue. And you'll be able to get rid of that clay.

If you do make craters or even holes in the bottom wing you can fill it in with lightweight spackle and it will not even be noticable. I use Red Devil Onetime Lightweight Spackling from Home Depot or Lowes or the hardware store.
http://www.reddevil.com/productDetai...RT&c=pr&cat=47

I can't tell is that is all prop or partly shadow but it makes the prop look kinda big for a direct drive CDROM. Is it a 9x5" as recommended by MAE?

I hope this doesn't come off as sounding critical, it's not meant to be. we're just trying to help you get the best flying Moth possible.

Wayne

Hey Guys!

Unfortunatly, I paid attention to the directions on the wood struts from allERC and it says to create a slot 1 9/16" from the leading edge of the bottom wing. I did that. I couldn't understand why at the time, but I did it. Then it didn't say what to do with the top portion of the wing, so I went ahead and put them in the original dimples on the wing. If I went ahead and strapped it to the original bulkhead area it would flex the wings out of shape, so I went ahead and put the cowl mount plastic pieces into new locations to bolt up the wing assembly. Its not perty, and it doesn't fly as well as it probably could, but it does fly good...just not great. I plan on doing another Moth, and this time it will be correct. Maybe down the road a ways I'll buy yet another kit and just tear of the bottom wing and put on a fresh one.

MAE says to use a 10x6 with the 25 turn...or at least thats what it says here:

http://www.m-a-e.com/Sub_Pages/Produ...ducts_Mots.htm

I agree its too big, I would like a 8" or 9". 9 is even even a little big...
With the lens I will be getting, I'll put a 9" on that one. I may even put a 9 on this one. I have so many 10x6s it aint even funny, as I have a couple other planes (slow stick and E-starter) that take them. I maybe have 12 of them, and only ever broke one on the slow stick.

[QUOTE=conceptmachining]Hey Guys!

Unfortunatly, I paid attention to the directions on the wood struts from allERC and it says to create a slot 1 9/16" from the leading edge of the bottom wing. I did that. I couldn't understand why at the time, but I did it. QUOTE]
The slot you are refering to was NOT for the wing braces but was to be cut acrossed the wing center rib into the BOTTOM of the bottom wing to glue in the extra plywood dihedral brace furnished with the struts to reinforce the bottom wing joint.
boomer

You can straighten out those struts... just get a bottle of Probond and then pull them out of the wing. Put 'em back in the right place and probond any hole left, and paint it the color of your wings. I think the reason it flies well this way is because it has a brushless motor in it.

Finally got to remaiden the big Tigermoth today. Everything went perfect.

Had the plane finished quite a while ago, then checked my old batteries and one cell of the 3S2P packs was dead, tried cycling it a bunch of times but it never came back, eventually gave up and ordered two new Apex packs. It was a long rebuild but well worth it. A happy camper again.

Now where did I put that Pico Moth SG kit? Need another little Moth.

Wayne

Originally Posted by Basketcase

Now where did I put that Pico Moth SG kit? Need another little Moth.

Wayne

You probably already have these, but others may not. To look right, they require cutting out the cockpits, but that should be done, anyway. Builder's choice!

Thanks Lancer, I was planning to use the old panels from SkyGuy like in my first two Moths, but your panels are better with the big 'ol compass in the lower center. I'm going to enlarge them to make some for the Pac Aero Moth too.

Sweet.

Wayne

Oooh.. those are really pretty Rog! Even better than the ones I'm using!

Wayne, good to hear you've got the big'un up in the air again!

Now that I'm back home I've figured out where the fault is in my bird, and it turns out it's the CC P-10 that's gone belly up after two + years of solid service off land and lake*sniff* Ah well, I've got a spare P-10 to replace it with (until I get my Citabria Pro airworthy again!) afterwhich I think I might have a look at those Thunderbird ESCs. I *really* like the Phoenix controllers, but I really don't make use of enough of the features to justify the price :\

K