LuckyArmpit

Started out with Tiger 2 as a trike gear. Ay, it was included with the ARF!!! Anyways, had to bend the main gear back since the plane wouldn't sit on the gear (main gear is directly on the CG). After a total of 6 flights, the nose gear is boned up.
Tired of straightening out after every flight. Gonna make this a taildragger. Can I bend the wheels forward of the CG and just add a 3rd party tail wheel?

Dave...

gus

Technically, yes, you can. The problem is that the main gear on a conventional gear plane (taildragger) is further forward than I imagine you ccan bend the gear. A rule of thumb is that the back end of the main wheels should line up with the front edge of the wing.

Any further forward and the plane will tend to ground-loop. Any further back, and the plane will nose-over too easily.

Go ahead and convert to conventional gear, but be aware that you will not be able to simply bend the gear forward.

gus

sdavied

My Feedback: (4)

If you're having to bend the nose gear back foward after every landing, that's a pilot problem. This would indicate that you are touching down with too much speed. You should practice your landings so that when you touch down, the plane doesn't want to fly any more. This should give you a slight nose-up attitude and keep the nose wheel intact.

glowplug

My Feedback: (1)

My Tiger 2 had a block in the fuse already installed with blind nuts and all........I just mounted the Klett main gear and a tailwheel to it, and removed the stock gear from the wing.

Fastsky

If trike gear landings are giving you problems, going to a tail dragger isn't going to help you much. [8D]You can land fairly fast as long as you add in the up elevator at the right time to keep the nose slightly raised and the weight off the front wheel. Practice adding in more elevator to flair the plane once you are over the runway which also slows it down for your landings. If you bonk in a tail dragger like you are doing to the trike gear I would expect to see the plane either start to bounce down the runway or it might just nose over and maybe even flip on you.

bingo field

You may need to add throw to the elevator to give the effect you need. My son's LT40 was susceptable to this until I put the control rod in the closest hole at the elevator end. This gave a visible advantage when landing, you could really bring the nose up and ride on the main gear for a while when landing.

LuckyArmpit

The metal used on the nose gear is pretty bendable. I have landed my Arrow alot harder and it never bent.
In the manual, there is a part about having the plane as a taildragger. There are two holes in the back near the
tail. And of course they would like you to use Goldberg landing gear.

Dave...

glowplug

My Feedback: (1)

If there are 2 holes in the rear, there is probably a landing gear block with 4 holes and blind nuts in it. The Klett gear fits this perfectly with no drilling. It is pre-drilled to fit. I used an Ohio Superstar tail wheel, because I couldn't find the Klett unit that was supposed to fit. It wasn't a direct fit on the predrilled holes, but with just a little work it comes out fine.

krossk

My Feedback: (27)

Here's my conversion. Don't know how it handles yet, but it wasn't difficult to convert. Just a couple of lite-ply plates with blind nuts for the main and tail gear.

rcfury

My Feedback: (5)

Save yourself the headaches. Use the Klett tailgear like glowplug said. I used the Carl Goldburg plastic main gear and everything bolted up perfectly. Saved a little weight also.

krossk

My Feedback: (27)

Mine was a first edition kit and did not have the t/d option. I have subsequently replaced the mains with Goldberg glass-filled. They look much nicer than my original attempt at bending my own - and they were lighter.

LuckyArmpit

Thanx again guys! BTW, Krossk, your Tiger looks great!!!! Very nice job on the covering. And you were smart enough to put a different design underneath so you know when your "bottoms" up!!!! So far, I had two pieces of covering come off. Two pieces of white that run down the fuse. I will re-iron it back on.

Dave...

glowplug

My Feedback: (1)

Awesome covering Kross! [8D]
rcfury, I noticed quite a bit of a weight loss after the conversion also......I was surprised, I could actually feel that the plane was lighter when picking it up!

krossk

My Feedback: (27)

GlowPLug - Thanks, I've always been hung up on those colors as they were fantastic to see on my race boats. That was my first attempt at covering an entire plane. Ultracote all the way!