Scale WW1 Landing Gear Questions

[Gregor77]

I am running into an issue with some of my larger scale Balsa USA WW1 planes.  Maybe some of the more experienced builders can supply some thoughts on this.   

Most of the planes are between 15-22 lbs loaded.  The rear landing gear takes a good hit during take off and landings.   I really want the plane to be scale.  The last one I purchased had a normal wheel and it looks strange on a plane of this type.  I have seen some that are spring loaded that will help, but I am lost on how to do this?

[Madman]

Scale would be like this. You need a tail post to mount the skid to. It needs to be long enough to go a suitable distance below the fuselage and go right under the horizontal tail. This has to be mounted very secure, hence the full depth. At the bottom most of the load is rearward. At the top it will load forward. Mount into 3/16 ply formers which go between the sides and up to the next forward cross piece. Check your scale reference drawings for location and length.

For the skid a 5/16 to 3/8 thick piece of bass or spruce. Mount to the bottom of the tail post above with a screw. Bush the skid with some brass tubing so the screw can't dig into the wood. The top of the skid goes about 2" into the fuselage and is attached to the tail post with a bungee. Rubber bands last one year or less. Better is 1/8 to 5/32 shock cord. This can be gotten from SPAE NAUR in KW. You will have to experiment with lengths and one to three bungees to determine tension required. Make sure with no load the skid does not go too vertical, it usually has to be physically stopped by its attachment to the tail post. The tail post is best made from brass tubing (maybe 2 layers slid inside each other) with details to keep it from rotating (steering) under load and matching any scale appearance.

Please note, Nieuports, Albatrii and planes with similar tail skids are handled differently this advice is for Fokkers and Sopwith like planes.

Stephen

[Gregor77]

Thanks for the input on the landing gear. That really helps!