Landing gear question

[Mark Mc]

Okay.  A couple of odd question by a noob considering a N30 plane. What if I wanted to build a Nostalgia plane that was originally published in 1974, but the plane was hand launched.  It doesn't have landing gear on the plans.  Are there any provisions for this?  In the N30 rules on the PAMPA website under Trimming Adjustments, it says:

"Trim devices, such as adjustable tip weights, leadouts, and replaceable landing gear which allow the entrant to adapt to the contest site and conditions are allowable.This would not allow the substitution of tricycle gear for a conventional gear, or vice versa, however such alteration of the original design would be subject to Paragraph 5.0 (Fidelity Points) above."

Could this be taken to mean that gear could be mounted to take off from the ground at a loss of Fidelity Points?

Another question.  What's the opinion on using a modern engine on a mid-70 plane?  The design I'm thinking about building comes out nose heavy, per the building article, and I was wondering about using a heavier modern powerplant rather than using nose weight as the article suggests.

Thanks,
Mark

[Tim Wescott]

I would read the part of the OT rules about this circumstance and run with it.  Actually, I'd probably check with the crew who run contests in my area to see what their take on it is -- if they say "OK", I'm OK.  If they say "No way", I look for another subject.

There's a lot of Classic and OT planes being flown on modern engines, or even electric.  However, you say "comes out nose heavy, needs nose weight".  That's wrong one way or another -- I suspect a typo on your part.

[Mark Mc]

Oops. Sorry. Meant tail heavy.  The Model Aviation article talks about putting weight at the back of the engine crank case.

Mark