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Author Topic: Tail skid  (Read 1762 times)

Offline john e. holliday

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Tail skid
« on: June 19, 2020, 12:33:05 PM »
Could not find my stash of copper wire and after remembering a free flight article I tried Kevlar thread  on another plane.  This is the tail skid for the Lively Lady.  It has worked great on several other planes in which I would normally use copper wire.  Works great using a sewing needle. D>K
John E. "DOC" Holliday
10421 West 56th Terrace
Shawnee, KANSAS  66203
AMA 23530  Have fun as I have and I am still breaking a record.

Offline Tim Wescott

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Re: Tail skid
« Reply #1 on: June 19, 2020, 01:57:37 PM »
Uh, I'm confused.  How well does it take solder?
AMA 64232

The problem with electric is that once you get the smoke generator and sound system installed, the plane is too heavy.

Offline john e. holliday

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Re: Tail skid
« Reply #2 on: June 19, 2020, 02:00:18 PM »
Don't need solder.  It does take CA very well.   My scissors won't cut it, so I use my side cutters for small wire.. D>K

By the way I don't recommend Kevlar for doing lines. mw~
John E. "DOC" Holliday
10421 West 56th Terrace
Shawnee, KANSAS  66203
AMA 23530  Have fun as I have and I am still breaking a record.

Offline Steve Berry

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Re: Tail skid
« Reply #3 on: June 19, 2020, 02:19:24 PM »
By the way I don't recommend Kevlar for doing lines. mw~

But wouldn't that be.........bulletproof controls?  LL~

Offline Dan McEntee

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Re: Tail skid
« Reply #4 on: June 19, 2020, 06:24:19 PM »
     I would think the kevlar might be superior to copper due to the fast it can conform better and take glue better. Glue just wraps around the wire, but can actually bond with the kevlar fibers like a true composite. I think I have some of this stuff, and this is a good use for those old Perfect/Sullivan kevlar flying lines that are perfectly useless as flying lines!!
  Type at you later,
  Dan McEntee
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Offline Dane Martin

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Re: Tail skid
« Reply #5 on: June 19, 2020, 10:52:59 PM »
Very cool Doc. I did the landing gear like this in the Boxcar chief, but I can't find pics right now

Offline john e. holliday

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Re: Tail skid
« Reply #6 on: June 20, 2020, 12:08:28 PM »
I think Kevlar and CA on lines would be the same as Solder.  There would be a stress point at end of the wrap.  I guess shrink tubing over the wrap and extended out on the line might solve that problem. D>K
John E. "DOC" Holliday
10421 West 56th Terrace
Shawnee, KANSAS  66203
AMA 23530  Have fun as I have and I am still breaking a record.

Offline Istvan Travnik

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Re: Tail skid
« Reply #7 on: June 20, 2020, 03:26:15 PM »
I strongly recommend to use in most applications 24 hours epoxy & heatgun, instead of cyan.  Stronger, more durable, less rigid
and far more shock resistant...
Bonus: transparent, if you want to check it.
https://stunthanger.com/smf/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=29045.0;attach=153618;image

Offline FLOYD CARTER

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Re: Tail skid
« Reply #8 on: June 20, 2020, 03:43:35 PM »
If you don't have a spool of copper wire, how do you wrap your leadouts?  Control lines?

Maybe you don't do that.

I have a 1/4 lb spool of # 27 tinned copper wire.  Lasts a very long time.
89 years, but still going (sort of)
AMA #796  SAM #188  LSF #020

Offline Istvan Travnik

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Re: Tail skid
« Reply #9 on: June 20, 2020, 04:33:53 PM »
Lauri,
Me and my colleagues use quite another system for control line endings, for many decades, let say 40 years.
It is a piece of 1 mm dia simple piano wire, looks as you drive into a 5 mm dia. roundabout, go two complete circles and come back on the original way. (Sorry, no photo here).   The control line is simply turned back and bondaged & glued in 50 mm length. The "legs" of the ending are 25 and  35 mm long, and lay on each other.  This arrangement is stronger than a single line, even in unglued state, I measured many times in the laboratory, when I tested different brands of lines.
And I see under the clear glue, how healthy it is. (I am superstitious, instinctively against to hide such junctions)
Istvan

Offline john e. holliday

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Re: Tail skid
« Reply #10 on: June 21, 2020, 09:08:25 AM »
If you don't have a spool of copper wire, how do you wrap your leadouts?  Control lines?

Maybe you don't do that.

I have a 1/4 lb spool of # 27 tinned copper wire.  Lasts a very long time.

I swag the ends of the cable, lines a nd lead outs.  Should be a pic some where in this forum. D>K
John E. "DOC" Holliday
10421 West 56th Terrace
Shawnee, KANSAS  66203
AMA 23530  Have fun as I have and I am still breaking a record.

Offline FLOYD CARTER

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Re: Tail skid
« Reply #11 on: June 21, 2020, 04:04:22 PM »
The "AMA Wrap" isn't just some mickey-mouse concoction tossed out there for you to try-- hit or miss.

It's easy and completely foolproof.  That's why I use it.

Why try to re-invent the wheel?
89 years, but still going (sort of)
AMA #796  SAM #188  LSF #020

Offline Randy Powell

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Re: Tail skid
« Reply #12 on: June 22, 2020, 03:30:34 PM »
I do mine differently. But Kevlar seems to work well.
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 Randy Powell

Offline Air Ministry .

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Re: Tail skid
« Reply #13 on: June 23, 2020, 02:24:54 AM »
Heres How You Do It .



 S?P S?P LL~ LL~ Were shown comparable simpler method . totally unnessesary , & can still slip . More your std bind & retun & knot .

Solerind Stainless is no sweat with Phosporic acid ' flux ' . Tho the irdotsve changed the Duzall . >:( So currently use phosphoric ' rust converter ' acid .
Takes say 3 coatings / cleanings de gungeings - for a satisfactory conclusion. Bound with copper electical wire , strands removed therefrom .
Had some good old steel core too , till it went . About 4 thou. at a guess .

How do line ends go on tail skids ?

Offline Air Ministry .

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Re: Tail skid
« Reply #14 on: June 23, 2020, 02:31:06 AM »
If somebodys building something really big , these ones hold Tons . Even have special ' splicing grease . '



TALKING OF TAILSKIDS ! taken on occasion  to fit a ' shoe ' ,



Though ive used 16 G wire ( 1/16 ) with two 3/8 loops about 2 inches seperated , finished . 400 degree loop .
Then folded aft ea side held at the center 3/8 ,  with the loops adjacent ( a left hand and right hand )  and ends out can be cut after biding. soldering to shid. this time anyway .
You can see the ply the loops are in , up into the rudder . here .
 :P
Thats bound in to sternpost or ply plate .
AFTER a piece of 1/8 or whatever is bound & soldered . That conection hopefully enclosed . ( you live & learn  :-X)
1/8 wires bent back for foot . Leg Filed Flat ( for less drag & weight ) or Airfoiled . So it looks cool & matches . . .

A piece of 16 guage plate , say 1/4 wide . Soldered ( generously - 80 watt iron )  onto the ' foot ' leg .  :-\

Thrown in the vice ( if still possable ) . and filed to a ' teardrop ' in plan . Fr. edge a continuation of the leg , so we dont hook to much hay .
Solder dressed with the file , so its all aerodynamic , streamlined , and a wonder to behold .  ;D LL~

Weighs stuff all , can use less shock to aft fuse. as an excuse . If you like making things .



Thats a earlier one. built into the appendage , sadwiched in ply . Replacement in the rebuild is forward on a ply plate in the floor . loops close under weight . Joints inside .
But you can see the little shoe . Could even replace it if you wore it off on tarmac . :(
Folkerts has it adheared to the spruce  fin. fuse vertical spruce tailpost , Which can be rebated to fit around the loops . Figure two loops' keep it straighter easier .  :P

reused that ' tailcone . hollowed . Now bogged . Mustve been the cold & paint fumes .  n~ I think id better do a nice new clean light one , rather than junk .
Piece of ply on centerline , vertical . And standing it on its tail might not be terminal to the extremety .
« Last Edit: June 23, 2020, 03:02:09 AM by Air Ministry . »

Offline Norm Furutani

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Re: Tail skid
« Reply #15 on: June 23, 2020, 10:40:38 AM »
Instead of using a sewing needle to pass the line through the holes, try this: stretch the end of the line so it is straight then run some thin CA on the last 1 or 2 inches. It will make the end very stiff and you won’t have to raid Mama’s sewing box. Works great for sewn hinges.

Norm

Offline FLOYD CARTER

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Re: Tail skid
« Reply #16 on: June 23, 2020, 07:36:49 PM »
The most fun tailskid I have used was a  piece of flat spring from a wind-up alarm clock.  With soft rubber main wheels, the plane had a neat way of landing (on concrete, of course).

The 1947 Yates "Madman" kit plans showed the flat spring, but I don't think it was part of the kit.
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Offline Paul Smith

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Re: Tail skid
« Reply #17 on: June 23, 2020, 09:22:01 PM »

Why try to re-invent the wheel?

To avoid being sued by Henry Ford.
Paul Smith

Offline Air Ministry .

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Re: Tail skid
« Reply #18 on: June 23, 2020, 11:00:14 PM »
Quote
Why try to re-invent the wheel?

Maybe they didnt get it right, first try . ;D

One of these , outta carbon fibre . Wheels Chassis & panels . ELECTRIC ,( as long as the put some brakes on it , to much traffic about, these days . )
would be a better city car than most of the rubbish made today . And you could have BLACK as std. any other colours EXTRA.

we'd better pattent that idea ! Move Over , Tesla .  S?P



Can you ' recycle ' carbon fibre ?

Offline Avaiojet

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Re: Tail skid
« Reply #19 on: August 20, 2020, 06:19:09 AM »
I had Gee Bee Z'z in the past and the "scale type" tail skid always took a beating.

On this model I elected to solder light tin inside the wire skid. Painted it will resemble wood, but it will hold up over many flights.   ;D

Don't get excited, I may sell this model long before it flies. There's someone already interested. Catch is, I have to finish the model, but, at the moment, I have absolutely no interest in finishing the model. Here's the only photo I have of the tail skid.










Trump Derangement Syndrome. TDS. 
Avaiojet Derangement Syndrome. ADS.
Amazing how ignorance can get in the way of the learning process.
If you're Trolled, you know you're doing something right.  Alpha Mike Foxtrot. "No one has ever made a difference by being like everyone else."  Marcus Cordeiro, The "Mark of Excellence," you will not be forgotten. "No amount of evidence will ever persuade an idiot."- Mark Twain. I look at the Forum as a place to contribute and make friends, some view it as a Realm where they could be King.   Proverb 11.9  "With his mouth the Godless destroys his neighbor..."  "Perhaps the greatest challenge in modeling is to build a competitive control line stunter that looks like a real airplane." David McCellan, 1980.

Online Gerald Arana

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Re: Tail skid
« Reply #20 on: August 20, 2020, 08:36:13 AM »
If somebodys building something really big , these ones hold Tons . Even have special ' splicing grease . '



TALKING OF TAILSKIDS ! taken on occasion  to fit a ' shoe ' ,



Though ive used 16 G wire ( 1/16 ) with two 3/8 loops about 2 inches seperated , finished . 400 degree loop .
Then folded aft ea side held at the center 3/8 ,  with the loops adjacent ( a left hand and right hand )  and ends out can be cut after biding. soldering to shid. this time anyway .
You can see the ply the loops are in , up into the rudder . here .
 :P
Thats bound in to sternpost or ply plate .
AFTER a piece of 1/8 or whatever is bound & soldered . That conection hopefully enclosed . ( you live & learn  :-X)
1/8 wires bent back for foot . Leg Filed Flat ( for less drag & weight ) or Airfoiled . So it looks cool & matches . . .

A piece of 16 guage plate , say 1/4 wide . Soldered ( generously - 80 watt iron )  onto the ' foot ' leg .  :-\

Thrown in the vice ( if still possable ) . and filed to a ' teardrop ' in plan . Fr. edge a continuation of the leg , so we dont hook to much hay .
Solder dressed with the file , so its all aerodynamic , streamlined , and a wonder to behold .  ;D LL~

Weighs stuff all , can use less shock to aft fuse. as an excuse . If you like making things .



Thats a earlier one. built into the appendage , sadwiched in ply . Replacement in the rebuild is forward on a ply plate in the floor . loops close under weight . Joints inside .
But you can see the little shoe . Could even replace it if you wore it off on tarmac . :(
Folkerts has it adheared to the spruce  fin. fuse vertical spruce tailpost , Which can be rebated to fit around the loops . Figure two loops' keep it straighter easier .  :P

reused that ' tailcone . hollowed . Now bogged . Mustve been the cold & paint fumes .  n~ I think id better do a nice new clean light one , rather than junk .
Piece of ply on centerline , vertical . And standing it on its tail might not be terminal to the extremety .


I don't know................that looks like it'd take a lot of tip weight to counter act it.  LL~ LL~ LL~ LL~


Jerry


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