Tailwheel Fairing redoing

[lucaperazzolli]

During winter - when we have more time to building and brainstorming - I ordered the tail wheel fairing from Vans. Despite the part is "bang for the buck" I decided to build a new one with a little more symmetrical look.

Here's the original Vans part :



I decided to use a cheep software to draw a set of 'ribs' to have a solid form.









A friend of mine has a computer cutting pantograph and this helped a lot.



This is the part assembled, in the back the original one.





At that time I'm working with foam to close the opening, I'll use some microballs and epoxy resin to obtain a new molding master.

Never worked with the molds, it will be a new experience. Stay tuned.

Logic ? Rational ? Absolutely not

[AndyRV7]

Love it! Can't wait to see the rest of the pics!

[bruceh]

Go for it and make it carbon fiber!

[rightrudder]

Cool! Looks like a keel-and-bulkhead model plane fuselage. I've built a bunch of stick-and-tissue models like that, originally designed for rubber power but I'd convert 'em to rc.

[Larco]

Something to consider. I love my fairing but it always seems to need repair. Mostly because when moving the plane tail first the wheel is going backwards and the tail of the fairing is very close to the ground.
If your cool looking fairing is longer it may touch the ground when swiveled 180 degrees???

Larry

[vfrazier]

Luca,

Please also tell us more about the "cheap" software and how you were able to get all of those coordinates into the CAD.

Thanks!
Vince

[Pat Hatch]

Luca, I applaud you for going old school with the tailwheel fairing! Consider doing what I did and buy a fork from Vince Frazier (previous post) and actually embedding the fork into the fairing. I glassed mine permanently into the fork and it really makes for a solid setup. Just be careful with the geometry such that when you rotate the tailwheel 180? there is no interference with the tailwheel spring or the ground. Here are a couple of photos, good luck with the project:





In the old days there were a lot more tail fairings around, what can I say, the tradition kind of died out, but there's nothing as pretty as a faired tailwheel in my humble opinion. Of course, you'll have to buy two forks from Vince because you'll want to have the other one for grass strips!

[RV3bpilot]

Does anyone have some numbers to show the speed increase from using a tail wheel faring?

[aviationone]

Originally Posted by RV3bpilot

Does anyone have some numbers to show the speed increase from using a tail wheel faring?

I couldn't tell a speed difference either way. You definitely have to be more aware not to drop it off a taxi way when spinning around but so far it's holding up.

[PilotRPI]

Be sure and use a generous/sufficient amount of mold release. That can be frustrating?

What was used to cut out the parts? Was it a laser cutter? Wasn't familiar with that word.