Tail Sitters

[Crazy Snap Captain]

Just sat my latest project on it's gear for the first time and the mofo is tail sitter (just). Any ideas on how to fix. The model is finished so I can't add any weight to the nose. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[Grey Ghost 531]

Depending on the aircraft, it's possibly not too late to add weight to the nose. If it's a jet with a radome, drill a small hole (1/8 inch or so) in the bottom. Drop in lead bird shot (readily available from places that sell to home shotgun shell reloaders) and some epoxy. I wouldn't use super glue since it will probably fog up the interior of all the windows as it cures.

Then, just plug the hole with some tapered sprue, cut if flush, sand, fill if necessary and touch up the paint.

The farther forward you put the weight, the less you need to use.

Boarding ladders might be used as a camoflaged tail support if the aircraft's lay-out permits it.

Clear plastic supports under the tail don't look too bad either.

Remember, some real nose wheel aircraft could be tail-sitters under some circumstances. F7F Tigercats would tail sit if the fuel tanks were empty, they had a tail bumper for when that happened. Panavia Tornados would too, if the wings were swept back while on the ground. The Hawaii Air Guard had a couple of DHC-4 Carabou that if they had to pull an engine, they would tether an oil drum full of concrete to the motor mount so the aircraft wouldn't tip back.

Edited April 6, 2012 by Grey Ghost 531

[balls47]

You say that it's just barely a tail sitter. How are you displaying the model? You could put something that is a little tacky under the nose wheel (or all wheels, for that matter), and stick it down to the base. (1. double sided tape; 2. glue that dries clear, but can be removed such as Elmers white glue, Micro Kristal Klear, etc.) If you have it on a more permanent display base, you could: 1. Glue the tires to the base with superglue. 2. Carefully drill a small hole into the tires and into the base and insert a piece of small wire from the tire into the base.(this method would not be as permanent as superglue)

[Aigore]

Another trick is to make a little dio of it and glue the nose wheel to the tarmac, drill a little hole and put some piano wire in the nose wheel.

[Crazy Snap Captain]

Thanks guys. Aircraft is a Mirage 2000. I'm going to display it on a dio, so I might try the gluing of the front landing gear. I'll let you know how it goes.

[Neo]

i have one of those tail sitter and i put a tyni piece of blue tack under the nose gear no one ever noticed!!

[breadneck]

Get some extra fat pilot figures!

[chukw]

How about a figure leaning up against the plane toward the rear? I'm using that for my next trike.

Cheers1

chuk

[Andy_USA]

This is one of the reasons I build most of my aircraft in flight. :lol:

[Tailspin Turtle]

One trick I've seen that is easy and not too obtrusive is to drill a small hole (.080) into the back of a main landing gear wheel, angled upwards near its bottom, and insert a short piece of stiff wire. Bend the wire so it is parallel to the ground with the model on all three wheels. What this does is move the aft-most point of ground contact of the model aft of the model's center of gravity so it can't tilt back.

If it's a diorama, simply adding a set of chocks on one or both main gear wheels will have the same effect as long as the cg isn't too far aft.

[Netz]

If you can pop off the exhaust nozzle, that will give you a large hole to drop some weight through.

Curt

[Kevan Vogler]

Or you could simply make some wheel chocks from some carved sprue or stock styrene and glue them to the wheels. The chocks behind the main wheels should certainly be enough to keep it on all it's wheels.

As you're putting it on a dio base, wheel chocks shouldn't look out of place at all.

[ross blackford]

:D, I know this is a bit off topic as far as fighter types is concerned but as far as larger aircraft are concerned, they often had/have tail stands as part of their equipment. C-130s have a flexible stand that sits under the ramp during unloading/loading that takes the weight of the load passing over the ramp onto the K-loader. Various other aircraft have different ideas, some Antonovs have hydraulic jack pads that extend from the area near the ramp and stabilize the aircraft during loading/unloading. Some other aircraft have a simple pole that can be extended to the correct length to support the tail. Many airliners have this type of tail support. Just an idea for those who may have built a larger transport/bomber type and then found that it's a tail sitter. Perhaps another idea would be scratch built jacks if a diorama is desired.

,

Ross.