tailwheel idea for 1/2 A

roddie Fri Dec 27, 2013 5:24 pm

I wanted a "Beefy" tail-wheel for my CEF Speed Contest model, so I thought about what I had available in the shop, that was small and round... I also needed a tire. I came up with a small rubber grommet and O-ring combo. I bushed the hub with brass tubing pcs.; reduced to fit the tail-gear axle. The "right size" O-ring will seat firmly in the rubber grommets' channel, with a little twisting.

Where 1/2A landing gear commonly consists of 1/16" dia. music wire, I like to use the "spring" retainers that were once available from Goldberg and Sig. (you can wind your own coil/spring using .015" music-wire around a .047" music-wire pin held in a vise/fixture) When you have "bushed hubs" on your wheels, you should make hubcaps... This can be done with thin plastic sheet (trim color.. possibly) Drill 1/16" dia. holes along one edge of the sheet, spaced about 5/16" apart.. then center a hand-held hole-punch with ea. drill-hole, and punch-out your hubcaps. They're durable, lightweight, act as washers... and look nicer (using a spring-retainer)... than a wheel collar or solder blob. The hubcap fits snug over the 1/16" dia. music-wire axle, and hides/covers axle bushing sleeves up to 1/4" dia.

This tail-wheel is just over 1/2" dia. (.570") with the O-ring tire seated in the rubber grommets' channel. The hub-reduction is a series of brass tubing sleeves down to .065" i.d. for the .062" music-wire axle. The hubcaps are thin aluminum discs I had kicking around.

tailwheel idea for 1/2 A 12-27-10

Below are the "spring style" wheel retainers that were once available... (Sig PN SH-121-sadly discontinued)

tailwheel idea for 1/2 A 11-19-22

It's easy to make wheels from stuff you may already have in the shop.

Roddie

**Cribbs74** Fri Dec 27, 2013 9:26 pm

Perfect used to make those retainers as well. Good job on that tail wheel.

Ron

roddie Sat Dec 28, 2013 1:05 pm

Cribbs74 wrote:Perfect used to make those retainers as well. Good job on that tail wheel.

Ron

"used to" being the key word.. Thanks Ron. I do have a bunch of them. They're .017" dia. wire. I'll bet that the springs that are used in Cox Tanked engines' fuel pick-up tubes could be cut into sm. pcs. and used for even smaller axles. Bend "one coil" out 180 degrees using a pin and tweezers, and you have the same design.

Here's the finished tail-wheel for my Rare-Bear Speed Contest entry. The hubcaps are drilled and hole punched from clear plastic sheet, and the inner axle is a small shortened lead-out guide. The bracket will be pinned into the fuse with 2 round toothpicks; cut-off flush with the wire and reinforced with a strip of fiberglass window screen and brushed with epoxy. I tack the screen 1st with CA.. then I use a flux brush with bristles cut short, to brush the epoxy into the screen. This makes for a very strong, lightweight and neat patch.

oh.. and the O-ring tire can be changed if it ever wears out.

Roddie

tailwheel idea for 1/2 A 12-28-10

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tailwheel idea for 1/2 A

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