Lancer (604) : Assembly questions

[MonsieurPoulet]

Everything went well with my building until I got to the assembly section. First, the plastic wheels and common pin pushed through the landing gear struts don't work well : either they will fall off or the wheel goes forward and backwards under the strut. Got a tip?

Next, is there an easy way to slide the wing under the rubber band without tearing the tissue under the wing?

Thanks for your help.

[jolexa]

Hi there, the pin method for attaching the wheels doesn't work, I've tried it. I built a Javelin and modified the wheels so they would work, in fact there is a photo of my Javelin on the Guillows Website under the Javelin kit. You can sort of see what's going on with the wheels if you zoom in on the photo. First, you need to get some music or piano wire from the hobby shop that will fit the holes in the wheels you are using. you'll probably only use about a two inch length for each wheel. starting with a straight piece of wire, bend it into a somewhat "L" shape. the exact angle won't be 90 degrees, you can match it against the landing gear leg to get the right angle since the lower or horizontal part will be the axle of the wheel. To keep the wheel on, I'll bend the tip of the horizontal axle part 90 degrees to keep the wheel on. The part that will be glued to the leg will have to have a bend put into it, just a slight one, so that it won't twist or turn once it is glued to the leg. Cut another piece of balsa to cover the wire and press it against the wire so the wire is sandwiched between the landing gear leg and the scrap piece of balsa you just cut and sanded to match the leg. by pressing the wire against the scrap balsa a impression will be made in the wood where you can slowly and lightly carve out a depression for the wire to go when the two pieces of balsa are pressed together with the wire in between them. glue them together with the wire between and make sure the wheel is aligned properly to the airplane horizontally and vertically. once the glue dries, use some thread and wrap it around the two pieces of balsa to strengthen them, then paint it with super glue. after it dries, the leg will not come apart and the wheels should work a lot better than if they were on a pin. I would also add a brace behind the leg because in my experience when the plane lands the leg will twist back and tear up the balsa inside the body of the airplane. look at the photo and you can see the diagonal brace I used behind the leg, just make sure it doesn't interfere with the rubber band holding the wing on. I carefully slid the wing under the rubber band. Just try out some different kinds of rubber bands until you find one that works for you. I used what I had out of the kitchen drawer. Hope this helps.

[ADW 123]

you know, if i were you, i wouldnt even add the landing gear if you are going to fly it. it will save quite a bit of weight. the landing gear snapping off on first flight on impact of landing isnt worth the work of adding it. if you do want it, make sure to make it strong. it is the balsa leg that tends to just snap in half and in some cases rip right out of the fuselage. you can glue some wire for reinforcment. good luck

[Arlo DiPasquale]

I second ADW. I built the Javelin to fly and on the 1st flight, the gear snapped, so I just removed them, re-balanced it, and it flew fine. None of the planes really need landing gear, its kinda for show...