Hi Rick !
We started out talking about wing strut fairings, but the same
method also works for fairings over the inner gear legs, including
the bungees or springs. Yes - I let those fairings float. The gear
leg tubes and the bungees are wrapped first in 1/8" sheet foam that
is used for swimming pool insulation, so they don't get any direct
friction from the fairing.
The main gear leg fairings are rivetted in place, I added
an extra channel with 1" lips, about 1/8" wider than the front main
gear leg. This channel is .020 alum. or Lexan, and runs down the
back of the front leg tube. It is secured by the existing bolts
through the gear tube. The channel provides something to rivet
the gear fairings to, since you should NOT drill ANY extra holes in
the gear tubes. The channel is 1/8" wider, because I also run a
strip of 1/2" wide double-sided foam mounting tape down the outside
and inside of the front main gear tube, to further secure the fairing,
and to keep it clear of the tubes, so there is no possibility of wear
from friction. The fairing is also rivetted to the cross brace channel,
and to itself at the rear brake (fold), which is several inches behind
the rear gear tube. Double-sided foam mounting tape also secures the
fairing to the rear gear tube, stopping vibration and preventing
contact wear.
One of the important things is to run the gear leg fairing
right up to the bottom of the fuselage. Even a 1" gap will cost you
3 to 5 mph ! The inside can go right up, because the bungee tube
stops the gear from going any farther in, so there can be no damage
there. A strip of rubber U channel around the top will seal the
gap and prevent wear. The outside of the leg needs a bit of space
for movement, so there is a type of rubber U channel that has a
'blade' on top, to seal this gap.
The die spring gear will be trickier to seal, because the
leg is about the middle of its travel, and both the inside and
ouside skins will need a flexible seal at the top.
......bobp
----------------------------orig.---------------------------------------
At 04:12 PM 2/4/01 -0500, you wrote:
Bob
Do you secure the landing gear fairing solidly, or do you let it float and
have the air pressure straighten it out?
Rick
----- Original Message -----
From: Bob Patterson <
bob.patterson@canrem.com>
To: Murphy Rebel Builders List <
murphy-rebel@dcsol.com>
Sent: Saturday, February 03, 2001 8:23 PM
Subject: Re: lexan fairings
Hi Bill !
There are several ways - I like to put an extra 'brake' in
the upper skin of the fairing, then rivet the lower skin to that.
This gives a fatter trailing edge that's easy on the head when you
hit it ! I also extend the fairings back a bit more - you need
about a 17 degree slope, as I recall, for best aerodynamics ...
If you watch the wing struts in the rain, the water jumps
off about 2/3rds of the way back, because the angle is too sharp,
so I'm aiming for a more gentle angle, even though this makes a
bigger fairing.
Robin has made a VERY nice set of strut fairings by putting
a strip of piano hinge down the trailing edge to join the 2 sections.
This has the advantage of making the fairings easy to remove !!
With Lexan, you can put a strip of tape on them before painting,
peel it off, and have a window to pre-flight your strut bolts. :-)
....bobp
-----------------------------orig.-------------------------------------
At 08:25 PM 2/2/01 EST, you wrote:
Bob P.
How do you recommend securing the rear edges of the strut fairings?
Bill N
<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><FONT SIZE=2>Bob P.
<BR>How do you recommend securing the rear edges of the strut fairings?
<BR>
<BR>Bill N</FONT></HTML>
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