#CLEARVIEW SIMULATOR P51 GEAR DOORS SKIN#

Locating the servo mounts on the upper skin is a stronger set up and the linkages will be more concealed too. My concern is over time with grass field use the shock to the servos and covers will weaken them and cause a failure. The ailerons and flaps are significant in weight and size on this plane. I didn't want to mount the servo to the hatch cover because it puts a lot of load on the cover and its fasteners. Also placing the servo on the upper wing skin does change the geometry a little bit but so does having the servo on the hatch with the horn protruding like normal. Mechanically this is more sound for the linkages. I placed the the servos perpendicular to the hinge line rather than parallel to the rib. The idea being to spread the load out a little further and make good contact with the surface. So instead I sanded the epoxy and used epoxy with micro balloons to make a bed larger than the footprint of the servo mount base.

The eggshell thin skin of the wing can be easily damaged. I'm not a fan of this kind of construction but scratching the foam away and laminating in a plywood skin for example is not practical nor advised. There's no structural support for the servos so you have to rely on surface mounting to the inner foam and fabric laminate. Here again the guidance is minimal so some experience is necessary. I used West Systems Epoxy and microballoons for filler.Р”В¬ontinuing on the wings after figuring out the gear I cut out the servo pockets. In all there are 4 new plywood reinforcement parts and two layers of a special carbon fiber weave that has 12K and 6K fiber in an open net style weave. I made new outer plywood ribs reinforced with carbon fiber once epoxied in place. Maybe if this model was built very light with the 85cc two stroke this wing construction makes sense but I know from asking around this is a weak point of this plane. Then I was surprised to find the main rib the rails are tied into is only about 1/8 inch! The inner rib which is cut away to fit the gear is 1/4 inch. The rails had very little epoxy and came out fairly easily so take that as you will. Next step was to tear out the rails and examine the wing structure. Knowing we are going to use the bigger and heavier Kolm 150 triple I was planning on beefing up the gear anyway but now it got a little more complicated because I wasn't going to compromise on the gear location, they had to move forward so the strut and the door line up. So with the help of Dr Gotz from Aeroscale we contact CARF and the reply back is that it's meant to be like that. Then you will notice it's not in the correct position in relation to the strut door, it's back of the door hinge by 10mm. Well when you do so you will notice the gear will not drop in and fit correctly. Step one is to cut the wing and make a panel over the retract pocket and fit the gear to the wing. Today CARF suggests you buy Sierra gear for this model.

The panel lines and rivets are not correct and they are not symmetrical on the wings so you purists are not going to be happy with that. However, keep in mind this is a sport scale model at best. I had an older gen one I didn't build because it had a lot of issues and I didn't want to invest the time in fixing it so I sold it. The ARF I'm working with is new built last year and has improved seams and some prefab work done at the factory. If on the other hand you want to stuff a Kolm 135 twin or 150 triple then you might want to stay tuned and follow this build. If your interested in simply putting it together with a basic set up and a single cylinder 85cc engine then there's no real big issues except for the landing gear and main doors. I'm starting this build thread to show my new big project and its challenges to builders interested in taking on this model.

Clearview simulator p51 gear doors