Landing Gear

[SpitFireV12RR]

What is up?

I am having a bit of trouble. My parents bought me the Estes Air Force 1 ducted Fan plane. It's a nice plane, but the only downsides are that there are no rudders, ailerons, or elevators. It uses "Trust vectoring" to turn and there is one speed...off and on. It is also almost impossible to land the thing without breaking off the engines(One of the good features if you do crash, the engines can detatch.). So, I'm trying to figure out a good design for landing gear. It doesn't have to be retractable, but semi-aerodynamic. It also has to be VERY lightweight since the plane itself weighs a few hundred grams.

Any and ALL ideas are greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Spit

 

[Candyman]

That will probably take a bit of modification. First off, you can use some simple piano wire to make the gear struts out of. Make them in a sorta straight Z shape. You can get some foam parkflyer wheels and attach them with light collars to the bottom. The big issue will be attaching the gear to the plane. You'll have to make a little reinforced area to attach them. One way might be to use a wood dowel. Drill a hole in the center of it and glue the wire into that. Then make a hole in the plane big enough to fit the dowel and glue the dowel in. Just an idea. May need something a bit more solid, but there are a lot of methods.

 

[rocknbil]

This thing is a foamie, right? Anything you do is likely to mess up the way it flies. What I'd probably do is use light piano wire and bend it into a taper toward the back. That is, the wires would push right into the front of the wing, a sharp bend would angle the wires down under the wing and back in a curved shape. If you put 2 or 3 wires on each wing, the resistance should be enough so that when you bring it in it should keep the "engines" off the ground.

You may also have to put one on the nose so when it lands the wires don't cause it to flip over nose-first.

You just have to figure out a way to keep the wires from flopping sideways.

 

[SpitFireV12RR]

So you mean sorta like Skis?