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Old January 12th 18, 10:56 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
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Default Wingtip Wheels from Libelle 201?

On Fri, 12 Jan 2018 15:52:45 +0000, Colin Roney wrote:

At 23:40 11 January 2018, wrote:
On Monday, January 8, 2018 at 5:49:16 PM UTC-5,

wrote:
Anyone have a source for the little hard plastic

wingtip wheels that
were=
recessed into the Libelle 201 wingtips? The early

gliders didn't have
them=
but I know of at least one owner who got them from

Glasflugel and added
th=
em later. For those with long memories, W1 (Woody

Woodward) installed one
j=
ust to see if it added any detectable drag (apparently

not) before
installi=
ng the second one. Hahaha.=20
=20
I've seen several variations of the small tip wheels

that are built into
=
a fairing or tip skid that's glued onto the bottom of the

tip but not the
t=
ype that are recessed into the wing as on the 201. Only

the bottom half of
=
the small hard plastic wheel protruded from the wingtip

but it kept the
tip=
s off the ground if a wing dropped while flying and

made ground handling a
=
little easier, especially when landing out and having to

move the glider
so=
lo.
=20
It wouldn't be easy to replace one without opening

up the wing (IIRC,
the=
axle was inside of the skin) but I've never heard of

anyone having to.=20
=20
Chip Bearden


Chip,

I have some wheels I got from my HPH 304CZ. Do you

know the size you
need?=
I had to special order them and have since sold the

glider.

Dan Reagan



A point that doesn`t seemed to have been raised concerns the protection
of the underside t/e of the aileron when landing on a hard runway and
unable to keep the wings level until the glider stops.If a bit of
inadvertent stick against the wing going down occurs at the last moment
before stopping damage will occur.In this case a skid of up to 40mm deep
may be required.


..... that was at the back of my mind when I was asking about fitting a
wheel in one of the wingtip skids sold by Glasfaser. They make two types:
35mm and 50mm deep.

I've just ordered 35mm skids. This is on the grounds that I fly off grass
both at home and anywhere else that I'm likely to visit lands on grass
even if it has a hard runway. Consequently I don't want to fit a skid
containing a wheel because doing this is likely to fill the skid with mud
in damp conditions. Of course,

35mm may just be enough to keep the ailerons off the rocks but I'll check
whether the ailerons are clear of a hard surface. However, if it isn't
and I find myself going some place with hard runways I can always glue a
rubber doorstop with a reshaped mounting face onto each skid as a
temporary measure.


--
Martin | martin at
Gregorie | gregorie dot org