Tow out gear for KA7

[[email protected]]

Any ideas for tow out gear, for this, or other wood and fabric winged
gliders? Photo's of workable arangements greatly appreciated.

Regards

John

[vontresc]

On Mar 24, 8:21*am, " > wrote:
> Any ideas for tow out gear, for this, or other *wood and fabric winged
> gliders? Photo's of workable arangements greatly appreciated.
>
> Regards
>
> John

Actually I am in the same boat. I just bought a Ka-6 without tow out
gear. I was thinking of cobbling together my own, but I'd love to see
some examples first.

Peter

[Martin Gregorie[_1_]]

On Mon, 24 Mar 2008 07:10:21 -0700, vontresc wrote:
>
> Actually I am in the same boat. I just bought a Ka-6 without tow out
> gear. I was thinking of cobbling together my own, but I'd love to see
> some examples first.
>
There's a Ka-6 in my club. Its tow-out gear looks remarkably like the
stuff I use on my Libelle. He has a fairly broad tail dolly collar, at
least 3/4 as wide as its diameter, with the usual clip-on tow-bar, which
has a U-shaped platform for the tail skid. I don't recall anything unusual
about the wing dolly.


--
martin@ | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. |
org | Zappa fan & glider pilot

[vontresc]

On Mar 24, 9:31*am, Martin Gregorie >
wrote:
> On Mon, 24 Mar 2008 07:10:21 -0700, vontresc wrote:
>
> > Actually I am in the same boat. I just bought a Ka-6 without tow out
> > gear. I was thinking of cobbling together my own, but I'd love to see
> > some examples first.
>
> There's a Ka-6 in my club. Its tow-out gear looks remarkably like the
> stuff I use on my Libelle. He has a fairly broad tail dolly collar, at
> least 3/4 as wide as its diameter, with the usual clip-on tow-bar, which
> has a U-shaped platform for the tail skid. I don't recall anything unusual
> about the wing dolly.
>
> --
> martin@ * | Martin Gregorie
> gregorie. |
> org * * * | Zappa fan & glider pilot

Sounds like something that could be built. anyone got any suggestions
on making your own tail dolly? I was thinking of using the fuse as a
mold for some fiberglass (with a layer of plasic as a release of
course).

any input?

thanks

Peter

[Simon Waddell]

"vontresc" > wrote in message
...
On Mar 24, 9:31 am, Martin Gregorie >
wrote:
> On Mon, 24 Mar 2008 07:10:21 -0700, vontresc wrote:
>
> > Actually I am in the same boat. I just bought a Ka-6 without tow out
> > gear. I was thinking of cobbling together my own, but I'd love to see
> > some examples first.
>
> There's a Ka-6 in my club. Its tow-out gear looks remarkably like the
> stuff I use on my Libelle. He has a fairly broad tail dolly collar, at
> least 3/4 as wide as its diameter, with the usual clip-on tow-bar, which
> has a U-shaped platform for the tail skid. I don't recall anything unusual
> about the wing dolly.
>
> --
> martin@ | Martin Gregorie
> gregorie. |
> org | Zappa fan & glider pilot

Sounds like something that could be built. anyone got any suggestions
on making your own tail dolly? I was thinking of using the fuse as a
mold for some fiberglass (with a layer of plasic as a release of
course).

any input?

thanks

Peter

Did it myself; but use a layer of thick felt rather than a sheet of plastic
since you'll want felt inside the finished dolly to protect the fuselage.
Also helps to have access to a vibrating saw to cut the dolly off -
hospitals use them to remove plaster casts.

Simon

[Frank Whiteley]

On Mar 26, 1:13 pm, "Simon Waddell" > wrote:
> "vontresc" > wrote in message
>
> ...
> On Mar 24, 9:31 am, Martin Gregorie >
> wrote:
>
>
>
> > On Mon, 24 Mar 2008 07:10:21 -0700, vontresc wrote:
>
> > > Actually I am in the same boat. I just bought a Ka-6 without tow out
> > > gear. I was thinking of cobbling together my own, but I'd love to see
> > > some examples first.
>
> > There's a Ka-6 in my club. Its tow-out gear looks remarkably like the
> > stuff I use on my Libelle. He has a fairly broad tail dolly collar, at
> > least 3/4 as wide as its diameter, with the usual clip-on tow-bar, which
> > has a U-shaped platform for the tail skid. I don't recall anything unusual
> > about the wing dolly.
>
> > --
> > martin@ | Martin Gregorie
> > gregorie. |
> > org | Zappa fan & glider pilot
>
> Sounds like something that could be built. anyone got any suggestions
> on making your own tail dolly? I was thinking of using the fuse as a
> mold for some fiberglass (with a layer of plasic as a release of
> course).
>
> any input?
>
> thanks
>
> Peter
>
> Did it myself; but use a layer of thick felt rather than a sheet of plastic
> since you'll want felt inside the finished dolly to protect the fuselage.
> Also helps to have access to a vibrating saw to cut the dolly off -
> hospitals use them to remove plaster casts.
>
> Simon

www.mcmaster.com for felt. Use the synthetic 1/8 or 3/16. 1/8 is
plenty thick for glass ships, but you might want 3/16 for wood

Frank Whiteley

[[email protected]]

On Mar 24, 8:10*am, vontresc > wrote:
> On Mar 24, 8:21*am, " > wrote:
Pete,

Talk to Mike Reyes. I think he built a wing wheel thingy for his K6.
As I remember it was a lot of work. I'd say screw it and spend the
time flying.

Matt

>



> > Any ideas for tow out gear, for this, or other *wood and fabric winged
> > gliders? Photo's of workable arangements greatly appreciated.
>
> > Regards
>
> > John
>
> Actually I am in the same boat. I just bought a Ka-6 without tow out
> gear. I was thinking of cobbling together my own, but I'd love to see
> some examples first.
>
> Peter

[Martin Gregorie[_1_]]

On Wed, 26 Mar 2008 16:04:57 -0700, Frank Whiteley wrote:

>
> www.mcmaster.com for felt. Use the synthetic 1/8 or 3/16. 1/8 is
> plenty thick for glass ships, but you might want 3/16 for wood
>
> Frank Whiteley

Both the wing and tail dollys that came with my Libelle are lined with
6 mm (1/4") thick carpet. That works pretty well. The wing dolly has a
light frame made from steel strap on the underside to support the
struts. The main strut is a T piece welded from tube and with an old
bicycle fork welded on the end to take an ordinary 16" cycle wheel. The
cross bar of the T pivots near the trailing edge of the wing cuff. There's
a light gas strut running from the top of the fork to a pivot near the LE
of the cuff for suspension. Its 20 mm (3/4") in diameter and about 500 mm
(18") long. Its off a car body - supported a BMW's trunk lid at a guess.

One word of warning: DON'T build up the swivel wheel platform under your
tail dolly with car body filler and try gluing the wheel mount to it. The
tow bar applies a lot of force to the wheel, especially if you're braking.
If it sheers off you *will* wreck your rudder when it hits the back of
your car. I've seen that happen and analysed the dolly failure afterwards:
that dolly was an accident waiting to happen.

Better to build up the platform from laminated up 6 mm ply. Use
at least 4.5 mm (3/16" bolts to attach the wheel to the ply assembly and
both epoxy and more bolts to attach the ply to the fuselage cuff.
Finishing the job with one layer of 100 gsm (3 oz/yd) twill weave glass
cloth over the ply will weatherproof it and give a nice finish.

HTH

--
martin@ | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. |
org | Zappa fan & glider pilot