"Veeduber" wrote in message
...
Check out the butt-ugly wheelpants...

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Dear Larry,

Check out Leeon Davis' DA-9. Makes your example look pretty :-)

To me, the example you've cited looks pretty smart. Lotsa folks, perhaps
a
majority, confuse streamlining with something slicker than snot on a door
knob.
A more practical appraoch for the typical homebuilder is to compare the
faired
vs the un-faired drag.

A simple fairing such as the one used by Leeon reduces the drag of the
wheel by
about 90%, weighs only a few ounces and takes only a few minutes to make,
corners and all :-) Or you can spend lotsnlotsa $ and lots & lots of
time to
turn out one of those oh-so-perfect, cream your jeans kinda curves... that
reduces the drag by 95% and weighs ten pounds.

I've noticed that the most aerodynamically efficient fairings, and those
which
weigh the least, are the ones installed on all those airplanes that never
get
built :-)

If it flys, I can live with butt-ugly because there's always a chance I'll
find
the time & money to pretty it up.

-R.S.Hoover

All well and good but I watched Mike Arnold make beautiful wheelpants for
his AR-5. The procedure was more complicated than usual but not as bad as
you would expect and verrrrrrrry light. They were absolutely the lowest in
drag because they were offset from the landing gear strut and followed the
Hoerner rules. If I were making a set, and I have already made one set
still flying and proud of their compound curves, I would follow the rules
Arnold cites and have at it. I wouldn't want to behold myself in the
mirror and admit I had made some as repulsive as those on that
pitiful-looking gyrogoose.

But then, Veeduber, gustibus est non disputandum. Taste is not a matter to
be disputed.