Chapter 13 - Nose and nose gear - Part 9

Nose gear installation complete. Not much to say here, but I thought I would post a few photos to document the completion of this step. Since the last post I have finished taping the nose gear assembly to the forward bulkhead and I installed the crank and crank ratchet.

I am not sure if I like the ratchet mechanism that I am using, but it seems to work fine. I will leave it and keep an open mind in case a better option is available.

Pictured here is the crank and the ratchet mechanism. The ratchet is used to prevent the crank from rotating and letting the retract mechanism move out of position. If the retract is not fully down and locked the gear teeth will break when the nose wheel contacts the ground. In the photo the crank is positioned up, however I made sure that the crank is in a downward position when the gear is either fully retracted or extended so that there is that little extra available panel space just above the crank. Also visible is an aluminium wedge used to ensure the ratchet is angled both down and to the right ensuring proper alignment. The two machine screws are cheap hardware screws and will be replaced with AN hardware eventually.

Nose gear retracted.

Nose gear extended.

Chapter 13 - Nose and nose gear - Part 8

After I assembled the nose gear box, strut and wheel assembly, I test fitted the whole mess to the fuselage and discovered that the nose gear strut was too long. Of course it was, the strut is made long and I was supposed to trim it to the proper length. So I had to remove the castering nose wheel assembly from the strut. That was not super easy because it was bonded in place with flox. However a little careful coaxing and I managed to get it all apart.

Yesterday I finally got around to trimming the strut down and re-attaching the castering wheel assembly. Today I fitted the assembly to the fuselage and installed 2 ply bid glass to attach the assembly to the F-22 bulkhead, however only on the right side. After that layup cures I will move the long bar clamp to the other side and lay up 2 ply on the other side. Then I will extend the gear and lay up bid tape inside the assembly as well.

After that comes some decision making. Do I want an extended nose? Do I use the stock plan nose (which I think is kind of ugly). If I decide to have a longer nose, how long? hmm.....