Great Planes PT-Electric Nosewheel

Great Planes PT-Electric


I modified the plane to add a steerable nosewheel. I used a Dubro 1/2a nosewheel kit. I scrapped the very thin wire that came with that kit, and drilled the nylon/plastic mount that came in the kit to accept the much thicker wire that was originally used on the PT-E. I cut the original gear wire, and used a standard sized collar as the control hookup. Be sure to file a flat spot onto the gear wire at the proper place (45o forward from the firewall) to give the set-screw something to grab onto.

I used one of the "wire-in-a-tube" pushrods to connect it to the servo. This allowed easier routing from the servo up to the nosegear. I used whatever I had on-hand. If you are buying the pushrod assembly, go for the thinest you can find. One of the tips I had read about using a pushrod/tube was to be sure to secure the outer tube, to prevent flex. I actually left the tube mostly unsecure, so the flex helps protect the servo gears. If I was using a smaller/lighter servo, I'd probably add one of those "Servo savers" as a safety measure.

Initial landing attempts with the steerable nosewheel resulted in a cracked firewall. I finally determined that this was due to the steerable nosegear placing all the load on the bottom of the firewall, right where the stock firewall had cooling holes cut. I cut a new firewall, without the cooling holes, and added the "picnic spoon" scoops on the side for cooling.

Once I had installed the new firewall, the nosegear and firewall held up fine, until I nosed into the field at a 30o-40o angle (battery finally gave out, while low, and in a hard bank. I got the wings level, but I couldn't get the nose up in time. The front motor mount, and the firewall got the worst of it, plus some small cracks on the bottom/side of the fuse near the firewall.

You can see that I'm using a Kyosho magnetic mayhem motor. It's an amazing upgrade over the standard thrustmaster motor. Another thing you can see is the "Shaft saver" from New Creations. I had no damage whatsoever in the nasty nose-in crash I mentioned. The shaft saver is as good as new, and the motor is still perfect. This was my first accident since getting the shaft saver, and it paid for itself.


Here you can see the 45o angle of the control-rod hookup when the wheel is straight.


Notice the new cooling scoops to replace the air that had been coming in thru the firewall. I just cut open the covering over the holes already in the fuse sides. The scoops are simply plastic picnic spoons that were cut in half. One of these days I'll cover/paint them.


This is the top view, wing removed. The white tube that enters on the left of the frame, and runs to the bottom servo is the nosewheel pushrod. It passes thru the balsa floor just past the radio.


Another view. Here you can see my new firewall. After my nose-in crash, only the piece of the firewall right under the nosegear mount broke away. So rather than doing major surgery, I cleaned up the break, added a new piece to the center, epoxyed another piece of wood to the back side, and fiberglassed the bottom portion using thin fiberglass cloth, and thin-ca. Seems as good as new.

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