Fokker Triplane Landing Gear Wing

RocketMan · 26 January 2021, 01:12 PM

Does anyone know why the Fokker DR-1 landing gear wing had detachable plywood sheeting aft of the leading edge? There is nothing inside the wing that would need servicing. Sands drawing has many blind nuts that he called out to screw the top mid section down to stringers between the ribs. I don't want to duplicate it if it has no value. purpose.

rsanz · 26 January 2021, 10:39 PM

The real Fokker Triplane axle wing did NOT have the same features as the Sands drawings.

Edit: Added the word NOT which I inexplicably left out if my reply!

RobW · 27 January 2021, 05:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RocketMan

Does anyone know why the Fokker DR-1 landing gear wing had detachable plywood sheeting aft of the leading edge? There is nothing inside the wing that would need servicing. Sands drawing has many blind nuts that he called out to screw the top mid section down to stringers between the ribs. I don't want to duplicate it if it has no value. purpose.

Bungee adjustment and probably just to facilitate repair. The axle wing is in a vulnerable spot liable to be damaged.

RocketMan · 27 January 2021, 11:30 AM

Thanks for the response

I believe that you are right about Sands wing being close to the original. design The possibility of making repairs also crossed my mind. Rough landings on potentially unimproved farmland probably wasn't kind to the landing gear. That being said, the shock cords have dedicated access doors and the axel can't be removed from the wing. At least one of the outer ribs would have to be removed. The slotted clearance holes aren't large enough to accommodate the anti-rotation blocks welded to the inner axel. And... I don't know if its true but I read somewhere that if the gear was damaged, that it was standard practice to just replace the entire assembly. Fokker had a ball-and-socket on all 4 V struts where they attached to the fuselage.

rsanz · 27 January 2021, 09:39 PM

Please see my edited response above.

RocketMan · 28 January 2021, 06:47 PM

Ron was a great guy but he did leave a few things out of his drawings (like the canted inner wings on the middle wing). I didn't find out about that one until I was doing a fit check of the wing on the fuselage. Fixing it wasn't too hard but it still was no fun. When I started cutting into the leading edge I felt like I was doing surgery on one of my children.

I didn't know he added things too. I'm thinking of just sheeting the whole wing with two large sheets and a formed leading edge. That simplifies things. I still don't know why he drew it up the way he did.

Falcon20Commander · 29 January 2021, 02:56 AM

Not to hijack the thread, but what plans are the most accurate? I understand RS plans are great, but is there better even?