Building an RC Plane usually means modifying the plans and design a bit to truly make it functional. In this case, I decided to add some plywood access covers for the retractable landing gear in a TopFlite BeechCraft Bonanza balsa kit. The plans did not call for it, but I have built enough rc plane kits to know better than to follow the instructions completely. Sure, you can build the kit and create a beautiful airplane, but that doesn’t mean you cannot modify it and improve the design.

Ok, so the left wing landing gear mounting plate is complete. What about the Right Wing? Glad you asked. This post deals with finding the best location for my Beechcraft Bonanza’s retractable landing gear in the right wing.

Use Left Wing Landing Gear Location As Reference:

I took some measurements from the left wing landing gear location on my rc airplane wing. I would use this to locate the holes for my right wing landing gear location.

Please see Video For Detailed Instructions on how to mount Robart Retracts in your own radio controlled airplane.

How To Determine The Location Of  The Retractable Landing Gear Mounting Plate.

In Part 1 we covered how to properly measure the best location for landing gear mounting plate holes in your rc airplanes wing.

In this tutorial, we will cover proper set up for drilling those robart retracts landing gear holes. Many times, I get asked, why does it matter when it comes to drilling holes? Well, the simple answer is, you don't want your piece ripped apart by a drill do you? That is exactly what happens if you do not understand proper drilling techniques.

Level Your Radio Control Airplane Wing Before Drilling Landing Gear Rails

Now that the holes have been marked and laid out on the landing gear rails it was time to level the wing (specifically the landing gear rail surfaces) in preparation for drilling accurate holes. It is important to always take the time to set up your work surface before doing any drilling, you will be rewarded with a great looking scale rc airplane if you take the time to set up first.

I used padded shims to help level the wing. I placed these under the trailing edge and wing tip of my plane. You can simply use rags or any other soft material to shim your wing, just make sure it is soft and won't dent your balsa sheeting that you created with such care.

Watch The Video To Learn More….

Now that the holes have been countersunk and made ready for a clean flush mount in my rc plane's wing, it is time to decide where to place the landing gear on the landing gear rails and drill the holes for the monting plate.

The placement of the landing gear depends greatly on the location of the landing gear rails, which will absorb the energy from hard landings (they happen you know). In this case, the landing gear will be place over a double ply rib that is reiforced with a bass wood block for extra strength.

With this in mind, I know that the landing gear should be placed somewhere in the vicinity of this location, but I found that the plans did not agree with my actual robart retracts, which meant I needed to create a mock up to simulate what the landing gear would look like and help determine if there was enough clearance to place it where it needed to be.

When it comes to installing retracts in your rc airplane wing, you may find that your actual retracts do not measure the same as your plans may call for. This was the case with my BeechCraft Bonanza when it came time to layout the mounting plate location in the left wing.

Instead of trying to make due with what I had, I decided to come up with a simple mock up of the balsa sheeting around the landing gear. This simulation made it very easy to determine where my mounting plate should be located, regardless of what the plans called for.

It is important to respect the overall position that is recommended on your plans, especially when it comes to heavier components that can effect the CG (center of gravity) of your rc aircraft. You will see in the video below that I discuss this point out the importance of keeping the structural integrity of the mounting location in mind when laying out its location.

Now, I would not recommend disregarding the plans completely, but I have found that if you think about where components should go in a rc plane wing, or any other part for that matter, it will become second nature to you to find a better solution or improve what the manufacturer provided.