Bill Wade wrote:
*****************
According to the manual it appears that in 1996 the wing
root fairings ended close to the wing TE. The instructions for the the
extensions are dated from 1998, so I'm guessing they were added at the time.
Can anyone with a long memory tell me why the
extensions were added? Are they for looks or do they have a real function?
Thanks- Bill Wade **************
I’m answering this because my kit #318 is 1996
vintage so it would seem to have some relevance to the question. I think
you’re referring to the V shaped fairings that extend past the main gear
wheel wells. If so, they were included in my kit and I do not recall seeing
any earlier IV’s that did NOT have the same feature. I think the importance
of them becomes clear when you start to do gear retraction tests. They
make the fuselage just wide enough for the wheels to retract into the wells
without rubbing.
Unfortunately for me I used the manual instructions to
the best of my ability to align them and I got them just a little too low at
the aft end. The result is that they didn’t entirely accomplish the
desired result. The mains didn’t have enough clearance to retract
without having doors that climb up the side of the fuselage. I ended up
making two “bubbles” that bulge out at the wheel wells. Good
news is that they didn’t turn out to be particularly unsightly and
were not that difficult to fabricate. I would probably rip the
extensions off and redo them if I were building the plane again.
Lesson to learn is that using the retraction geometry to
position the fairings might be more appropriate than trying to follow the landmark
positioning process recommended in the manual.
Regards,
John Barrett, CEO
Leading Edge Composites
PO Box 428
Port Hadlock, WA 98339
www.carbinge.com