Tweet
Living in northern Minnesota I think some of the best flying is in the winter, logical I guess. The sky is clear and free of bumps not to mention the many frozen landing spots on lakes and rivers. The airport here has a wide berth on all the runways before the tree line which makes for an excellent snow covered runway during the winter for ski planes. My intention has always been to install skis on the F21A so I considered what had to be done for the ski tab installation so it could be left on the aircraft throughout the year. A simple solution was to machine 3/8 inch long spacers out of scrap 4130 tubing to fit the bolt diameter and purchase longer bolts to extend the tab beyond the gusset on both the front and back of the gear. I also purchased 
stainless tabs from Spruce which were cheaper than fabbing my own (about $3.00 each). The front one was bent to match the ski attachment angle with the springs or bungee cord. As you know now the gear skirts will not fit which I still wanted to use so instead of cutting up the original skirts I used them as a template to fab new ones out of some scrap 030 aluminum, which is slightly thicker than original but also more rugged for the application. This allowed me to cut a larger gap in the front of the skirt to accommodate the bolt extension with the tabs and fit the rear tighter. Obviously, there are other ways to do this but this worked for my application. 
-
-
Great!
Keep us posted!
I also made new upper gear fairings (under owner-produced parts rules) for my US Taylorcraft back in 2016. Not rocket science at all; but some judicious heat required to anneal the metal to get the 180 degree fold along the top edge.
Do you need skis? I am selling a pair as part of an Estate Sale in northern Illinois.
Rob -
Thanks Robert!
Using thicker material for the skirts eliminated the need for the 180 degree wrap on mine.
I dont need skis for the F21A but would be interested in what you have maybe for another project. Are they 1500s with certified tags? Any UHMW on the bottoms? Bushings still in ski hubs? Asking $$?
Rich
Comment
Comment