Thorp Air Command - T18.net

Did anyone lift (or jack) their airplane prior to installing the landing gear fairings to get the weight off the gear for proper fairing alignment? I see the RV guys do that but i believe our gear is more stiff.

Not I...

RB

Thorp's drawing 865 has the gear leg fairings designed to be permanently riveted on. I notice some builders seem to join them up with a piano hinge instead, I presume this is for easy removal. Do the fairings need to come off often enough to make it worthwhile going with the piano hinge? Are there any other benefits one way or the other.

I used the piano hinge on the back edge of my gear leg fairings, I flew the plane for a year before I did the paint and wanted them easily removed.The fairings I made are non-standard, they are wider at the top than they are at the bottom. The hinge has worked out very well, but it does take some extra hours to get it right by comparison to useing the standard method of sewing them up with Rivets. I have also seen a few that had screws in place of rivets, Its all just a matter of preference Im Sure.......Dan

#6 round head screws and nut plates.

RB