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Thread
:
Modified Skystriker Landing Gear Mechanism
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04-04-2021, 11:45 PM
Zap Rowsdower
A Makeupless Clown
Join Date: Sep 2015
Location: Ohio
Posts: 5,271
Installation Instructions
These photo instructions assume you already know how to open up the main body of your vintage Skystriker. If you aren't already familiar, I don't have any photos for that but the basic idea is this: you take out all of the screws from the bottom of the plane. There are seven screws holding it together, if my quick count is correct. Once the screws are out, open the main shell up just slightly, working from the nose end first. There are 4 tabs in the rear on the sides (two right by the engine cavities and two right by the rear edge of the wings) that will need to be squeezed gently to release them so they don't break off. There is a 5th tab on the very rear on the top that you don't squeeze - you just lift the front of the top half of the shell upward and forward and that 5th tab just slides out. Putting the plane back together, you just reverse the steps. First insert the tail-end tab into its slot, then lower the top half of the shell in place from the rear end forward, clipping the side tabs in place as you go. Then re-install the screws in the bottom of the plane shell.
The following photos illustrate the removal and replacement of the interior mechanics of the vintage 1983 Skystriker so you can replace the stock slider/gear thingamajig with my custom upgraded parts.
Starting from the opened-up body, you will see the original black plastic landing mechanism like this:
Unscrew the retaining plate and set it aside. Don't lose the screw because you will need it later...
Lift the original sliding mechanism up and off to remove it, and then replace it with the customized main slider (or "rack?" I haven't figured out what to call all of these parts yet)...
Make sure the landing gear control arms are properly inserted into each corresponding station on the main slider. The landing gear is shown in the "down" position here, but you can do this assembly with the gear up if you prefer...
Lay the wing synchronizing piece (the "U" shaped part with the gear teeth on each side) in place on top of the main sliding mechanism as shown below. In the next step, you will want to install the retaining plate between the front stops (the nubs that stick up in the front) and the rear linkage of the synchronizer, so basically just put the synchronizer roughly centered around where the retaining plate will be installed...
Using the original screw from the original retaining plate, screw the custom retaining plate into place to hold the wing synchronizer and main slider in place. The oblong post on the plane's body should be lined up with the oblong hole in the retaining plate and should hold the retaining plate in place so it doesn't turn or twist when you run the screw in...
The wing synchronizer should now be able to slide forward and backward along the main slider with only fairly slight drag. You should be able to tighten the screw on the retaining plate all the way, but you don't need to crank it so hard you strip anything, so be sensible on this step. The main slider should also be able to be moved forward and backward with the same ease as the original part. If you have a main slider that is binding at this stage, you've done something wrong. Check your landing gear to make sure your control arms are properly in their stations and check the retaining plate to make sure you haven't pinched the slider to the bottom of the plane's shell by misaligning the parts.
If everything seems to be sliding nicely then you're ready to install the wings...
Insert the wings so that the front-most tooth tip on each wing rests in the front-most tooth "root" (the "valley" between the "mountains" of the gear teeth) of the synchronizer, like this...
With the wings in the fully-open position (so they don't interfere with the top half of the main body's shell) and the gear in the fully-down position (so the control handle lines up to go through the hole in the top half of the main body shell), hook the rear tab of the main body shell into place and lower the upper body shell down over the main slider's handle and behind the wings...
Clip all of the tabs into place along the main body to fully close the main shell...
With the main shell now fully closed, sweep the wings back and pull the main slider's control handle to the forward-most position (closing the landing gear)...
Now that the plane shell is secured, you can turn the plane belly-up and install your screws back into place in the shell to complete reassembly of the main body and you're all done. Your Skystriker now has the ability to put the wings into whatever sweep position you wish, regardless of the landing gear position.
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