I recently obtained a set of skis from a local hobby shop, Roger's Hobbies in Saginaw, MI, to use on CL airplanes in standard tail dragger configuration. He had them listed for $19.95 from a retail price of $24.95. Below I have inserted the Tower ad for these and the ad directly from Du-Bro. The part number is 825.
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXWH30&P=7
http://www.shopatron.com/product/part_number=825/101.0
The package contains all of the hardware you need to install the skis on to the landing gear wire or wheel stud. The instructions were on the back of the package on how to install them. I did find it a bit tricky to tighten the bolt into the right position as you have to flex the ski out of the way to get access, but it was not impossible. Another item that I had concern about were the runners on the bottom of the skis pulling the airplane in towards the center of the circle. To cover this, I purposely had one turned outwards.
I was able to test fly the set up today on a Bi-Slob at the Event for the Insane and can report that they worked well. No issues with tracking on take off and no excessive drag. The landing went smooth and the airplane did not dive into the soft snow or flip over. The supplied spring does a nice job of keeping the skis in position. I did not have any flexing during flight. One of the downsides to these skis is that the all up installed weight was about 4.5 ozs. This brought the weight of the Slob to around 43 ozs. While the airplane was a little heavier, it did fly fine but I did notice a decrease in line tension on the upwind side of the circle. Not enough to keep from flying, but I was certainly more comfortable down wind. We had winds of about 15 mph.
If you would like to fly in the snow and are looking for an easy way to change your airplane over, these skis seem to fit the bill. Since I had plenty of ground clearance it was not an issue, but I would expect a change of about 3/4" depending on your current wheel size.
John Paris
Some pictures
The product
[photo not recovered: 31689.jpg]
The test sled
A view from behind
A close up of the installation detail
A view from the front
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXWH30&P=7
http://www.shopatron.com/product/part_number=825/101.0
The package contains all of the hardware you need to install the skis on to the landing gear wire or wheel stud. The instructions were on the back of the package on how to install them. I did find it a bit tricky to tighten the bolt into the right position as you have to flex the ski out of the way to get access, but it was not impossible. Another item that I had concern about were the runners on the bottom of the skis pulling the airplane in towards the center of the circle. To cover this, I purposely had one turned outwards.
I was able to test fly the set up today on a Bi-Slob at the Event for the Insane and can report that they worked well. No issues with tracking on take off and no excessive drag. The landing went smooth and the airplane did not dive into the soft snow or flip over. The supplied spring does a nice job of keeping the skis in position. I did not have any flexing during flight. One of the downsides to these skis is that the all up installed weight was about 4.5 ozs. This brought the weight of the Slob to around 43 ozs. While the airplane was a little heavier, it did fly fine but I did notice a decrease in line tension on the upwind side of the circle. Not enough to keep from flying, but I was certainly more comfortable down wind. We had winds of about 15 mph.
If you would like to fly in the snow and are looking for an easy way to change your airplane over, these skis seem to fit the bill. Since I had plenty of ground clearance it was not an issue, but I would expect a change of about 3/4" depending on your current wheel size.
John Paris
Some pictures
The product
[photo not recovered: 31689.jpg]
The test sled
A view from behind
A close up of the installation detail
A view from the front
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