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Q-talk 149 - Extreme Mods

by William Shoemaker

[Editor's Note: I got the following pictures and text from William Shoemaker in Colorado. To me it seems that someone is adding unneccessary weight and complexity to an already good design. Please note that these mods have not been proven in flight, please DO NOT attempt to emulate anything you see below. I urge you (and William) to seriously weigh the consequences of ANY design changes.]

Here are some close-ups of the mods to my Q200 project.

William Shoemaker's Split Rudder mod
The split rudder

The split rudder is drawn together by strong springs that are part of the tail-wheel assembly (shown in the picture). It requires a fair amount of rudder pressure to actuate it but it looks like enough surface area to be fairly effective.

William Shoemaker's tailwheel mod
40 gal. rear fuel tank

The fuel selector is between the seats in the center of the console. I may move it because it is where my arm rests behind the control stick. The fuel door for the rear tank is exactly like the front tank and is under the leading edge of the main wing. The tank itself comes up to the bottom of the access doors(seatbacks), extends back about 18 inches and runs the width of the fuselage and holds 40gals. The total fuel capacity is 60gals. That’s nearly 10 hours of endurance (a lot longer than my kidneys will tolerate).

William Shoemaker's tailwheel mod
Tail-wheel/Rudder assembly

My canopy is forward tilting, but that seems to be a fairly common mod. I need to find a way to mount gas struts to hold it up. It was designed to have an over-center rod extension at the center, rear of the canopy, but it’s a pain in the arse to lift. It also runs the risk of being bumped while getting in/out and falling on my head.