Re: [GZG] Help with 15mm Landing Gear

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,

I can imagine a lander like the one in SST or several of the others I've
seen as miniatures using a retractile Eagle-esque landing pad.

The eagle pad is characterized by a broad, square landing surface,
possible
upturned at the edges. It has a single post (square or round) mounted to
the
center of it that connects it to the lander. What stops these from being
retractile on hydraulic jacks to actually go flush to or maybe even be
part
of the belly of the lander?

Put down four of those nice big, square pads and you have helped limit
ground pressure, spread the load, helped stabilize the lander, etc. The
one
aspect is you'd leave popping them out until just before you touched
down
because they would be aerodynamically drag-inducing.

I think many troopships look like 'a box with wings' and if the box has
integral jacks (either inside or just outside the box shape along the
sides)
that end in these square retractile pads, you'd get a good solid result.

Wheels make sense when landing STOL or long strip style and on
reasonable
sorts of ground. Skis are good for worse terrain (snow and grass) but
don't
beat the square pads *except* that they can be fixed mounts and ski
planes
tend to be of that sort (skis are somewhat areodyanmic). Floats are also
generally fixed mounts or a hull design issue. But if you have
retractile
gear capability, and want rough terrain landing, round or square pads on
a
post are probably as likely as anything. (see Apollo... see other
projected
lander designs that involve VTOL landings not on concrete....).

TomB

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