Hobbyking Bushmaster - Fitting a Carbon Fibre Undercarriage

[Robin Colbourne]

Our club has been donated a Hobbyking Bushmaster for use as a club trainer.  In many respects it is ideal, however the piano wire undercarriage gets distorted in anything other than a perfect landing. 
I'm proposing to swap the hard foam wheels for some low bounce air wheels, but would like to fit a carbon fibre undercarriage, as it would save me having to correct the tracking every time and also give our pupils at least a fighting chance of a non-squirrelly takeoff.
Have you or anyone you know already done such a conversion on a Bushmaster or a similar EPO foam model?  If so, how did you do it and what was your experience of its survival once done?

[J D 8]

 Careful what you do here, the right carbon UC one with a good flex may be ok in the downward direction but when pushed rearwards in a bad landing bend little and the stress pulls the UC out.

 I found an alloy plate type better in bendability, both in absorbing impact and twisting it back to shape. For trainers bend it back wire is best I recon, perhaps fit one of a stiffer wire [ the wire you have may not be piano if it stays bent with ease]

[Robin Colbourne]

49 minutes ago, J D 8 said:

 Careful what you do here, the right carbon UC one with a good flex may be ok in the downward direction but when pushed rearwards in a bad landing bend little and the stress pulls the UC out.

 I found an alloy plate type better in bendability, both in absorbing impact and twisting it back to shape. For trainers bend it back wire is best I recon, perhaps fit one of a stiffer wire [ the wire you have may not be piano if it stays bent with ease]

Hi JD8, thank you for your reply.  Yes, I'm conscious of the fact that the main loads from the wire legs are taken up into the fuselage by the vertical portions, and the transverse parts of the legs across the bottom of the fuselage, secured by saddle clamps, act as torsion bars, helping to dissipate the highest loads.   I suppose the ideal would be to retain the upper few inches of each leg and somehow attach the carbon undercarriage to them.