Question: What is the difference between Trike and Tail Dragger landing gear?

Short Answer: Trike models have a nose wheel and two main wheels. Tail dragger models have two main wheels and a tail wheel or tail skid.

Better Answer: Trike is slang for TRI-cycle... TRIke gear uses 3 wheels and looks much like the front and two main wheels of a kids tricycle... hence the name Trike Gear. Think of a kids tricycle and you know what it looks like. The front wheel does the steering.

Tail Dragger is a slang term for aircraft that do not have a nose wheel. Tail draggers have main landing gear and a tail skid or tail wheel. Generally we think of Tail Draggers having only the two main wheels but in fact they may have a small tail wheel as well. On some models the small tail wheel is coupled to the rudder so that the airplane can be steered left and right more easily when it is taxiing on the ground.

In general, and there are lots of exceptions... trainers have a high wing and trike gear. Most beginners who are learning with a trainer and many other RC flyers find trike models easier to steer on the ground provided the runway is smooth and the grass is not long. For rough fields or runways with coarse gravel or longer grass, trike gear can be a problem and tail draggers work better. Some trainers and lots of sport and scale airplanes are tail draggers. Some trainers give you a choice... trike or tail dragger... the VMAR Apache for example offers both configurations with all the parts in the box for either set up.