wfield0455

My Feedback: (7)

I wouldn't get too excited about the tail gear failing. Mine did blow the end cap off the cylinder and a clevis that supports the tail wheel broke. When it failed the tail gear just popped inside the fuse and landing without a tail wheel wasn't really a problem and there was no damage at all. My take on the tail wheel is if it ain't broke don't fix it..

Wayne

JamesPool

My Feedback: (3)

Hello Russ:

I just installed my Sierra gear because my aeroworks gear failed on the second landing. It was a perfect landing, but i crab walked the plane turning it around and one of locking pins sheared - ugh. Anyway, did you find changing the valves was the key to maintaining pressure? I'm still losing pressure at a pretty good rate with the Sierra gear.

On an side if anyone is interested in upgraded Aerowork's gear, please let me know. I've changed out the locking pins from a low grade (brittle) allloy to 303 SS.

JKP

rslstft

My Feedback: (10)

James,
I DID have the stock valves leak air, even after I took them apart and lubed the o-rings. That's the reason I changed to the red Robart's. I've used those in several aircraft and have never had a problem with them. The air cylinders in the stock gear leaked on mine also, so compounded with the valves, I was lucky if it would hold air for an entire flight. Now, no problem.
As far as the tail wheel, I haven't had any problems with air leakage there at all, so I've just left it alone. Also, just a word of caution, keep an eye on the servos for the air valves. I had one the the bottom broke out and quit working. Another person here did too, so I replaced those also.

JamesPool

My Feedback: (3)

Thanks. I'll change out the valves too. And, yes one of my valve servos already failed, unfortunately I replaced it with the same servo. What's the definition of insanity....?

The only other watch out I have is that my tail gear's shock came apart on my first flight. I recommend adding loctite 290 around the end of he cylinder. It's self wicking, so you don't have to take it apart.


Much appreciated.
JKP

Zeeb

My Feedback: (41)

Hey Guys,

Progress, slowly but surely.... lol

Here's a pic with part of the answer to the air system issues and I just happen to have a couple of the original "quality" actuator servos available as well as the actuators and the main gear....

Any way, playing with this air system has shown a difficulty with my anticipated air pump device. I tried one of the Robart style a friend gave me, not much good probably due to it's size and age. Bought a fancy high pressure pump from the bicycle shop that's supposed to go to 100psi for the street tires on fancy bikes, it's small enough it could be mounted on a bike frame. Now it's worked well for cycling the gear as I was working on the mods and setting things up, but I tried to pump the system up to 100psi the other night and gave up at 70psi. Thing worked the snot out of me and the small handle did a job on my hand in the process.

So what are you guys using? Is there a reasonable electric powered alternative?

Thanks

skippyc5

My Feedback: (244)

I'm using a small rechargeable compressor i got from Home Depot. It takes a matter of seconds to reach 120psi.

wfield0455

My Feedback: (7)

I've been using this: http://www.shop.com/Airman_Portable_...l?sourceid=298
The battery life isn't great but it gets the job done for a few flights when fully charged. Mine didn't have a way to
use an external power source but I believe the new ones do..

Wayne

JamesPool

My Feedback: (3)

Hi: Just wanted to add that at Costco they are selling a item called the PSX2 Power Station. It's a 12 battery system with the following features:

[*]Portable and compact.[*]Air Compressor - no problem charging over 100 psi.[*]12VDC15 amp power supply - (fuel pump, battery charger, etc...)[*]12 VDC 400 supply for jump starting - (I use it for my electric starters)[*]And coolest feature is that it has an intergraged charger that keeps the batter at full charge. You just plug it in an forget it .[/list]For 65 dollars it's a steal!

Happy Thanksgiving,
James

n8622t

My Feedback: (8)

Here Zeeb...you'll love this little rig

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_1...=1321931926701

n8622t

My Feedback: (8)

Zeeb, all you need to complete is a basketball needle, a piece of robart air line, and the robart air chuck....nice little rechargeable battery and a compact easy to use compressor....I love mine

Jimmy

n8622t

My Feedback: (8)

Hey Zeeb, I have this one as well and doesnt cost as much...its a very good compressor runs smoothly

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...SIN=B001D5HP40

rslstft

My Feedback: (10)

Zeeb,
This is the one I have been using for several years. It's outlasted a few of my retract aircraft! I've replaced the battery once, but the nice thing is, it's the same 12v battery most of us have in our flight boxes. Just made an adapter to go from the flip locking air chuck to the style air fill valves I use in my aircraft, but I'm sure you can figure something out.

http://www.amazon.com/Campbell-CC-23...936946&sr=1-43

Zeeb

My Feedback: (41)

How much of an air leak before you start chasing it?

Okay guys, Warbird newbie question here; How many psi in how long is okay for an air system?

Both my mains and even the tail wheel will hold 100psi overnight without a noticeable drop on the little BVM gauge, the gear door actuators aren't that tight. First one of the two I checked is losing about 10psi per hour and that's just one of the 350cc dual air tanks. Doesn't seem like a lot but it's a bunch more than the other components.

Oh and thanks for all the input on an electric air compressor for field use. I went looking at the various hardware stores the other day with Sears being the last on the list. I really kind of liked the size and price tag of that little beast Jimmy linked but I should have looked much closer at the webpage. I get down to the Sears store and the box for it isn't all that big, corral a sales person and sure enough there's no battery or charger included..... []

AND.... they're out of single chargers, single batteries, Li-Ion stuff with about the only thing there having a charger was the two NiCD package with a charger for $85.00. Cheap enough for a pair of batteries that retain for $70.00 each and a charger which they wanted $40.00 if it was in stock, but I'd really rather had the Li-Ion stuff.

On the plus side, the thing really works great!

rslstft

My Feedback: (10)

Hey guys, here's a edited video from an on-board video camera on my Mustang. Kinda shakey, but still pretty neat. Notice the inner gear door being pulled open slightly by the air speed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjnVI...&feature=feedu

tom2bell

cool video looks like you have a nice club runway
thanks

Condor060

My Feedback: (2)

We shot a new video for Aeroworks this weekend with a GoPro camera in the cockpit. Thought you guys would like to take a look.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N65U10CJFv8[/youtube]

ThunderT

My Feedback: (18)

Thanks, that was one of the coolest videos I ever saw.

tom2bell

very nice condor!!!!

n8622t

My Feedback: (8)

Awesome Condor!!! I love it

smperry

My Feedback: (4)

I replaced my stock retracts and now I have found a buddy who can use the struts on a model he is building. Only problem is that the struts need to be shortened an inch or two.

Can anyone tell me how far from the top end of the strut, the strut is solid? In other words, how much can be cut off the top of the strut without getting into the spring shock mechanism?

Thanks
sp

Zeeb

My Feedback: (41)

Well been awful quiet 'round here.... lol

Bet you guys figured I'd never finish mine and while it's true that it's not quite finished, I'm down to the fairing and radiator air scoop on the bottom of the wing. It's taken lots more time than I figured but with the time I spent waiting on the engine standoff, the muffler, gear parts etc. I don't feel too bad as I'm never fast putting this stuff together but I think the results are worth my effort. Here's a couple of pics; I built a couple of stands so I could do the gear setup without monkeying around with the fuselage. I used the whole setup so I could set the sequencer, the Robart variable control valves and do leak checks. I doubled up the air tanks using another identical tank from AW to feed the bigger Sierra retract cylinders and for some peace of mind. They work well down to 50 psi. and I didn't bother trying it any lower. In the fuselage you can see the two 1100mah A123's on each side of the fuel tank. I'd originally thought about putting them back on either side of the rx, but that plate just seemed too heavy with the batteries mounted to be sticking it that far behind the CG. Since the second air bottle takes up the space normally used for the electronics, I built some standoffs and a plate that is installed on top of the rudder servo which is removable and holds the JR 1222 PowerSafe rx. You can also see the Electro Dynamics kill switch control mounted on what I call the "gear control plate". Wasn't really enough room to mount it back by the rx with all the wiring.

Not used to dealing with these tight places in a fuselage since I've been flying IMAC birds, but I got it figured out.... lol

I'll post a few more engine pics with the DA-60 and the Blazing Star standoff mount in a day or two when I get 'round to it.

jp02

Hello toall the owners ofthis magnificentaircraft,

First, excuseme forbeingFrenchhavetrouble withEnglish.
InNovember 2011I bought aP51Aeroworkswhichwill be powered byaDLE55.
I just wanted tothank everyonewho participated inthis posthelped me a lot.

I'mbeing set up,and to dateI have not encounteredany major problems.
I hada smallair leakproblemon acylinder.Hejustslightlytightenthe baseof the cylinderto solve the problem.
I am currentlybeing installedradio equipment.

I wish I hadyour opinion on thefail safepneumaticRobartshttp://www.robart.com/products/landing-gear-fail-safe-system
Doesqu'elqu'unwould havealready mounted?

ZeebTell me, why did youset up asecondair tank, iswhat it isto havemore autonomy andwhat itistocompensate forpossible air leaks?

Sincerely,
JP

JamesPool

My Feedback: (3)

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I highly recommend it. Isee its the same one I'm using, and it is sold/made by TamJets. The device works well.

I too added a second tank. You need both pressure and air volume to have the retracts work consistently. In my opinion, the second tank helps keep the tail gear deploying reliably.

Hope this is helpful.

JKPIII

Zeeb

My Feedback: (41)

Okay here's some engine pics with the Blazing Star mount and the new JTec muffler for the DA-60. Note how close the linkages are to the mount and consider how that'd work with the wood standoffs. I've also included a pic of the engine servos, ignition module and the 1100mah A123 mounted in the engine box. I didn't really like the idea of installing the throttle servo where AW indicated and the carb hookups are different than the DA-50. It also opened up that space in the fuselage for one of the rx batteries.

jp02;
Mine has the Sierra retracts which have larger cylinders and therefore will work with lower air pressure but require more volume. It is possibly overkill but as I mentioned some of the reason was for my peace of mind and the tailwheel retract can be a bit fussy as noted in previous posts here, so JamesPool's answer also applies. It's not for air leaks and if you have those you need to figure out what's going on and where they are coming from. I had one of the actuators for the gear doors giving me grief and I used some of the BVM ultra oil, worked great. Mine will now lose about 20psi in a 24 hour period which I think is fine.

JamesPool

My Feedback: (3)

Zeeb - Nice job. Looks very clean. The DA 60 is a nice looking motor, btw

While you are messing with the cowling, I highly recommend reinforcing the mounting holes for the cowling. Could just be me, but the metal eyelets formed into the cowl all broke free and all the holes severely wallowed out. I’ve since repaired the holes with and reinforced the holes with a few layers of 1” sq glass and haven’t had anymore issues. .

Also, regarding your Sierra Retracts… DO NOT forget to put the roll pins into the barrels. I didn’t know about this (they were omitted from my gear) and ate up about 4 props, before asking Sierra why the gear kept folding up on me. Just one of those hobby thingsīŠ.

All the best, James Pool