Down and Locked

Bryan you have full control over all the retract functions IE stagger. geardoors. gear door end point adjustments. etc via the small 2 inch by 1.5 inch control board that is part of the system. Also we have all the features listed on the features page of the web site thanks Mitch Stott

tailskid

My Feedback: (34)

Do you think there will be any electronic noise that might effect some of the older radios?

Down and Locked

I wanted to make sure this response from amishwarlord was posted as it brought up a good question.


Sounds great!

Well I got a question for ya.

I'm wanting to build a amphibious plane. It will have P-51 like retracts in sponsons. Can your retracts be made water proof?

So Here is the answer "Yes we can make them waterproof" So for all you float plane or amphibious guys out there come on over to Down And Locked we will take care of you Thanks.Mitch Stott

Down and Locked

We are currently working on that question we should have an answer to that in the coming days the reason for the time delay is its very hard to create the scenarios that could cause interference our current test include flying an airplane with an old am radio among other methods. thanks for your patience Mitch Stott

gkaraolides

Hi Mitch,

Good luck with Down and Locked retracts!

I am interested in building and flying classic pattern ships. These mostly use tricycle retracts with steerable nose gear. I don't already own retracts and I'd very much appreciate it if you'd answer the following questions:

1. Would it be possible for you to modify a set of [link=http://www.retracts.com/Retrax_100.htm]Spring Air 101 tricycle pneumatic retracts[/link] to electric operation?
2. If yes, and since I would be buying the retracts new, how would we proceed? Could this be done, for example, by me paying Spring Air to send you a brand new set of 101's for modification?
3. The modification would certainly void any warranty offered by Spring Air on the set of brand new 101 series retracts I would buy from them. Would your two-year warranty cover the whole retract, or only the parts you supply and fit?

Best regards,

George

Down and Locked

Thanks George for providing the link to Spring Air for the 101 series that saves me a lot of time researching various gears. Tell you what I will do George I will call Spring Air Monday 7/21/10 and ask them how we can handle issues such as his warranty I need to speak to them anyway about our actuators. After I speak with them I will pm you back and let you know what I have learned. Until then the warranty we offer only covers the components that we offer but do realize that any modifications to the gear itself is minimal to none we adapt our actuators to each individual gear. Having the Spring Airs that you purchase drop shipped to Down And Locked will be just fine also, as soon as we complete the conversion they will be packaged back up and sent on there way to you. Thanks Mitch Stott

Down and Locked

Hi again George I spoke with Bill Watton the owner of Spring Air this morning and we had a good conversation about the future of converting his retracts as well as other brands. He acknowledged the simplicity and dependability of our design and we are looking at what would be required for him to offer his retracts with our actuators installed and giving his customers the option of which they would rather have air or electric, in all it was a very productive conversation for both he and I. In regards to his warranty he will have to look at the extent of modification that is required and make a decision if the strength of his mechanism would be compromised. I can tell you that we do not make any modifications to the weight bearing portion of his design but I understand him being reluctant to make that decision without seeing what we will be doing first hand. We will be providing him the dimensional changes that we make in the near future and moving forward with the relationship between Spring Air and Down And Locked thanks again and we look forward to your response on this matter. Mitch Stott

papatango

My Feedback: (2)

+1 on your cusomer interaction on the forum. I rarely post but was delighted to see a maufacturer giving so much feedback.

Will you offer your actuators as a kit, for other applications? I usually use Figarelli linear actuators, but the size and simplicity of yours is genius.

Some applications I'm interested in:

RC:
Flap and leading edge actuation
Landing gear actuation
Canopy actuation
Bay door actuation
Payload deployment/retractable camera gimbals
Folding wings
FPV antenna trackers- tilt actuation

I also have an application for High Powered rocketry(see vernk.net for what that is), to release booster rockets cleanly from a main/sustainer rocket.

Feel free to contact me at your convenience.

Regards,

Patrick
[email protected]

Down and Locked

Hello Patrick sorry to delay in responding to your post on RCU for some reason I wasn't notified that you had posted and just happen to be looking through tonight and came across your post.

Will we offer the actuators in kit form. Yes Peter we can work with you on some of your special projects chances are we will learn something from you that we may be able to offer to other customers.

Obviously your list is long and we should probably discuss over the phone for clarity of your needs and the operation of our actuators so give me a call 828-817-0412 and lets see what we come up with Thanks Mitch Stott

LDM

My Feedback: (15)

Can you please PM me on the cost of converting a Pair of ESM retracts over to your system .They are the rotating gear used for the corsiar 75" span model .
My issue is that I had spent close to $200 on the original gear from KMP , so I can easily fix my lack of Qc from KMP by paying $300 for sierra and calling it a day .
Or attempt to save these with your conversion
Thanks
Lou

Down and Locked

Hi Lou sorry for the long delay but for some reason I do not always get notified when someone post on this thread. You may have already made a decision about the direction you are going with your retract issues but I will answer your questions as though you haven't. Lou the cost to convert the kmp to electric operation will be $285.00 almost the cost of the Sierra gear that you mentioned. But please understand we have converted many Sierra gear at this point not because of a QC problem, but because people a tired of pumping up air pressure tanks, of coarse I realize that is a decision that you will make I just wanted to point out that we convert retracts due to many various reasons and I hope you have reason to convert yours as we would be honored to have you as a customer. Thanks Mitch Stott

AVIOJET

Hi Mitch,

I have readed this thread and the information on your site. If I decide to convert my gears to electric, what happend with my neumatic brakes and all the ancillary involved? in other words are you thinking to release some electric brakes? I fly jets and we need brakes

BR

Jesus

bidrseed2

My Feedback: (2)

If i was to send my BVM retracts to you ( that currently work flawlessly) and had them converted to electric, would i at a later date be able to swtich them back to pneumatic?

What Im rather ineloquently asking is is anything on the retract unit modified, or do you simply add your electric conversion to it?

lookilook

Hi, i had my f16 1/8 gears modified to electric by Mitch and Ron almost 6 months now and they work flawless, i have sent the pneumatics modified and got the pneumatics cylinders back so i quess yes i could revert back to the old system but to be honest i dont, looks more scale like this and no leaks. my doors are pneumatic but Mitch sent me a controller that handles both perfectly. Will sent soon my esm bonanza retracts also.

FCruz

My Feedback: (12)

We fly large 1/5 scale heavy jets, can these gears also be conveted or is there a limitation on how big or heavy the gear or plane can be?

Regards

I.e. Skymaster MB-339, Flyeagle F-14, Flyeagle F-86, etc etc etc?

dpav8r

My Feedback: (6)

Hi All, wish I saw this thread earlier.
You will enjoy electric retracts from down and locked. Great people, great product. I fly 46lb Meister P-47 with this set up and love it.
Go for it!!!!!!

Dave Pedersen

lookilook

fenderbeans f16 1/6 scale has been modified to electric and has no problems with them of what i know so far

prop wash

Down and Locked,Mitch,can you fit a H9 P47 150 gear with your units??? Tom

ram3500-RCU

My Feedback: (221)

Here is our 110" CARF Corsair with an all up weight in the mid 60s.

Down & Locked converted all three gear, the wings, and the canopy to electric.

Mains - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5t_niGsZI34

Tail gear - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkKSBCstNu0

Wings - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOnX7Xbit4A

Canopy - coming soon

ram3500-RCU

My Feedback: (221)

This is our 1/5 scale 102" Meister P-47 with the Down & Locked conversion of CJ gear. She weighs 50lbs.

Down - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-68fLk73H4

Up - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUplefDaYcM

prop wash

Just can't get an answer????

ram3500-RCU

My Feedback: (221)

I tried to give you an answer of sorts. Sorry.

As I tried to demonstrate, Mitch can and will convert most any gear, or even other on-board equipment, to electric. Best way to find out for sure is just give him a call. 828-817-0412

Mitch is a fellow modeler with years of experience with retracts (the reason he started this business in the first place), and is very easy to talk with.

ram3500-RCU

My Feedback: (221)

I tried to give you an answer of sorts. Sorry.

As I tried to demonstrate, Mitch can and will convert most any gear, or even other on-board equipment, to electric. Best way to find out for sure is just give him a call. 828-817-0412

Mitch is a fellow modeler with years of experience with retracts (the reason he started this business in the first place), and is very easy to talk with.

prop wash

Thanks for your response Gary,I'll give him a call.
Tom

ram3500-RCU

My Feedback: (221)

You're very welcome buddy.