Asanders

thanks for the info Tone. I flew it today, no retract. So I put it up on the stands, started the engine and tested the gear with the engine running. From idle to full throttle they worked fine. Flew it and no joy.

I then walked the plane to the runway with the gear turned off, started the engine, turned on the gear and took off. Both gear retracted, awesome flight. Both gear came down and nice soft landing. Not sure what this means. I figured maybe while taxiing the plane I am putting a load on the gear and they are turning off to prevent the binding and draining of the battery. I will fly her again tomorrow and see if this works again.

First flight in 5 that I had it with the gear up. Love this plane!

Asanders

Cousins waiting for the thumbs up!

irocbsa

My Feedback: (12)

Beautiful!

kahloq

I did that exact same thing but just used electrical tape

irocbsa

My Feedback: (12)

One of the first things I did was to check those joints. They're intact, although I will plan on hot-gluing them in the future to provide some strength. They really are just hanging out there waiting to be broken.

Tone Price

Now this is interesting because the only other thing I could think of at the moment would be interference from the engine. The way the gear work is they "amp out" then shut down. Whether this is 1mm from their retract point or the end where they're supposed to, it's all due to the gear drawing a certain load then the controller box cutting power. This does not shut them down forever, or until the power is cycled, it's only shutting them down for that specific actuation.

Is it always the same gear that never goes down with you guys or is it left or right randomly?

Asanders

Tone, it has always been the right gear that does this. I am running separate batteries for the power. They worked fine with the engine at full throttle sitting on a stand.

Tone Price

Switch the outputs from the controller board for each motor so the left to the right and the right to the left. I'm curious to know if the problem is with the board and it switches to the left, or if the problem is with the right motor itself.

irocbsa

My Feedback: (12)

It's always the same side on my plane too. As you know, I've been through 2 boards and it does the same thing. I don't think it could be interference from the engine since both gear will cycle fine with the engine running on the ground. I could run the battery dead cycling them on the ground, they're like clockwork. It's once you take off that's the problem.

Tone Price

I'm going to send you out a new main to try as it's down to the motor or possible obstruction now. In the meantime, triple check to see if somehow under vibration/air resistance the right motor isn't amping out unnecessarily (as in stuck up against something obstructing its path).

irocbsa

My Feedback: (12)

Hey Tone, I'll send you an email.

Asanders

heading out to fly now, I will change up the leads, also this is the board that has 3 leads ( tailwheel) does it matter which lead?

Tone Price

Nope, doesn't matter, they all have the same function for the motors!

Asanders

Tone, I switched leads and this time the left gear did not go up. I then put the left gear on the 3rd connector and it also did not go up in the air. All worked fine on the ground and with full throttle on the ground but not in the air?

Out of 8 flights I have only had one flight with the gear up.

thunder21

My Feedback: (2)

I finally got a chance to attempt the maiden flight on my FW-190 D9 today. The XYZ 53cc twin performed flawlessly, and the model flys like a trainer. I took off into a very slight headwind, and the model was airborne in 50 feet with very little throttle. I think I'm a little tail heavy since the model took a lot of down trim for level flight. I don't have the cowl on yet, so that will help fix the tail heaviness. It also took a healthy amount of right trim. The left aileron is down more than the right aileron is up, so I'll adjust the linkages to even it out. The ESM main landing gear worked well, although I do not have the gear doors mounted. My bashed ESM tail wheel also worked without problem. It's neat to watch a low flyby with the tail wheel retracted, it was certainly worth the effort.


The model is incredibly stable. A perfect choice for a first giant scale warbird. I couldn't detect any negative tendencies. Stalls are straight forward, and it takes quite a bit to get into one after chopping the throttle. The flaps make the model slow to a crawl and I needed 1/4 throttle just to maintain forward flight. Dropping the flaps without the gear down made the model balloon pretty bad, and I had to hold down elevator. With the gear down the down stick requirement was vastly reduced. The guys watching said they couldn't believe how slow it was on landing. They thought it was going to stall at any moment. And that was with less than 5mph wind. I felt like I had complete control all the way down to the ground. No rocking at all. I kept the elevator steady, and blipped the throttle to extend the glide slope until it was in front of me at about 3 feet high. From there, I just had to reduce the throttle to descend to the ground. I bounced the first landing, but the second landing was just a slight hop without getting more than a few inches up. I wish I had time for a few more flights, but I had to go to a cookout with the family. What a great Memorial Day maiden!

ticketec

My Feedback: (2)

Congrats thunder21,

She sure can slow up nicely! never ceases to amaze the peanut gallery when you do a nice slow pass with full flaps out and it's slower than their trainer landing

I've always extended my gear on pass and then extend to 1/2 flap on the downwind leg. ballooning can also occur if your moving too fast as you extent them. I have mine slowed right up which will also help to stop some ballooning.

You'll have to post up some pic's!

Thanks

dave

Asanders

Awesome Thunder! I have 12 flights on mine now. I wanted to fly yesterday but the weather/wind was not cooperating. I am still having issues with the esm electrics. I have even installed another servo that will turn off and on the power to the retracts to reset them. This has worked but is way too much to expect. I am wondering if I am getting too much wind resistance from the gear doors as I have flown the plane with them on the whole time. I guess I will have to take them off and try a flight without the doors on, although it really detracts form the appearance!

kahloq

I had the same problem with my DO-335 esm electric gear. I could get them to go up just fine, but coming back down was a problem. I had to slow the plane down a good amount to get them to come back down. All this is also without and gear doors on.

kwik

Perhaps putting some grease on all the sliding surfaces could help. There is an awfull lot of friction at a certain point when retracting a Focke Wulf gear.

Even with pneumatics it helps with some grease.

Asanders

Grease it is. I dont want to take the gear doors off, that is what makes the 190's landing gear look awesome.

Takk for det Kwik.

thunder21

My Feedback: (2)

Good point. I lubed the jackscrews and pivot points with white lithium grease before ever actuating the retracts. I'll re-inspect every few flights to make sure dirt isn't building up.

thunder21

My Feedback: (2)

Darn, that stinks. While the gear doors could be the problem, it definitely sounds like the retracts are binding somehow. The way these retracts work, with the controller sensing high amp draw and shutting them down, you'd expect the binding to be equally as bad on the ground, though. Have you tried getting them to stop on the ground by applying some pressure to them as they retract? In any case, lube can't hurt, though.

I was worried about the gear retracting because I'm using much heavier wheels than stock. The Williams Bros 5-1/4" wheels I'm using are nearly twice the weight of the 4.5" stock ESM wheels.

thunder21

My Feedback: (2)

I've got mine slowed to three seconds. I don't like an abrupt pitch up, and that does smooth out the transition along with lowering the load on the servos.
There was a guy at the field filming the maiden, so I'll have to see if he uploaded it anywhere. I maidened without the cowl, and wanted to hold off on field pictures until after the cowl was mounted. Hopefully I'll get some pictures this coming weekend.

kahloq

I used 5" robart aluminum hub wheels with brakes on the mains for the do-335 and the ESM electric gear pulled them up fine on 6v

Asanders

I think I am lusting after my Focke Wulf...