Warbird Man

My Feedback: (95)

615s are junk. Do your self a favor and get some better retracts before they fail and you end up ripping up a wing.

(Just my 2cents)

Edwin

My Feedback: (2)

Tom,
I noticed that too. I got some sierra's to go in mine and will be rebeding those mounts. You have to open up the covering a little to move the sierra's forward a bit, then they fit like a glove. (a very tight glove). There is a hole already placed in the spar for the air line at the back of the cylinder.
Edwin

predman

My Feedback: (7)

I had the 615's in a tf p-40, nothing but problems. Got a new tf p-40 and put century jet rotaters, problem solved!

pkoury

My Feedback: (7)

Heat is the best epoxy debonder. I have used my covering heat gun to soften up epoxy joints numerous times.

SRQFlyer

My Feedback: (17)

to the OP: Before you go to the trouble of tearing out the original mounting rails - I had the same problem with a CMP Hellcat with 615s. I eventually found that a small sliver (maybe 3/32") of fuel tubing between the plate and the rails at each screw location would "take up" the errors and even provide some shock-absorbing benefits. I have used this setup for several years and this plane weighs about 11-1/2 lbs. As long as I touch down on the runway (asphalt) and not the rough grass, I'm OK. The gear will work down to about 45 lbs. pressure with this setup. This is easy to try and saves the headache of removing the rails.
Good luck!
Jim

stevegauth30

Man this kind of sucks. I'm kicking myself in the arss for not researching them more. I guess I ASSumed they were as good as my other robarts that I've never had an issue with. I'm pretty bummed. I don't have $300 to spend again on retracts, yet I don't want to rip the wings apart on a plane I just spent all this time building. I don't have the luxury to fly on pavement, and the grass is REAL thick at the field so I really need a beefy setup. Sorry, I'm just frustrated.so close to the maiden, yet so far. The sierras do look nice though. I'll have to find a way to get them. Thanks

Edwin

My Feedback: (2)

I'm with ya man. Been there done that. I lost my first corsair to those retracts. Kit built back in the 90s. I had to feather the landings (on grass), even then a lot of the time you ended up with bent scissor links, twisted struts, or loose set screws. After more than a few nose overs due to twisted struts, and several repairs on the cowl mounts, I missed some damage. The cowl broke loose in flight, hit the back of the prop and broke a blade off, killed the engine at about 50'. I lowered the gear and a strut dropped to the ground, crap, bad to worse. Retracted and by then I was getting too slow, a turn to avoid landing in the trees ended in a stall and snap. It rolled over and hit the ground hard. No more corsair. I wont even sell those retracts to anyone.
Edwin

Mpizpilot

My Feedback: (45)

Too funny, I'm having problems with my 615's in my TF ARF Corsair also today. On the 3rd flightbtoday, the left gear would not lock down. Even on the ground I couldn't get the down locks to engage manually. I too should have researched gear for this bird a little more. After everything I've read, these gear should be taken off the market.

stevegauth30

Does any one know if robart makes another 100 degree rotating retract that's of better quality? Or if the rest of the robart setup would work with the sierras? I'm so discouraged, I feel like selling the plane. Or I'll at least have to sell a different plane to be able to get better gear. I refuse to fly it like this.

Edwin

My Feedback: (2)

Afraid not. YEARS ago this same discussion took on a life of its own, and the owner of Sierra said he would make a quality set of .60 sized retracts, and he did. I recently did some research for electric retracts and came up empty. Wingspan retracts has 100deg corsair but there have been reports of quality issues. Lado is pretty good but they only make a 90deg, which is ok if you are good at landing and can prevent nose overs. Its been said Lado was going to come out with some 100deg but havent seen it in a long time. RCLander has some but their design doesnt make sense at all. The motor comes out the front of the retract which means it would stick out the leading edge of the wing. I wouldnt even try that on a P-40. There is also Century Jet. I have no personal experience with them but know buddies that do and they didnt like them. They complained about loose and sloppy and didnt use them. But that was on a big 1/5 corsair and this was many years ago. I've heard a lot of people say Century Jet has cleaned up the quality. They use a spring to do the rotating that I'm not too sure about. Someone on in this thread already pitched in and likes them, your call. If you want electric, about the only option is a down and locked conversion, which is really pricey and not worth the cost on a .60 sized corsair. So we are stuck with air. At least there is a known quality option with sierra. I hate dealing with retract problems and gladly paid the price. Worth the money in my opinion for piece of mind. I really missed my TF .60 corsair and when the arf went on sale I jumped on it. Will be using the new evolution 15cc gasser too.
Edwin

The sad thing is, I feel the other Robart retracts are good quality. I have the 148's to use in a future Meister corsair, and have used a few on other .60 sized warbirds. These are the only duds I can think of.

stevegauth30

Thanks a lot Edwin for your knowledge. As for the research I've been doing all morning, I came up with pretty much the same that you just wrote. I will gladly pay the money as long as the quality is there. As soon as I can raise the $$$. How is sierras customer service? Any idea?

Edwin

My Feedback: (2)

He will get to you. RC is a side business to his real machine shop business. Its better to call him, he's a busy man. He's never burned anybody that I know of, but email replys can sometimes be slow. I called and got ahold of him right away and placed my order that way and got a quick turnaround. He's quick at shipping if in stock, he will tell you if its out of stock and has to make it. It may take a little while then since he has to wait for a some time opening on one of his machines. Real business takes precedence over RC. WAY more money in that. I work with and hire out to machine shops in my job and understand their business model. Holding his retracts in my hands, they are a work of art. Very professional, good workmanship, good design, and very durable. Its worth the wait.
Edwin
I know I sound like a damn commercial but I dont have any relationship with his business, just like his products.

aghost

My Feedback: (13)

+1 on Edwin's comments. I am using 3 sets of Sierra's (corsair arf .60, p-40 GS, p-51 ARF GS).

stevegauth30

I did send him an email, but I will call him Monday morn. Thanks, Steve.