dschroeder

My Feedback: (40)

I'm going to build an ultra sport 1000 as a twin, using a pair of RCGF 15cc Gas engines. trying to decide if I should spend the extra 400 to put retracts on the bird, or just go fixed tri. gear.

jay2000dakota

If it was me I would say go big or go home hahaha, retracts are alot more work but it makes the plane much more sleek looking.

ARUP

See if the retracts will fit some future build. That's how I 'justify' my obsession... I mean purchases!

dschroeder

My Feedback: (40)

i was adding it up today, its kinda scary that this project got this expensive this quick...but its alot less than a turbine

450 in the kit plus mods
400 in engines
115 for a pair of pitts mufflers
400 for retracts and hardware
175 in servos
50 in batteries

airbusdrvr

And that is not all
Covering/paint, tanks, switches, etc.

jetmech05

Have you seen the advertisement for down and locked? It's an electrical retract system that looks real good to me...uses an electric motor to turn a jackscrew. From what they say it uses very little power from the battery and has all kinds of fail safes....
You send them a mechanical or pnumatic retract and they fix it up and send it back to you.
If I have any trouble from my current system I'm gonna give them a try

Augie11

It's surprising how the cost adds up on a nice plane. But when it's done and you bring her out there it's worth it. So long as it doesn't deter your wish to fly her!!! Just keep in mine that there are a lot of folks out there who put $1200 just in the engine.
A friend of mine cautioned me when I built my first plane with pneumatic retracts that I had just doubled the complexity of the plane. He was right! But the is nothing like hitting that switch and watching those wheels tuck away. Nothing. Unless you count seeing them come down again

All that being said, a buddy of mine who is a heck of a builder, has had a twin Ultra-Sport with retracts for about 8 years. It's not the 1000 but rather the smaller one- maybe 68" wingspan with a pair of OS .32's on it. Boy does it fly and it sounds just terrific. So give it a go and let us know how she comes out. Those new electric retracts that someone mentioned might just be the ticket.

Good luck!

LargeScale88

The airplane will look better, go faster, and more fun to fly.

Its more about the money, and experience to put them in.

BTW: What kit are you doing this with? How are you going to modify it?

dschroeder

My Feedback: (40)

I bought an ultra sport 1000 kit from a buddy of mine a few months back, pretty much going to build it following the plans (besides making it a twin)

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

Retracts look cool. They do add to the speed. That's about it on the plus side. Retracts cost a bunch, they are more work to set up, they tend to be more of a problem at the field, they tend to fold up on any bad landing and more damage is a result plus fixing the gear. I just finished a Dirty Birdy and I was installing my Spring Airs in it but I found I had a leaker so i went over to fixed gear. I was going for the cool factor but I have several sets of retracts on hand so no money was needed. I didn't want to go air/air on this plane just so it looked cooler. I really do like the Spring Airs though. I'm having them repaired for my next build. Just depends on how much the cool factor is worth to you.

MinnFlyer

My Feedback: (4)

An Ultra Sport without retracts is like a girl in a tight sweater without... well, you know

I say go retracts!

airbusdrvr

I agree everybody should do retracts at least once. Been there, done that and got the T-shirt. And have plans to do it again. There is, what I consider, an attractive alternative to the wire wing mounted gear on the US1000. I used a set of Great Planes Ultimate Bipe landing gear and wheel pants. Painted them to match the Ultracote covering. It looks a bit more sleek than the kit supplied gear. Of course, this only works if you want a taildragger. For a trigear twin engine configuration, one should have no problem using retracts as the nose gear can retract into the fuse where the tank would normally go.