Great Planes Giant Citabria GP/EP ARF 85"
02-04-2015, 01:06 PM
#426
Since I've removed the gear a few times on this airplane I tell you that you may experience a blind but or two coming loose, if when you replace the screws holding the gear one or two feels that it is turning and not grabing the nut, probably it came out of the wood and it is rotating, what I did was to punch a small hole right under/top of the screw on the skin of the airplane then I pushed the blind with a screw driver ( philip ) into the wood and held it there with the screw driver untill I was able to catch it with the screw from there I just keep screwing the screw all the way, I had to do that twice, finally I put a small patch of monokote to close the hole, done no drama.
Happy landings
Happy landings
02-04-2015, 06:03 PM
#428
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Shrewsbury, MA
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Since I've removed the gear a few times on this airplane I tell you that you may experience a blind but or two coming loose, if when you replace the screws holding the gear one or two feels that it is turning and not grabing the nut, probably it came out of the wood and it is rotating, what I did was to punch a small hole right under/top of the screw on the skin of the airplane then I pushed the blind with a screw driver ( philip ) into the wood and held it there with the screw driver untill I was able to catch it with the screw from there I just keep screwing the screw all the way, I had to do that twice, finally I put a small patch of monokote to close the hole, done no drama.
Happy landings
Happy landings
I had had the same thing happen on the original install of the gear. I had one blind nut come loose. Was able to get a small screwdriver in there to take up space as I tightened it. Not sure what GP was thinking when they designed the gear mount. If you're going to have it bolt in from the inside of the fuselage, at least allow for adequate accessibility to get tools in there to tighten the screws. Getting at the center ones were fine, the end ones were a real problem. As I was tightening one, my T-handle hex driver popped out of the screw head and punched through the covering on the left side.
A lot of colorful language after that happened. I hate having to patch a plane before it even leaves the workshop. The snafu helped me decide where I'll install the fuel and smoke fillers. 
I've started the fabrication of a removable mounting plate that the fillers will be mounted to. This way, i can take it out if I ever need improved access to the screws in the future.
02-04-2015, 06:04 PM
#429
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Join Date: May 2011
Location: St. Petersburg,
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I am delighted to hear this news. It does in some way restore confidence in Great Planes. This otherwise great looking and great flying plane will soon be on it way to a perfect product.
I recently assembled for the first time a discontinued Hangar 9 Corsair. There is no comparison in the quality, Great Planes is in many ways much better. A lot of bang for the buck!
My Citabria is again together again with it's 40 cc twin from VVRC. They replaced the motor again. This time I opened up the cowl more and did some baffling around the cylinders. The other thing is that these motors are run and set in another state, so im sure the carb needs to be re-tuned for sure. So if it is set at a higher altitude, then here in Florida near sea level could mean a big difference. Just wondering how much that could effect the settings.
I recently assembled for the first time a discontinued Hangar 9 Corsair. There is no comparison in the quality, Great Planes is in many ways much better. A lot of bang for the buck!
My Citabria is again together again with it's 40 cc twin from VVRC. They replaced the motor again. This time I opened up the cowl more and did some baffling around the cylinders. The other thing is that these motors are run and set in another state, so im sure the carb needs to be re-tuned for sure. So if it is set at a higher altitude, then here in Florida near sea level could mean a big difference. Just wondering how much that could effect the settings.
02-04-2015, 08:42 PM
#432
I too feel that I must applaud Bill and Great Planes for this move. Upon my graduation from high school I went to work full time in a Northern California hobby shop called San Antonio Hobbies. I was there from 1982-1989. We held customer service in very high regard. At the time we were competing with Sheldons Hobbies less then 30 miles away. Sheldons was a deep discount shop and we were not. We did a huge amount of business in part because we offered solid customer service. We of course purchased from Great Planes and during a trip to the Chicago model expo we made the drive and took a tour of Great Planes hosted by none other than Don Anderson himself. He left me with a lasting impression that customer service was important to the entire GP organization as well. Over the years my confidence in that has faded. I think this stems from what I have seen happen to products that GP has acquired and soon afterwards the quality seems to degrade. I learned early on that people will pay a little more for quality and service, it's refreshing to see that GP is stepping up and showing that they do in fact see that at a time where other manufacturers are not supporting their products that they are willing to listen to customers and doing the right thing. Bravo!
02-05-2015, 08:29 AM
#438
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I checked and mine does not have any. There is a small piece of tape on the back of the windshield that looks like it may of been a tag, but most of it is gone because it was placed over an edge and torn clean off. But none of the firewall.
02-06-2015, 11:36 AM
#442
Today, I called Tower Hobbies about the landing gear replacement to see if I was on their list. They said they were aware of the letter in the forums and that my name was list and that the gear was sent out yesterday. It came in the mail today! That is what I call Customer Service!!!! I have been dealing with Tower Hobbies since the early '70s and I have never had a problem the this company.
I did buy the replacement gear from TNT, so now I'll have a spare set of landing gear.
Rich
I did buy the replacement gear from TNT, so now I'll have a spare set of landing gear.
Rich
02-06-2015, 07:41 PM
#446
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Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Hoodsport, WA
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Waiting for me when I got home, via USPS, was an large, padded mailing envelope from Champaign, IL. Inside was a set of replacement main landing gear for my Citabria. The accompanying letter included exactly what Bax posted in this forum.
Being that I purchased a set of main gear from TnT, I never contacted Tower Hobbies (place of purchase) to get on a list requesting replacement gear. So, apparently Great Planes is sending replacement gear to those that purchased a Citabria, no request needed.
I must say, the replacement gear is identical to the original, so I will still be installing the TnT main gear on my model.
