hollewud7

I am "trying" to build a hangar 9 corsair ARF that i got last december. The kit is pretty much a disaster, DONT BUY IT.

I need some serious help on one issue... I have to put the talwheel wire in first, then somehow put a 90 degree bend into the wire once its already lead through the fuse. How in the world can this be done!?!?!?!?! It is hard enough to put a good 90 degree bend in a wire before it goes in a plane, how am i supposed to do it while its already in there????? For a diagram of what I am talking about see page 15 ... http://www.hangar-9.com/ProdInfo/Fil...575-manual.pdf

If anyone can help me here I would realllllly appreciate it. I am seriously regretting buying this kit.

hollewud7

I forgot to mention I have been trying to bend the wire by using 2 sets of pliers, but I have only got the wire to bend about 15 degrees.

spiral_72

I think you'll find using a vise is much easier to bend that wire.

I've not built that kit personally, but a LOT of people have. It's a beautiful plane when you get done. Just take your time and enjoy the build, although I realize it's kind of difficult considering you have 19 pounds of raw wood staring at you.

Read ahead in the manual too. As a matter of fact it's a good idea to read it a couple times and make notes before you even start. It's a big project!

hollewud7

it would be easier in a vice, but the wire is already in the corsair

jetmech05

needle nose vise grips might help to hold the wire while you're making the bend.....just make sure the tail wheel is straight while you are bending the wire.....

da Rock

My H9 Corsair was about as good as ARFs get, so it's a bit surprising to see someone suggest not buying that model. It really didn't give any abnormal assembly problems, and the sucker turns out to fly like gangbusters.

whatever............

Leverage works great.
Make it so the wire sticks up with plenty of room to get pliers on it on the side you're going to bend. You've got to have the hardware in place, but it should be pushed down as far as it'll go to let the wire stick out the other side where you're going to create the bend. I used a large set of needle nose pliers to hold the wire. They give leverage to hold the wire strongly. But they don't force the bend to be way out the wire. I used medium pliers to do the bend. They give better leverage than smaller pliers.

BTW, I bent mine closer to the fuselage than shown in the ARF manual so that I'd have a bit taller tail wheel stance. One modification to the F4U over time was to get a taller tailwheel strut. It helped pilots see over that long nose just a bit better and gave slightly better ground handling and rotation. In spite of "cramping" the bending process, it still wasn't a problem. Big pliers that still could get in there were the trick.

Also, sometimes when it looks like the length of the wire won't give you much wire sticking into the rudder (or whatever surface gets the wire) you can epoxy a short section of tubing over whatever length has resulted. The K&S brass or aluminum tubes have a size that will fit and won't be too big for the rudder. So when the bending length cramps you, you can make up for that with tubing. Or if you just want to move the bend and it takes away some length. (I didn't need that trick with my H9, btw.)

wl7cpa

Hanger 9 retracts
Okay I finally got the stock H9 rotating retracts to work. The bell crank located in the wheel well was hooked up with the "Z" bend on the inside hole nearest the retract. This prevented the retract from locking in either the up or down position. Once I put it on the outside hole, I went and made a dozen landings, some not so smooth, with NO collapse or breakage.

The key is to make sure you set them up right and have MAX throw without causing binding of the servo. Unless you make a reallt hard landing, if they are locked you shouldn't break parts on the tracts.

I was ready to junk them until I watched a friend make 20 landings with his and never had an issue. I checked it out and the factory had them attached in the wrong hole. They appear locked, but they are not until the slider is max at both ends of the rail.