What retract and brake valves
 

Yellow Aircraft FA 18 single and I am looking at the retract set up and brake set up? Should I go with valves and servos or go with something like jet tropics valves??

Its preference, the jet-tronics are the lighter, easier setup, but the servo actuated valves have proven themselves over the years. Personally i like being able to reach in and move my valves without having to power everything up, ex.. when im ready to put my ultra flash up ill pick it up off the ground, set it up on the stand, reach in and push the servo arm to retract the gear. Like i said, its personal preference

If you go with a servo type brake valve the UP-6 cant be beat. The low air loss dual Jetronics is a close second. Xicoy is now making retract valves that rival Jetronics for less $$. I have had good luck with them also.

Like said before sometimes it is nice to just reach in the cockpit and manually put the gear down or up. It helps with loading and unloading. If you leave the gear down during transport the electronic valves are a lot easier to install. IMHO

Jet tronics not tropics oops

No worries, we knew what you meant,,,

Chip, I'm using Jet-tronics in my jets and will be using them on the one that's getting ready to hit the build table. Yes, you do have to power up to retract before transport, but it's never been a problem for me.

For the brake valve, after trying two different name brand proportional valves, I ended up going to the UP 6. Proportional braking with one electronic valve used too much air. (It kind of puffs of air to obtain proportional mode.) On a second valve, it would not fully stop the jet. (Kind of like a closed bellows device.) I have guys in the club that grease the brakes to work around the "to much air use" problem. They give up on proportional braking and just use the locked brake mode and grease the brakes. ?? I have other guys in the club that have had similar "no full stop" issues with brakes. Fortunately, one of the more experienced guys turned me on to the UP 6.

On the retracts, I use an electronic valve. It is either up or down and the first valve I tried worked great. Although, I am putting some orifices in the retracts this winter to try to slow them down a bit.

I have always used Jetronics valves and they work great. I will go with Xicoy next because of price.