PlaneKrazy214

For me personally, I think I enjoy building and personalizing an airplane more than flying them.

Shaun Evans

So.... any idea what's move-fast price for a stripped one with a set of new 615's?

PlaneKrazy214

Tony Iannucelli

My Feedback: (193)

Finally got the Hobby King retract video up on you tube. Only 18 seconds long. These cost $29 plus about $5 shipping. 5mm struts, all hardware, and axles included. I've run them a lot on the bench. Work great everytime, very low battery drain, scale speed, dependable. I use the 90 degree on several other aircraft. All work great.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xplUdKgenKs

raptureboy

I would just add up the current prices for what you have and take off 30% Current price for the corsair is 365 + 139 for the gear so 504 x .70 = 352.80Make it 325 and someone should bite.

irocbsa

My Feedback: (12)

Got a link to those?

Tony Iannucelli

My Feedback: (193)

Here's the link. They don't stay in stock for long. I'm ordering a backup pair as we speak.

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...dProduct=20969

irocbsa

My Feedback: (12)

Hmmmm, looks like the weight of the 60 sized models might be a bit too much for those. I wonder if these would work better?

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...dproduct=14838

I think i remember someone saying that you have to come up with your own rotating mechanism for them, but that shouldn't be too hard. Just a couple of ball links and a stud.

Tony Iannucelli

My Feedback: (193)

The ones I suggest are more than enough for a 10 pound Corsair. I run the 90 degree units in my TF AT-6 and my H9 Spitfire, both 10 pounders, with no issues whatsoever. Nothing on them has ever broken or bent with many flights. They use 5mm struts and axles, double mounting pads, heavy ball links, metal trunions, and the steel is very strong. Plus, they are rated for 7.7 pounds, and will hold a lot more. 30 for everything, not much of a risk.

Tony Iannucelli

My Feedback: (193)

I forgot to tell you IROCBSA, the ones you linked are the ones I'm talking about in my other warbirds. Their trunions aren't even metal but are bullet proof. Same electronics and gearing. But, no struts or hardware are included. The helicopter has the SMALL retracts and weighs 8+ pounds.

Shaun Evans

Hi,

The difference between 90 degrees and 100 degrees on the gear aren't a concern for nosing over?

irocbsa

My Feedback: (12)

So is there a way to easily modify those to rotate? I have heard that there is but the pictures on HK's website are so useless. I can't see any of the mechanism!

da Rock

Are you saying they sell a rotating gear without rotation parts? or.....

If the gear is non-rotating, how does adding some hardware allow what should be a rigid mechanism to turn? Regular gear should not turn, not even a little bit. Every one I've seen has the struts locked into the trunions with no play and no way to get play that wouldn't let the struts fall right out. I can't visualize any what regular gear could be turned into rotating gear with just a couple of ball links and a stud.

Got a picture?

Tony Iannucelli

My Feedback: (193)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xplUdKgenKs

They work fine. 90 or 100? I don't think it's a problem but about a one degree shim at the base would fix that if necessary. Looks like the wheels are out in front of the leading edge to me. Those are H9 tires by the way. The skinny ones in the kit didn't look right. For thirty bucks, I'm giving them a shot. They sure look good and work well on the bench.

Tony Iannucelli

My Feedback: (193)

Rock, the 90 degree gear struts are fixed in the trunion blocks and are held with two set screws, one on each side. I actually double them up on each side and no loctite is necessary. That gear can not be made to rotate unless someone is very clever and they use "e" clips where the strut exits the trunion at the top. The strut DOES rotate on the set I recommended of course. Heavy duty ball links are set in the mounting plate doubler and are attached to the strut. See the picture in the "file" section of the HK page.

irocbsa

My Feedback: (12)

Rock, I was assuming, like Tony mentioned, that there had to be some sort of retention mechanism for the upper strut attachment like an e-clip that would keep it from falling out while allowing it to rotate. For non-rotating gear, I would guess that rotation would be prevented by the strut set screw in the trunion. For rotating setups, you would remove the set screws and attach a nose wheel steering collar to the strut right where it sticks out of the trunion. Lock that collar down, then mimic the ball link setup that's attached to the rail mount as shown in Tony's video to rotate the strut.

Of course, this all depends on whether or not the initial machining had been done at the factory or not (e-clip groove, trunion that allows the strut to pass all the way through it, etc.) It doesn't sound like that has been done, and it would take significant modification to convert the set I mentioned to a rotating set. Hobby King needs to take the rotating part out of the description on their website.

So, I just ordered the following...

Rotating set to try out based on Tony's recommendation:

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...ate_Pair_.html

Two NON-ROTATING sets that I mentioned above for a 60 sized P-47 that I have:

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...m_1pc_54g.html

Hope this clears up any possible confusion I may have caused.

ton2di

My Feedback: (182)

Just ordered one. Thanks for the update.

Tony Iannucelli

My Feedback: (193)

IROC, the pressure is on me. Yikes. Some stuff that might help:

For the Corsair, I trimmed about 2mm off the front edge of the gear cavity to make the retracts fit, and 1mm off one edge. Took two minutes with the xacto #11 and a metal ruler. Also Dremeled out some room for strut loop clearance. For some reason the builders put a curve on the front of one of the rails on both sides. A very thin shim took care of that. I'm not sure it was even necessary but I didn't want to take a chance and distort the gear plate screwing it down too much. I used longer sheet metal screws than came with the ARF to hold the gear on. When you cut the struts you'll see how tough that steel is. And it's 5mm, strong stuff. The gear speed is perfect. You can't control it with your transmitter... at least I couldn't. But I didn't have to.

Regarding the P-47.... the struts that came with the ARF/kit are 5mm and fit perfectly in the 90 degree gear. They are good stuff too, better than 3/16" of course. If I recall some axles came with the ARF so you will be all set with them. The TF Mustang 60 struts also fit perfectly if you need backups. I love those 90 degree retracts. $7.49..... what the heck!! Double up the 3mm set screws on each side. Don't overtighten, it's not necessary. Also, be careful to get the strut even with the top of the trunion. If you push it all the way up it will hit the mounting block and hang up.

Finally, you may have to cycle the gear up-down-up to make them work. I think it's a fail safe. Just guessing on that. I've had my helicopter sitting on the gear and have forgotten to put the switch down when I booted up. The retracts protect themselves and then a full cycle brings them right back to life.

Good luck with your setups. I put my first set in a Hangar 9 Spitfire and used a separate small receiver for the gear and flaps, along with a separate battery. It proved unnecessary. The whole story is on www.modelairplanenews.com Search "Tony Iannucelli" or "Spitfire". The article is called "Spiffing up a Spitfire".

Hope my bragging about how good these are comes true for you. -Tony

PS, love this picture from Tower's web page.

da Rock

Thanks guys..... just finding the right size C-clip would be a show stopper for most people.

gsoav8r

My Feedback: (6)

Ive seen steel nails work just fine as a rotation pin, eliminating the need to find e-clips. I say rotation pin because the pin joined an oleo to the gear trunnion. Think the guy Im remembering swapped out 3mm pins for 6 penny nails.
A 20 penny nail (.203 in) is just 6 thou over 5mm (.197 in) if this chart is right.
http://www.onlineconversion.com/comm...ooth_shank.htm
Could be a solution.
Cheers.

pajaro

My Feedback: (51)

I am putting one of the 60 size arf corsairs im almost done I think ill fly it this wknd so far I do love it very good quality im impresed im using electrick retracts from wing span models they look really good all metal no plastic ill post some pics or video if I can

irocbsa

My Feedback: (12)

Hey Tony,

Thanks for typing out all of that information. I read the article that you wrote as well. Very nice write up, although I agree with you that the separate receiver and battery is overkill. I typically use two 6.6V LiFe batteries that each have two Futaba "J" leads coming off of them. One lead from each battery goes into a separate channel in the receiver, one of the spare leads goes to the ignition module, and the other spare lead goes to the retracts. This setup hasn't failed me yet and allows for some amount of redundancy while not having to carry around too much weight.

I do have to say though, I fully plan to hold you personally responsible for my success or failure with this set of gear. Kidding of course. I will post back up when they arrive and I get them installed. For now, I temporarily installed the fixed gear to get some flights on the airframe. Speaking of, I just wrapped up my Corsair build. I repainted mine in the tri-color scheme, but it's not intended to represent any particular full scale plane. It's a mixing of a few of them with my own personal preferences added in. That's pretty typical of how I paint my birds. Another typical thing for me is installing an engine that is much larger than the recommended one. I do have to say that this plane has taken over-powered to a new extreme, at least in my hangar. She has a 35cc gasser attached to the nose. [X(] It actually went in surprisingly easy. This could get a bit insane, so I've reinforced the appropriate areas and I'm using high torque, metal gear servos on all the surfaces with 4-40 linkages.

I almost couldn't believe it when I weighed the plane, but considering all of the mods, she's quite light at 9.8 lbs. Retracts and struts will probably bring that up to 10.5 lbs. With both batteries installed aft of the trailing edge of the wing, it balanced at 4.25" with no ballast required. I'm looking forward to swinging a big 3 blade prop and outrunning all those Zeroes at the field.

da Rock

Would be a better solution for a lot of today's modelers. Even yesterday's modelers don't usually have a lathe to cut the groove a C-clip would need. At least some of today's would be able to drill a hole for a pin it there isn't a hole already there. Is there?

Tony Iannucelli

My Feedback: (193)

Throw $29 at it. No problem.

Michael211

My Feedback: (1)

Just an observation I noticed for the 1st time overnight... why does this Corsair model lack gun ports on the wings? LOL!

The TF ARF 60 sized Mustang comes with gun port details that are glued to the wing, why doesn't the Corsair model come with them? They're not even in the instruction manual! Arghhh!

The only problem with those ~$29 rotating retracts by HK is that the link which makes them rotate will probably interfere with any effort to add the strut mounted gear door... I'm in no rush right now, I'm going to hold out for some 100 degree LADO's for a few months at least even if I have to maiden the plane with the fixed gear. There is a LADO retracts thread that the general manager of E-Retracts (I think that's the name of the company that bought them) monitors and responds to, it wouldn't hurt if others with this model looked it up and added to the chorus there asking Chris to make 100 degree rotating LADO retracts for the TF Corsair kit and ARF a higher priority... just saying!

- Michael