Mpizpilot

My Feedback: (45)

So I'm getting ready to shell out for the 71" FW-190 and deciding on retracts. I see they now offer electric retracts which I'd love to try but I'm not sure about them. I don't like how slow they are(there is a vid on tbm) and it makes me nervous that they come with plastic not metal wheels. Makes me wonder if they're not strong enough to heft up metal wheels.

Any one ever tried the eflight electric retracts in this size plane?

VIRGINIA MODEL BUILDERS

My Feedback: (159)

Mpizpilot

My Feedback: (45)

Excellent, thank you. I'm going to give them a whirl when I can scrape up the money. Looking forward to trying them out. Truly worn out on the air systems

LDM

My Feedback: (15)

i love the look of them and wish they hurry up with the rotating ones !!
I will even donate my esm rotating gear if they want to retrofit my geat !!!!
The only problem with the original esm was the leaks, now they look great as eletric !!!

Oberst

Yes, the .60- 1.20 E-flite Electric Retracts will work with most ESM aircraft. I contacted Horizon and they said it will work with aircraft weighing up to 15lbs recommended.

The ESM Focke Wulf 190 is about 12.8lbs if built light with a 1.20 glow engine. You've got about 3lbs to play with so you should be OK. I have a pair of the retracts and they look solid. Of coarse I'd get the struts for any ESM I buy in the future which might slightly add additional strength if put on right, and it will improve the scale looks a bit as well.

If anyone has used E-flight Retracts on their ESM Warbirds, please chime in because I'd like to read the experience more than what some Tech says trying to sell a product. That's so we can feel safe about using them if you all know what I mean.


Pete

VIRGINIA MODEL BUILDERS

My Feedback: (159)

The retracts wich are coming for the corsair are the new ESM electric retracts.If any one desires to know when they arrive contact us .[email protected] price is$171.00

LDM

My Feedback: (15)

yes i am interested , that is great news !!!! thanks for the update and at $171 that is fantastic !!! .

Pete the problem with esm on a 120 it will be a dog and you will need a ton of nose weight .
If you go 120 glow you will need to modify the wings and move the servos ahead of the CG , and also move all the fuse servos ahead of the CG .
IN addition I would not use the eflight on the Fw190 , you looking at a retract that is not designed for max load at 100% of the time , most of the esm planes depending on the mods build in the 14lbs to 17 lbs , some even at 19lbs .
If you do choose the eflight retracts , you can not use the esm scale wheels , they are beutiful and too heavy for the eflight stock retracts

irocbsa

My Feedback: (12)

Very good info here. I have used the E-Flite gear on my CMP Bf-109 that weighs in at 14.5 lbs with an O.S. 160 in the nose. It's not an ESM plane, but very similar. They are very reliable and retract/extend without a hitch, although I am not using the ESM wheels. I'm using 3.5" Williams Brother's golden age wheels which are significantly lighter. While they are great from an electrical standpoint, they could use a bit more strength. I had a slightly rough landing and it snapped the trunion right in two. They would be great on a plane that's a bit lighter, but when you start creeping up towards the weight limit they obviously start getting questionable. I am currently installing a set of Wingspan retracts which look to be quite a bit stronger. We shall see...

VMB, I've seen the videos of the ESM retracts and it looks like the retraction time is astronomically long. They list the time as being between 40 and 60 seconds! That seems crazy, and practically unusable to me. Is this spec correct? Is there any plan to fix this and speed the time up? I'm not trying to blow up your spot here, just looking for answers. Aside from the retraction time, I really like the look of the retracts and especially appreciate the fact that they come with struts. However, if that retraction time is production intent and doesn't change, I don't see how anyone is going to accept them.

VIRGINIA MODEL BUILDERS

My Feedback: (159)

One of customers just used a 6 volt battery on the ESM Skyraider retracts and has reported to me a cycle time of 40 seconds. I am speaking to Lado at this time regarding their conversion kit designed for the ESM retracts and I believe that with their jack screw conversion the cycle time is less.This is not an established fact yet but, I hope to get theinfo shortly.
I believe the Lado conversion uses a coarser thread on the jack screw and donig so would speed up the cycle.

kahloq

I use the 120 size e-flite gear in a 69" Graupner Fw-190 D9. The plane weighs about 11 pounds. I have robart 4" wheels on them and they heft them up just fine. Not sure the weight difference between those and the esm wheels though.

As for weight of an esm 71-73" plane.....ive got a few with saito 180's in them and they weigh around 14 pounds.

Mpizpilot

My Feedback: (45)

Hopefully by the time I'm ready to purchase, a solution for the long cycle time will be had.

MANFRED

My Feedback: (27)

Yeah they need to change the screw mech. That is way to long.

Oberst

Yes, I have a older 1983-1984 O.S. FS-120 (before surpass)- Looks like a Saito that's a little heavier than the newer O.S. 120FS engines. If I were to get the 109 or Focke Wulf 190 I'd use my Saito FS150GK instead, and the O.S.120 in the Stuka. (Don't have to worry about retracts with that)

I think your right when it comes to the weight facter being so tight. But the question I have is the E-flight retracts can use either a 4.8 or 6v battery. I figure the 6v would give the retracts more power for those ESM wheels wouldn't you think? On the 4.5 they are powerful, I know I played around with them to know.

What I do like about E-flite 60-120 retracts is they are easy to purchase, and with a Servo Delay they operate even more realisticly. With Down and Locked I have to get the air retracts and then ship them to be converted etc. That tends to cost $$$ with the conversion and shipping on top of the original price of the air retracts. All the other electric retract manufactures aren't as easy to purchase and they are not sold at Tower, Hobby People or Horizon Hobby and the cost doesn't match E-flite.

I think the door is open in the future for electric retracts and I know the demand is there. Most of us like me are sitting here waiting for the market to open up for them so it would be easy to purchase them from a large distributor.


Pete

Whistling Death

I don't know if any of you have seen the [link=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TAGx9RKb3o&feature=player_embedded]ESM electric gear[/link] in action on the Troy Built Models site but they are extremely slow.

VIRGINIA MODEL BUILDERS

My Feedback: (159)

They run faster than they show on a 6v

irocbsa

My Feedback: (12)

They're beyond slow. I'm not sure how they are even usable. Let's say you have your airframe and power source set up so that you get about a 10 minute flight per tank of fuel or battery charge. 1/5 of your flight involves some sort of retraction or extension.

What happens if you have a deadstick and want to bring the gear up quickly to ditch in the weeds and hopefully keep from ripping them out entirely? That's not even remotely possible. I wish there was a good way to feed this type of stuff back to the manufacturer. On the other hand, don't you think that they would have done some kind of competitive market research to determine their specs? The E-Flites retract and extend in about 3 seconds. The Wingspans do it between 6 and 9 seconds. The ESMs aren't just way out in left field, they're not even in the ballpark.

n8622t

My Feedback: (8)

Slow aint the word Im thinking of...When my engine quits, heaven forbid, I have moments to get on the ground, not 40-60 seconds to think about it. These gear are telling me its time for a belly landing! Someone needs to speed them up before they go on any of my planes...otherwise a great idea but not thought through before released to the market. Good luck!!

Jimmy

Magnum RC

Good day all, in reference to the statement made here, I wanted to make sure it is known that Lado retract parts are not interchangable with these chinese renditions. The Lado conversion kits available through our company are complete motor, electronics, transmission, and jack screw operation. Now thatESM have made these retracts available in this design, the retrofit can be easier than before when you had to cut the trunion for the jackscrew to pass through. I still feel like the Maytag repairman here at MagnumRC, the US Distrubutor and service center for Lado Products which is a good thing. The French company making these products have several years of R&D and the track record proves it. The retract cycle time is fast. With the many products available at Magnum to offer variables in operations. You can have retract time squeezed into 5 seconds or the max I have recorded so far is 16 seconds. They can delay retracting operation from one retract to another by 3 secs or come up together. There is a gear door sequencer available and an on board battery monitoring system available through the Magnum RC electric retract regulator. This regulator will also work with any electric retract system, not just lado. The ESM retracts have been the easiest retracts for the Lado systems to work in and have an exemplary track record. I hope this may clear up any questions one may have.

n8622t

My Feedback: (8)

Thanks for clearing that up for us Gus
Jimmy

Stiknrudder

My Feedback: (3)

Hi Gus,

Will the LAdo conversions work on the Sierra gear made for the ESM hurricane?


THanks,

Rick

Magnum RC

Yes, I have been successful in retrofitting Sierra's P-47 gear, the Hurri should be on the same par; some of the gear he makes not so much. His air cylinders seem to be a bit short, but with the development of the RS666C units, more of the units out there like the 622 robarts and the Sierra Giant retracts for the ESM F7F Tigercat (which are radically different than the ESM Gen 5 retracts) can only be done with the C unit. I am saying that I will not confirm retrofit until the gear are sent to us for evaluation.

telejojo

I have the ESM hellcat and was wondering if you could buy the electric jack screw for the rotating retracts?

dvs1

My ESM FW-190 flies fine at 19 lbs.

maneba

These are mine ESM corsair '74 retracts retrofit with Lado 666 "normal version".
At 6.1V they retract in about 13 seconds. If you want a video let me know.
They are very expensive. For my next project (a T-28) i'll buy wingspan e-retracts.

[link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_7626632/anchors_10795046/mpage_51/key_/anchor/tm.htm#10795046]Lado retracts installed on ESM corsair[/link]

Mpizpilot

My Feedback: (45)

I went with the ESM air retracts for the 190. If they give me a fit, I'll have them converted to electric. From what I've found out with regards to the ESM electric gear, not only are they slow, but also unable to lift the metal hubbed wheels.