Zeeb

My Feedback: (41)

But be advised that the price for the wheels is each. Some folks have thought because they were kind of expensive, that the price was for a pair.

dubd; yes that's the pair of pneumatics. The electrics get up to about $650.00 when done. I had both versions before I elected to put the Sierras in mine. They were actually a tad less money than the Robarts from Horizon.

dubd

Good catch. I ordered 2. Manual shows a "(2)" next to the part number for the wheels.

Mein Duff

When I used the " Chat " function with Horizon yesterday I specifically asked that question " is this price $459.- or one piece or two ? ( left and right ) he said the price was for one only !!!

dubd

You got bad information. It includes two. Just confirmed with someone who owns the plane.

Mein Duff

Zeeb... I called and left a message with Sierra on Friday...don't see any Corsair Retracts on their website....waiting to hear back. Did you order the set for the Hellcat or P-40 and fitted them to your Corsair ?

Mein Duff

Well that's a big relief...you would think the people you work there and run the website would know what they are talking about...but I still want to get feedback about Sierra Retracts before ordering.
I've heard they are very well engineered and very robust.

dubd

I got my electric mains from Advantage Hobby for about $550.

Zeeb

My Feedback: (41)

Mine are for the P-40 but it was my understanding that Darrell has since come out with a set specifically for the H9 Corsair as the P-40 gear does require a bit of modification. There are some pics and details in this thread about putting in the Sierras, you'll pardon me if I don't track them down for you but you can go find them if you want?

Mein Duff

Zeeb... I spent about an hour recently trying to find your Sierra install info. but finally gave up......we're up to 90 pages now on this thread..will try again.
In your opinion were the Sierra's a better choice that the Robarts ? and for what reason ?

Zeeb

My Feedback: (41)

There is only one post on mine specifically from my builder, D Johnson. There are others with more information and pics by other people.

The Sierra's are scale, the Robarts are not. The Sierra's are machined from billet aluminum, the Robarts are a collection of pieces made by various means and are not as strong.

Darrell probably won't call you back, you just have to keep trying until you get him.

R8893

My Feedback: (20)

I got two for that price.

Todd D

My Feedback: (51)

For those thinking about getting stuff, I got my Corsair last year on Black Friday, Horizon had a 15% off sale, plane, landing gear, wheels, air kit, tail gear assembly, etc. All for 15% off on that weekend. A nice savings, Black Friday is only a few weeks away by the way.

Mein Duff

Zeeb...I tried calling Sierra, and also emailed him just to find out which of his units he would recommend for the Corsair that could be made to fit the Hangar 9...NO RESPONSE whatsoever !!!
Funny way to run a business...I would rather even pay more for better quality and especially if they are more scale......So I couldn't wait anymore and ordered the Robarts....So Sierra lost a nice chunk of change to the competition......

Zeeb

My Feedback: (41)

Well Robart isn't any competition for Sierra. The Sierra's have long been recognized as some of the best retracts produced for our piston engine models, the jets have some more sophisticated and very expensive types of retracts.

That said; Darrell does landing gear for models as kind of a hobby I think and if you approach him in the manor you've displayed here, you probably won't get anywhere. The price that Darrell charges for a gear set would not even make the down payment on one of his milling machines, so I sincerely doubt he'll miss your purchase.

Hope you like your Robarts, lots of people buy them.

Mein Duff

I can assure you that my inquiries were very cordial and considerate.....I was hoping to get that kind of consideration back in return.

chorner

No worries Mein Duff - I can back you up on that one Unfortunately a lot of companies in the general RC segment, are run by guys with next to 0 social skills and even less than that when it comes to an idea of how to properly run a business. I have a short list of companies that are a pain in the ass to deal with and I will avoid wherever possible...

At least with Robart, in my experience they are very willing to help you to correct a problem. I've had my fair share... and I've not once had an issue with being cared for / come to a resolution properly and politely. Other companies, not so much and I'm the same in dealing with any company. That being said, when a company lacks something I call them out on it and force the issue until they smarten up ... or they don't, and I come and post a bad review and speak my mind where others will listen. What goes around comes around!

Long story short... Sierra gear may be decent, but I don't care if I ever own a set and I'll never go out of my way to buy some unless it's just irrefutably the best option out there; then I'll play the "suck up game". It's just how the world works Win some you lose some.

kwik

I would not buy Sierra for the Corsair. I would choose Robarts every time.

Think Spare parts. You can buy spare parts at Robarts web-shop for this gear.

Try to get spare parts from Sierra. It is impossible.

I have had several very hard landings with the robarts. Very, very hard. One out in the fields. Only the oleo-leg itself was bendt. Ordered new ones on Robarts Web page. They were here in Norway pretty quick.

The Robart gear for the Top Flite Fw 190 was not so easy to get spare parts for. Because of the deal with Great Planes; Great Planes sells the gear via e.g Tower. So the spare parts are omitted from Robarts web-shop. Very unfortunate for us customers,

Spare parts are very important when you have RC warbirds as a hobby. One small mistake, and you need some parts for the legs, and your plane is grounded. Important then to have 2-3 warbirds ready for flight, so that the season isnt ruined. And have a type of gear that you know you can get spare parts for.

Earlier on, I got especially the links for the 190 gear after some mailing, but now Darrel dont answer.

I think he wants us scandinavians to go via Bel-air-kits now.

Much easier to just click "Buy" on the Robarts Spare parts web shop.



Also, this has made me look at German products. Many German webshops are starting having english lanuage; Perhaps they have finally understood that business crosses national borders. (The french and italians have not).

Mein Duff

Thanks for that info. Kwik....You make a very good point on being able to get spare parts quickly without hassles from Robart...from what I have read so far they are a very responsible company.
I don't think I will regret buying them...and this is my first large scale warbird.

dmyers0403

My Feedback: (48)

I have had several sets of each and I prefer Robarts over the sierra for the rotation type gear. The Sierra has more slop due to design and the lower scissors are for looks, not functional. If you tighten them too much it can restrict the strut action. They have atendancy to become loose. Robarts may have their faults but I agree that parts availablity and ability to reach someone is worth a lot.

stuka

My Feedback: (62)

What do you guys think about the light kit they reccomend? Is it very bright? What other options are out there for brighter lights that can be seen during the daylight.

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

H-9 light kits are neat but they aren't the brightest in the world.

If you want bright, get Electrodynamics

camss69

My Feedback: (46)

Here's a couple more pics of the Sierra gear. As I posted before I was told these are made specifically for the H9 Corsair. The quality is extremely high but as we've mentioned before Darrel is really hard to get a hold of, he doesn't answer email (I don't even know why he has an email address) you just have to keep calling until you get a hold of him. I had an issue with the axles he included and it took several weeks to get new ones but I did get them. The wheels are also made by Sierra. After the countless Robart disappointment stories I didn't consider them an option.

chorner

Interesting. The gear looks very solidly built, but the one thing I do notice... is that the size of the mounting frame is very small. For a 30+lbs plane, to put all of the pressure between those 4 mounting bolts, and not spread the load out across the entire length of the wooden mounting rails... I'd be careful ever having a rough landing with the plane.

I had one rough bounce on landing that was enough to break the glue free around the tabs of the retract mounting rails and move them slightly, while putting a small crack in the bottom 2 layers of the multi-ply rail on one side. The only thing that stopped major damage or actually splitting the rails in two was the fact that the length of the mounting rails on the Robart gear extends pretty much the full length of the rail... and kept it solid/flat, and in one piece.

The damage was easy to fix; I just clamped and glued the rail back to its original position, plus used hardwood reinforcement for each of the 4 rails front and back -- I mistakenly neglected to check this when I first assembled the plane, and do anything extra... got lazy after I had it all assembled and took the time to do the working doors, and make a mounting box inside the centre section for electronics etc. etc. ... it's a good idea to go over this area on any ARF. That being said... if I had that same incident using that Sierra gear setup, I bet I would probably have cracked the rail in two right down the middle considering the quite small area of contact on the mounting tabs.

The retracts look like they weigh a bit more too, so I'd really beef that area up to be on the safe side IMO. The gear itself definitely won't be the first to break

stuka

My Feedback: (62)

Has anybody installed a G62 with the stock muffler as shown in the manual? I attempted this weekend and it will not fit without major cutting of the cowl. I do not see how it would fit in the cutout as shown in the manual. The muffler box and attaching nuts hit the cowl even after making a much bigger hole in the cowl. I am using the same engine mount that they show in the manual as well.

Todd D

My Feedback: (51)

I used the stock muffler and found myself in a very similar place with opening up the cowl and the nuts hitting as well. I did push the muffler in a bit (heavy hammer) to make it fit better on the corners, and ground the studs flush with the nuts but ended up making holes for clearance. Turns out that it's not all that bad when the plane is ready to fly on the ground you can't really see it.