Brian Taylor 69" P-51D: Which Retracts?
09-27-2016, 12:33 PM
#1
Brian Taylor 69" P-51D: Which Retracts?
For those of you who have built this very scale model, how did you solve the retract gear availability issue? Besides those available from Unitracts, what other brand will fit the wing? Can any of the current brands be modified to fit correctly? Making my own is not possible. Also if you used the Unitracts (mech or pneum), were they good or bad?
Thanx, Mark
Thanx, Mark
09-28-2016, 07:46 AM
#5
My Feedback: (9)
mark, I am building a Brian Taylor Me109F, well I got to the rivets and panel lines then cmp, fms, and h9 all came out with me109's so it sits till the heard is thinned. anyway I would also recommend spring air and with robart oleo's.
will they fit in your plane?
I assume you have not started building yet. so... go to the plans and find the ribs with the landing gear supports cut outs in them. on the smaller rib measure the distance from the side of the mount hole the LG ears will rest on to the top of the rib where the retract mechanism will fit. this is the max depth you can have for the mechanism.
spring - air sight may not have this info. but they are always easy to talk to. its been awhile for me but I believe his name is Bruce, the wife usually answers the phone. its a mom and pop shop so you are talking to the guy who will make your retracts, if you tell him what you are making he will tell you what to get.
if you need to mod the landing gear mounting rails just chime in and I will try to help you through the mod.. one of the things I always do is to turn the lg mounts so that the wheel axile is under the LE of the wing. I fly off tall thick grass and it helps a lot.
Joe
will they fit in your plane?
I assume you have not started building yet. so... go to the plans and find the ribs with the landing gear supports cut outs in them. on the smaller rib measure the distance from the side of the mount hole the LG ears will rest on to the top of the rib where the retract mechanism will fit. this is the max depth you can have for the mechanism.
spring - air sight may not have this info. but they are always easy to talk to. its been awhile for me but I believe his name is Bruce, the wife usually answers the phone. its a mom and pop shop so you are talking to the guy who will make your retracts, if you tell him what you are making he will tell you what to get.
if you need to mod the landing gear mounting rails just chime in and I will try to help you through the mod.. one of the things I always do is to turn the lg mounts so that the wheel axile is under the LE of the wing. I fly off tall thick grass and it helps a lot.
Joe
09-28-2016, 10:40 AM
#6
I built this BT 69" in 1994. It's still in service as in photo. Power is OS 108. Flys great but at 16 lb it's not a floater like most arfs. Has the original unitracts but they are weak and will lay over when any side force is on. I planned to build a new wing and put the Robart 145 s in which would require much trimming and fitting. Like the unitracts they put the strut near the leading edge like full scale. The mounting rails are angled on the plans which allows the wheels to retract to the thicker section of the wing and kick forward when extended as on full scale. Nearly all mustang models neglect this which makes to and landing more difficult.
The key to this size P51 is weight. 12 lbs would be great.At 16 it Flys like a full scale. You need your game on. I've built over 50 rc P51 s since 1973 the yellow box top flite to the Ziroli. Picture s of some in my gallery
10-07-2016, 08:53 AM
#7
After doing some research on the gear for this model, it looks like it boils down to 2 candidates. Either Unitracts (pneum or manual, not sure which is better, although I leaning toward the pneum) or modify the Robart 530RS 90 degree units to be move the strut outside of the retract itself. This will require a longer trunion shaft to be made. I'm going to look into what that entails.
