Vince

My Feedback: (1)

Is there something I misstated in my post? The gear I received was new, but didn't function properly. I returned it after several phone calls and emails. When I called back a week later to check on the gear I was told "what are you trying to pull on us by sending us used gear as new". I immediately contacted my credit card company and filed a grievance. A few days later I received a credit, but Bruce was not a happy camper.

Vince

BigRetracts-RCU

Vince,

I was not talking about You not knowing if your retracts
were new or not. I only wanted to let others know that
it is hard to tell a new set or their gear from a used set
and They could not tell the difference either.

Sorry for the confusion.

Darrell

wulf190

My Feedback: (19)

Syd, I've used the flitemetal on a Bonanza, turned out great. You'll be really pleased with the finished product, good stuff. You can accentuate panels pretty easily through a variety of techniques, from using a sharpened pencil to the rivet tool, or brass tubing for the larger rivets. I still have a roll left and was happy enough with it to keep it around for future use. The above posts seem to be consistent enough with previous threads about the topic of service for the gear. I have experienced both scenarios re. service. The good part was really good, but the bad part was bad enough to keep me away in the future. Maybe it's more the inability to develop trust that motivates me to keep my distance. Either way, don't go ripping your plane apart or anything, you should be fine once you get things squared away. Just keep an eye on the tightness of the operation as they wear, as you would with other gear as well. Would be helpful to know what you get figured out if you can keep us posted.

SydDythers

My Feedback: (5)

Wulf,

Ya, pretty eager to get the flite metal...been over two weeks now since I ordered with the 'bolt just begging to be covered all that time.

I actually tried using some of that aluminum tape you can purchase at home depot but found it did not go around curves very easily...bunched up in places. Plus, it was only 2 inches wide and therefore too small for some panels. So after finishing the fuse with it and taking a step back to look at the results, I decided to rip it all off and place an order for the real stuff. The result was that some of the glassing came off with the tape so I had to do some repriming which explains the white blotches here and there :P

Supposedly, from what I've read here, the flite metal is very soft and can actually stretch 10% so hopefully the application process will be much smoother.


I sent the retract housing back to Century today...so the stopwatch is now ticking!

SydDythers

My Feedback: (5)

....still need to paint and install the dummy engine :P

Vince

My Feedback: (1)

No prob, I just misunderstood what you were saying.

Vince

wulf190

My Feedback: (19)

You'll have much better results with the flitemetal. I had to wait a bit for all of mine to come in as well, it's worth the wait. I've used both, though I'll use the auto store stuff for just things like hatch panels as it isn't nearly as flexible as the flitemetal. You may have good luck if you keep your service results posted here at RCU. You never know who might be watching the public forum.

Empennage Gunner

My Feedback: (11)

SydDythers,


Nice job on your warbird! Good luck with the retracts. Let us know how their service is.

- Wade

Ta-152

I guess if it was my plane and I wanted to keep it looking as good as it does, I would be putting Robarts in instead of CJ's. I am surprised they are still in business, I stopped using their stuff years ago. Odds are that you'll be belly landing more than you are going to like to. Took the nice newness right out of my P38 in a hurry. Just my 2 cents worth. JG

foxx

My Feedback: (2)

I just got a set of spring Air retracts for my FW190. I am amazed at quality , functionality, and simplicity of these retracts. My special thanks to this forum who made me to promptly send my set of CJ back. BTW this is my first set of Spring Air. I have been a Robart user for many years and I have nothing against them.

SydDythers

My Feedback: (5)

Well,

Got an email from Bruce at CJ today and he indicated that the repairs have been made and the brown truck has picked it up.

Pretty good turnaround time - 8 days from when I mailed it to them!

Getting a hold of them to see if they had received them was impossible...but lo and behold, they are on their way back.

All in all, I would give them a 10/10 for support except I would have to deduct a point 9/10 for the lack of email contact. (I've been watching too much of that new tv show "Are You Hot?")

Also, Scale Aero has indicated that my Flite Metal should ship end of this week so hopefully that comes soon as well. That only took >1 month Apparently there has been some weird economics in the aluminum (aluminium for you Brits) industry and the tape manufacturer has longer periods between manufacturing. So, Scale Aero is busy cutting the rolls.

Anyhow, I'm very happy with CJ - for now. Next test is actually landing with them!

Thanks to everyone,

John

SydDythers

My Feedback: (5)

Just wanted to close off this thread as I have received the retract mechanism back from CJM and it seems to work beautifully. I had called CJM last week to inquire as to their status and the conversation with Bruce was rather amusing. He really hates you Brits because of your pain in the arse addresses. Canadians, like me, are second on the list with our blasted Postal Codes! But it was the suite number in my apartment that he mislabelled. A walk down the hall and I found my merchandise!

I have yet to receive the Fite Mtal from ScaleAero and it has been over two months. Just cancelled the order. Beware of placing any orders for it in the future without some sort of guarantee on shipping. The Flite Metal people make CJM look like Amazon.com!

Thanks everyone!

John

fw190

My Feedback: (37)

Man! I can't see a thing, but the background looks good. Excellent job on the P47 anyways!

Vic