voyager_663rd

LOL

LDM

My Feedback: (15)

Lost track, did they ever develope a rotating gear for 60 to 90 size planes ?

voyager_663rd

double LOL

Just Plane Nuts

I spoke with Darrell today and he did not get time to assemble the P-40 retracts so that he could take them with him to Toledo this weekend. While I am a little disappointed I still plan to go to Toledo and enjoy to show. And I will also wait patiently for him to get them ready.
A friend of mine brought his new corsair to the flying field this past weekend with a set of Robart 615's installed they lasted for one flight then one of them failed to rotate properly and he had to make a gear up landing on the belly of his new plane. This is the very reason that I plan to wait for a good set of gear no matter how long it takes in the end it will be worth it..

Edwin

My Feedback: (2)

Little retract problems like that is why I lost my corsair. Had some latent damage after about 6 times in the cowl that I missed. Cowl broke loose, hits back of prop, busts it, kills engine, deployed retracts and watched a oleo strut fall to the ground so I retracted the gear again. Oops, too low, too slow and heading for a barbed wire fence. That little turn was all it took to do the corsair doe-see-doe and scratch one TF corsair. It just rolled on its back and dove straight in. A machinist friend is looking at those retracts to see if they are salvagable. He flys also and understands the problem since he watched my frustrations with those #$%^& 615's. Hope he can beef them up. I have heard that Spring air might have some .60 sized rotating retracts by end of summer. Hope so!
Edwin

LDM

My Feedback: (15)

Yes it continues to amaze me that the Great Planes still has the the 615 as a retract of choice , I guess the ad dollars in the Tower catalog go a long way .

voyager_663rd

Well, Toledo has started. Can anyone report on whether Sierra had the Corsair gear at the show?? I'm holding my breath and turning blue

DaddySam

My Feedback: (9)

I've been following this thread for quite awhile because I'm waiting for Darrell to make some Hawker Hurricane retracts. I've emailed him various times, and he has answered a number of them. For a while I got frustrated and looked elsewhere, but nobody else had any either, and people like Roy Vaillancourt said that Darrell's gear really is the best for the application. It seems to me that everybody who has some of Darrell's gear raves about how great they are, and people with other brands don't. I decided to wait for Darrell, because I don't want my gear collapsing on my bird. As for Darrell being dishonest, I can tell you that I emailed him asking about his new aluminum servo mounts, and he sent me half a dozen with no payment or card# up front. He just said "If you like them you can send me a check". Now that's the kind of relationship I like to have. They are beautifully made to boot. Anyway, I think Darrell may underestimate the time it takes to develop and produce a new product, but I know of several others that also made (and are making) that mistake (Brison R50, BME Extreme 55). I think that the wait will be worth it.
My two cents.
Sam

Peter_OZ

My Feedback: (1)

Sam,
have to agree with you mate. I think Darrel is probably doing his best but simply does know when to say no. Guess a course in time managment and also Project Managment would be handy for him

Maybe this link will help him out?

[link=http://www.pmi.com]Project Management Institute[/link]

cheers
Peter

Juice

I was in at the Toledo RC Expo yesterday and spoke with Darrel personally. He is a really nice guy. I asked him about the small rotating gear. This is from my memory of my 10 minute talk with Darell:

- It is taking him longer than expected to design and produce the gear.
- He had to get other orders prepared and ready for the show. This is why he couldn't show the gear this weekend.
- The gear has been tested on a 13 lb Corsair on grass. It is still holding up.

- The first batch MAY be ready in three weeks.
- It may have been a mistake to take deposits before starting the gear. He simply needed a guage to see how serious the market is.
- He received about 30 deposits. He refunded about 8 of them. He has no problem refunding a deposit because the money is just sitting in an account, untouched. He believes that the people who asked for their money back will buy a set when the gear is released.
- The first batch is 50 sets of gears. A second batch is planned, probably 100 sets. The gear will be part of his regular line-up, it's not just a one-time run.

Nothing new really.

Juice

p-40_lova

Cool, thanks for the update Juice.

Doug

voyager_663rd

Thanks Juice. First I've heard from anyone about the status of that gear.

Maiden Voyage

Juice,

Thanks for your time and the update.

MV

As to everyone else that insists on defending Darrell and his quality. The complaints have NEVER been about the quality or the amount of time it has taken. The problem is Darrell's lack of communincation with his paying customers. The fact is the only update we have had this year has come from someone that went to a Show and asked Darrell face to face what was up with it. I am sure Darrell is very busy, albeit not too busy to answer on-line questions from another site. It takes less than 10 minutes to put an "Updated status" post here. Ten minutes, once a month, is that so much to expect for thirty paying customers. I think not!

I am beginning to wonder if Darrell and Bruce Sanders (Century Jet) went to the same customer service school.

w0mbat

My Feedback: (1)

I had a very long conversation with Darrell at the Toledo show and did get a chance to see all of the retracts. Darrell's expertise is in design and production - not so much marketing and customer service. Many of the smaller companies in the R/C industry have that very same problem. I experience it daily from almost everyone that we deal with. I have learned that this problem is just something we have to deal with if we are going to buy products from other US manufacturers. Darrell has a small operation and does not advertise. He attends the Toledo show and that's it - he really doesn't have time to sit on the computer and answer questions - which is fine because at least he is honest about it. He seems like a really honest guy - i'm sure he is not going to run with anyone's money. He has a legitimate business - while maybe not customer oriented, it seems to be doing well on the grounds of design and build quality alone.

I had a chance to see his larger rotating gear at the show and I will say that they are an excellent design. They operate very smoothly without any binding. He said the smaller design is the same idea - while it is too large to fit in our planes, they are worth waiting for because they are far better than anything else on the market. They will completely solve any retract problems that are out there with the Robarts.

Mike Grey
Skyshark R/C

Edwin

My Feedback: (2)

He said the smaller design is the same idea - while it is too large to fit in our planes

Wombat,
What did you mean by that statement. I'm sure you didnt mean that the smaller retracts would not fit a .60 sized corsair. Just want a little clarification.
Edwin

w0mbat

My Feedback: (1)

Since our kits are a little smaller than the Top-flite, the spars on our Hellcat and Skyraider are not able to be cut to accomodate the Sierra retracts. The Top-flite kits have enough room so that the spar can be reinforced once it is cut and the retracts are fit.

Mike Grey
Skyshark R/C

YAT-28E

Wombat, Sierra was at the Scale Masters as well!! He said he would be working on gears that weekend but could not because he has to be promoting at events!


"He has a legitimate business - while maybe not customer oriented, it seems to be doing well on the grounds of design and build quality alone. "

There fore, I see the above statement coming to light.

kram51

My Feedback: (3)

I'm out. Good luck to the guys that are still waiting. We'll see about the gear IF and when they ever are finished. . .


Mark

Hellcat716

My Feedback: (2)

I was out last January and am very happy that I bailed out then. I have been flying with my century jets and they are working great.

voyager_663rd

Getting too far into the forum. Time to bring it up front.

Glorystomper

My Feedback: (1)

Hmm.. I'm glad I haven't asked for my $100 deposit back yet.. I'd probably be wasting on other junk On the other hand, I don't see any darned retracts!!!

What's the news, big D?!?!

YAT-28E

Its a shame......All this waiting which will be worth it...

A reply once in a while would be nice on the status of production..

I guess the crystal at this point is still on track ( or retract ),

June.

beedub

TTT-

Starting to get deep in the archive.

Peter_OZ

My Feedback: (1)

yawn . . .

hattend

My Feedback: (20)

I was on here earlier today and saw "Big Retracts" listed as viewing the thread. Guess he didn't have anything to say so he didn't leave an update.

Don