voyager_663rd

Thanks Alex. Good to have any kind of news about this.

I think all that could be said (negative) about this HAS been said.

'nuff said.

Peter_OZ

My Feedback: (1)

maybe voyager but common courtesy would dicate a 30 second email to advise all those who put their faith - and their hard earned readys in his hands. 90% of business complaints relate to communication or the lack of it.

Customers generally do not mind bad news if they are kept in the loop. If they hear nothing or are told porkies then they really get their backs up.

cheers
Peter

hattend

My Feedback: (20)

It took me all of 30 seconds to type this in. Darrell could take 5 minutes once or twice a month and do the same thing.

He's not giving warm fuzzies to anybody.

My 2 cents (as I no longer have a deposit down)
Don

Glorystomper

My Feedback: (1)

Hey Alex, I'm from the Toronto area.. how much did you end up having to pay for customs fees seeing as retracts are quite expensive? I'm kind of dreading how much I'll have to owe once Darrell does get the gears out..

voyager_663rd

I agree 100% with you but if you go back over all the posts (back to Darrells last post), all of the whinin' and *****ing has not prompted Darrell to respond. Kinda like floggin a dead horse. Maybe it makes you feel better but that horse ain't going no where. Maybe Sierra's brief foray into the world of 60 size gear died at birth and the obituary just hasn't been posted yet.

Unitracts lookin better and better (Lenny notwithstanding).

AirBearMA

My Feedback: (1)

I sympathize with Darryl if his business is running into hard times but it does not help his business if he gains the reputation for being unreliable and unresponsive to his customers. While he is possibly very busy playing catchup in his business, I am absolutely certain that he is keeping up with this post and his lack of response is by his own choice.

If he were to post up with telling everybody here that he can either
1 Not deliver on the retracts.
OR
2 He can deliver then at a real time in the future

I would probably have a little more respect for him and his business practices. But this current practice of keeping everybody uninformed and/or whining to individual members that he is soooo busy doesn't cut it with me. He hasn't replied to this thread for over 4 months so there is a large number of people hanging on wondering if he is ever going to come through on his promises. It doesn't take more than a couple of minutes to reply to his customers on this thread and I've got a strong feeling that Darryl is keeping up with reading these posts. So I'm asking for him to give a simple reply on the status out of respect to his customer base.

Robinaire

My Feedback: (23)

Good morning all; Len Dennis (voyager) suggested I look at this thread. I have had brief "conversations" with several people on the Corsair gear. I have been making custom gear for 28 years, along with a few accessories . Some years back I built a Corsair gear which functioned as required(100 deg. rotation, NO toein, AND the oleo pull-up feature!) but I was not happy with its overall strength. So I am now redesigning it from factory drawings. It may not be ready for a while as I have been snowed with orders lately. I would be interested in a show of interest in the project, but I have no minimum number, want no money deposits until such time as I am happy with the design. If I get one order, I will build it. That's what I do. Now I just got bawled out by the moderator for touting my wares in a forum (I didn't know much about forums) but I have no other way of answering your questions at the moment without personal email addresses. Lee Robinson W. Palm Bch, FL [email protected]

dionysusbacchus

My Feedback: (25)

This thread is dead, so I hope you all don't mind me talking about a bigger Corsair!

Hey southern neighbor! I'm looking for a set of gear that will fit in my enlarged Royal Corsair I am going to build. The Earl Aune gear are the perfect solution for me. He used 6061-T6 aluminum and bevel gears from Browning to provide the rotation, it also has a cable(carbon fiber I think) that you can adjust to compress the gear leg. He detailed the struts with simulated scissors made from PC Board or aluminum, it is not needed of course but it gives the gear a true scale look. I don't think he is going to answer my e-mail, so I'm going to try and see if others are interested in helping me out.

Dion

Earl Aune gear:

dionysusbacchus

My Feedback: (25)

Here you can see the scissors he added behind the strut, not to fancy but it adds to the scale look.

Glorystomper

My Feedback: (1)

Darrell still has my $100 deposit.. but if there's a way that Luke "Mr. Scale" can end up with some nice looking retracts by having a set of Earl's modified/redesigned, then I'm gonna get my refund and follow Luke's lead!

torp

O'kay whats the next best gear for the TF60 corsair fellas ????
torp[&o][&o]

Robinaire

My Feedback: (23)

Hi DB; (That name is too long for my pea-brain at 4:30 am!!) Couldn't sleep so got up!! Send me your email address, and I'll send you some info. Lee Robinson [email protected]

Robinaire

My Feedback: (23)

I just sent a msg to Alex about all the comments, and should have sent it to the group. Briefly, I have always kept my customers informed of progress on orders, and email has made it so simple! I have to admit it is 5 am and I'm trying to get some answers out to people. You might even get one from me at midnite! Right now I'm trying to finish up 5 Bearcat articulating systems, which are about 2 months behind! Reason(s)---car accident (fortunately m inor injuries!) 2 hospital stays for BOTH my wife and I, and breakdowns on both my lathe and mill!! Fortunately they were minor also, but lost me time! I have kept all informed by email with periodic updates, and all have been extremely patient and understanding. I'm new to this forum bit, so I don't know many people, but I get the impression that Lenny at Shindin (did you build a "Shindin" Lenny?) does a good job! I can provide some names (with their permission, of course) of those patient ones. I could even send police reports and bills from 2 hospitals to support my "excuses"!!! HEY!! There's a thought! I'll just send those bills to you guys!!!!! Lee Robinson W. Palm Bch, FL

Rocketman612

My Feedback: (85)

Well nobody has noticed or is in denial about the fact that this thread is now ONE YEAR OLD!!! and still no retracts!!! Darrell is MIA has proven his that while he can make a good product (as attested to by others) he can't run a " keep my customer happy business ".

Pleased to see other options for rotating gear appear recently. RCU let this thread run so I can't believe they are giving anyone a hard time for trying to fill a needed niche for 60 size rotating gear.

Take care, Pete

shindin

My Feedback: (5)

What kind of room is there in the tf P-40 & Corsair wing? Does someone have a way to scan that part of the drawing, just the pertinent areas, top and side, with some reference to make sure the size is still "actual"? Lmk, and unfortunately, i don't have a cad program, maybe it could be done as a bmp, or?
Lenny

ngr1

My Feedback: (2)

I too feel that Earl Aune has a good design the inspiration of which I think came from the original P40. It uses a bevel gear with a 1:1 ratio to accomplish 90 degrees of rotation with 90 degrees of travel. This setup works very smoothly with a positive up and down lock position.

Part of my design criteria was to share the same foot print as the Robart 150 gear which almost all models like the Corsair, Hellcat and P40 are designed around. If you refer to the pictures you will see the tail end is lower but the hole patterns will match perfectly so it would be a easy replacement for my existing models that are setup for the Robart gear.

The only difference between my design and the 150's is that the Robart gear has 100 degrees of travel and mine currently has 90 degrees. My pivot point is further ahead than the 150's so the 10 degree difference results in my wheel axle being 1/2" back in comparison. I have a couple of ideas for 100 degrees of travel, one of which would be to produce my own miter gear set with a 1.1:1 ratio.

With only a couple of major parts, minus the strut, it does not take long to produce these items on my CNC mill so I am rather happy about the working prototype.

This next picture is from Jeff’s huge Corsair in which he is using Sierra’s gear who I feel has perfected the use of the bevel gear by housing it on top.

dionysusbacchus

My Feedback: (25)

Ngr1, I have tried to answer and respond to you in another thread. What are you doing with these gear and can you make the struts like Earl's? Earl made his gear shorter so that he would have room near the main spar on the Corsair. As you may know he had folding wings and the spar in this area has to be much thicker, also you have the wing locking linkage that is right in front of the main spar. I would be interested in a copy of his gear. If you kept the parts from the original set you had you would need to make the struts and buy the bevel gears. Are you making some gear or is this just for fun?

Dion

Edwin

My Feedback: (2)

NGR1,
The robart 150 and 148 retracts seem to be ok for most people. I dont hear a lot of complaints about those. The real need is a .60 sized rotating retract. I know a lot of builders that are just sitting on kits waiting for a reasonable alternative.

Lenny,
I have the TF .60 corsair plans laying on the work bench right now but dont have a way to scan at home. I might be able to do it at work on one of them new fangled copier, faxer, printer type machines. But I dont have my corsair anymore for any digital reference, on permenent patrol in the wild blue. Latent cowl damage from 615 gear damage that I didnt catch. When that cowl hit the back of the prop, it killed the engine. Too low and too slow, did the corsair doe-see-doe and scratch another one. Pretty much why I hate those retracts.
Edwin

shindin

My Feedback: (5)

Hi guys, I am looking for one of the 615's, in pretty much any shape, as long as it will still halfway function. I don't want to break up anyones' set, but if you have a single unit, lmk what you need for it...... Thanks!

Lenny[8D]

Maiden Voyage

Well my patience has worn quite thin over the past year. I just sent an email to Darrell demanding either the current status and a FIRM delivery date or my deposit back. I will keep everyone informed as to the outcome.

On a more positive note, Thanks to Lenny, Lee and NGR1 (and anyone I may have missed) for your professionalism. I foresee a few more customers in your futures

torp

Woo Hoo , its nearly my 12 month aniversary !!!!
7/10/2003 3:27:31 AM
TORP[&o][&o]

{Just sent darryl an e-mail}[&o]

Crashem

Anybody remember the NWHT threads and the posts about Jack Devine Models from a while back????

Sounds like its time to get your money back (if you still can) and cut your losses!!!!!

corsaircrazy

My Feedback: (2)

Hey dion... Just how much are you stretching your Royal Corsair?

dionysusbacchus

My Feedback: (25)

Don't roll your eyes at me BOY! Just kidding! I have already blown them up. Your new here I see so you have lot's to learn about how great the Royal Corsair is! I made a parts sheet with all the parts arranged so all I have to do is stick it to the appropriate wood and start cutting, the rest of the plans are now on 4 sheets. It has a wing span of 82" now and it looks great, man am I going to pack the detail on this one! I'm currently bashing an F2G from a Royal kit an amateur started and then abandoned, but I'm well into the planning stages for the big one. I'm powering it with a brand new O.S. BGX-1 35cc glow engine (no junk hanging out of the cowl), and I recently acquired a brand new set of Earl Aune main gear and I built the tail wheel and hook already, just need to order the wood now.

Dion

Just Plane Nuts

I am getting to the point also where I am about to give up. I think I will make a phone call on Monday. If I get ahold of him and he sounds like he is telling me the truth I will leave the order with him a little while longer BUT if It sounds like he is blowing smoke up my ***** I am asking for a refund. I think that a year is long enough to be patient!!!