SUCCESS!! I got the opportunity to take the plane out today. My friend Leo flew it for me while I operated the tailhook switch and photographed it. It really works great, now! The first pass we did was a little fast, and the hook wasn't all the way down, but was definitely in trail like what you would expect for approaching the boat. When it was slowed a little further with flaps and gear down, apparently there was enough tension on the spring to force the hook onto the magnet, where it hooked fast to it. The result is that it deployed exactly as I hoped. I would say this system is now Operational (for foamies).

There are still some things that could be done for larger planes:
1) A different geared system needs to be developed to bring the tailhook straight out until it can drop down once clear of the fuselage end, with the assistance of the spring. On larger aircraft, getting the room free inside the fuse to swing an overly large servo arm might not work, and is not very efficient.
2) On larger planes, I think a solid metal or at least weighted tailhook on the end of the rod would be helpful.
3) The spring is very important, at least in this model. It is similar to what you see in a ballpoint pen. I bent it to a 90 degree angle at the middle, and slid it onto the tailhook where the joint of the Robart hinge is. It is mechanically able to straighten out to go inside the fuse, but when the rod extends past the end of the fuse, the spring forces the tailhook down almost at a 90 degree angle.
4) For this small model, the magnet is very helpful. It might also be helpful in larger planes to be sure the tailhook stays in place with the airloads, and a powerful but lightweight rare earth magnet could even be put inside the fuse where it would not be seen, but would still have power to catch the tailhook rod. I put a metal screw inside the aluminum rod where the magnet would touch it, and it worked great.

In conclusion, each model probably has a case by case design that will work best for it. Chic, for your Avenger, I think you could probably work something very similar to what I did on this little foamie Hellcat, although you might want to change some things, like the geared mechanism to push the tailhook out and in the fuse. But I think the concept works, and if I get a larger Grumman "cat" someday, I will probably add a working tailhook along with other goodies like working cowl flaps, sliding canopy, etc.

NOTE: I tried to upload some pics of the flight today, but am getting an error message: 501 Internal Server. Not sure what that is about, but I'll keep trying to upload the pics, they look pretty cool!





Cheers

davegee