The wing is fairly advanced now but I have a lot to catch up with the posts.

While I was already going through the wing construction, I stepped a little out from my original plan regarding the equipment to use in the plane. So I decided I would give a try to the new generation of electric retracts that are in the market today, given they have become so popular and that quite simplify the installation and mainly the operation and maintenace of the system.

As I had spent quite a few on the Spring Air 202HD retracts, I purchased a trike set from Ali Express to give them a try. Despite these were quite inexpensive, when received they seemed they should live to the task of landing a 3,6 kg plane on the tarmac.

I also purchased a set of aluminum spring dampened oleo struts which costed about the same as the retracts. There is quite an numerous offer on the market of these struts with height dimensions varying by 1 cm, so I just double checked the right height needed before ordering, in order to have the closest ground clearance as shown on the plan. The nose retract unit is a different story but I will comment on this when I switch to the fuselage build.

Before ordering the e-retracts, I noticed that the mounting hole dimensions were spaced the same width wise as the pneumatic set, so when mounting I just had to make two additional holes on each plywood mounting plate.

I left the two unused holes and blind nuts initially made for the Spring Air set, so at any time I can switch back to pneumatic if I wish or need to.

Finally, a set of aluminum hub lite foam wheels from Gator RC completed the landing gear system. These were the closest I could find to those used in the original plane and at the time (MK or Tettra if I am not mistaken).


Spring Air 202HD retract unit of the original plan