First congrats to the guys in NY with the MIG, that is a great accomplishment.

I have been meaning to post what I heard at Superman about the gear. Now let me start by saying I have only played with the gear, I have not tried anything, my friend Rob has and he is thoroughly disgusted at this point.

I spoke with Larry Tudor from Planes Plus/Fiberclassics. He has spoken with Wolfgang on several occasions, trying to get some insight as to why Wolfgang can get the gear to work when basically no one else can.

Anyway in talking to Larry, I think I might know what is going wrong. According to Wolfgang, bleeding the system (purging the air) is a very critical step. With the plane held in many different axis, he has to cycle the gear 10 times in each one (in order to try to get the air out).

The reason this is important is because of the way the ECU senses the position of the gear and doors. The ECU can actually measure the load on the hydraulic pump motor. The load varies when the gear (or doors or whatever) have hit a stop. That is how the ecu know to sequence the valves.

THe problem is an air bubble in the system may be enough to cause the ECU to think a sequence has completed when it has in fact not. And then you get the confusion. This is consistent with what Rob saw.

Now I have an idea to completely replace the ECU with another one, made from a small computer called a Basic Stamp. The basic stamp can easily recieve commands from an RC reciever, and send pulse width outputs to a number of servos (for the valves) and to an amplifier (or RC speed controller) for the pump. THe difference is we would set the Stamp up to read in limit switces on all of the gear, both up and down. If enough I/O pins exist, then even read the position of the doors and speed brakes as well.

Of course another option is to add a mechanical up and down lock to the gear (I have an idea for that too) and use air. Rob feels that air pressure is plenty to operate the gear, the hydraulic is used in lieu of the mechanical locks.

Anyway that is all I know. Fiberclassics showed a lot of interest in fixing this at Superman, I guess time will tell. I keep waiting to start mine until all of this blows over.

Sorry if I have gotten any of this wrong, just trying to pass along what I have heard to my fellow MIG 29 owners!