After many years, I am happy to say that the retracts that I designed 15 years ago will be available very soon.

First let me say that I do not profit from them, so I'm not breaking any rules by recommending them - Now, here's the story behind them:

I used to work in a Gov't Machine Shop. During Desert Shield/Storm, our airplanes (C-5 Galaxy's) were away for a year supporting the effort. Needless to say, when you make parts for airplanes, and they're not there, you don't have much to do (Yea, I know - Your Tax Dollars at work) So to relieve the boredom, I started playing with a retract design. Since there was nothing else to do, I kept modifying them and improving them until I had the best set I have ever seen. I started to make several sets, and everyone who saw them wanted them.

It used to break my heart every time this subject came up at RCU because I had a great set of retracts but I couldn't recommend them because they weren't available (I don't work in a machine shop anymore).

But in the past few years I talked to several manufacturers, and last summer 3DX Hobbies agreed to start producing them. They will be avalable very soon (Like in a week or two) here: [link=http://www.3dxhobbies.com/cart/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=63]3DX Hobbies - Retracts[/link]

Here is a link to a short video of how effortlessly they work (Two gear will easily opperate from a single STANDARD servo! )

[link=http://204.96.183.34/RCU/grafx/Retract.wmv]Retract Video[/link]

Right now there is no setup for Nose gear (As I only use Retracts on Tail-Draggers) but maybe if they sell well, a Nose unit may be in the future