ORIGINAL: LGM Graphix
Well, I reached my first stumbling block with the Rafale and I'm now kicking myself. After spending hours putting everything in neat and tidy, I finally put air in the system. I have leaks from at least one valve and the nose gear retract
Tomorrow I will start going through it by pinching off lines and trying to find where all the leaks are, but have you guys found that lubricating the gear and valves is helping? The air system will only hold the pressure for about 1 minute before it's down to about 30psi and then that's all leaked out in another couple minutes. I don't want to have to pull everything out again
Before I started I thought I should check everything but didn't bother, wish I had now
It shouldn't be that tough of a fix, but it's still a major pain in the butt.
Jeremy
I feel your pain, Jeremy!! I have learned to do a couple things with Chinese ARF pnuematics before installation:
1. Toss the retract/door valves for Robart, BVM, UP, etc.
2. Take the retract and door cylinders apart, clean up any debris/ metal bits, and lube O-rings and mating surfaces with O-ring or "thin" lube. Ditto for brake assemblies,
3. Apply a drop of thin CA to the base joint of all air nipples or metal fittings...if they are threaded in, I'll pull them, clean with acetone, and re-install with a touch of Hysol on the male threads. The end caps on air cylinders (if threaded) I seal with liquid Teflon (used very sparingly).
I've had leak issues with Skymaster, Fei Bao, Cermark, and Jet Legend pnuematics in the past. Doing the above, plus the usual wire wrapping of all airline joints, has greatly reduced the leakage to almost nil in all cases. My new JL L39 holds air for weeks with almost no loss.
I know it's probably too late to do all of this on your project now....but do what you can get access to. Good luck!
Barry