ORIGINAL: Stratotanker
I will definately be revisiting the main gear plates and am installing 635 Robarts. Steve, would like to see what you did to the plates so we can compare notes.
Hello Chris.
Installing the Robart 635 RS is a wise choice. In fact it is the only possible choice.
The original mechanism is totally useless. I have tried to modify it to make it work but the pistons are leaking...
So I droped this project after about 30 hours of hard work and tried different mechanisms.
300 dollars later and after the wise recommendation of Barry, I tried the 635 RS. Bingo !!!
Big pistons, big trunion arm. Oversize square brass trunion slides. The heavy main gear is retracting at 60 PSI vs the original requiring 160 PSI to merely go up...
After 2 months of fiddling around I know that I now can retract the gear in flight !
The main gear plate design is amazingly wrong. Beginners mistake. Unbelievable.
The torsion effort induced by the main gear will almost certainly unglue the plate at the first hard landing and ruin the wing sandwich.
Here is my design modification:
No need for carbon fabric reinforcement: The idea is to connect correctly the front plate to the oversized gear ribs.
The same plywood reinforcement goes on the outer rib. It is a bit difficult to Hysol due to the room restriction.
Concerning your work, congratulations. It is beautiful.
Just one remark: keep it light. A scale F-84G will easily hit the 45 lbs barrier and need a 160 N class engine.
Another remark: the cooling design at the rear of the plane is minimal: I have recorded inner temperatures in excess of 300°F in the tail area.
Check your plastic tanks empty first to make sure you're not gonna melt them at the first engine start and during taxi.
This plane is an amazing flier: I've had an engine flameout in a low level roll, I managed to land on my feet. It is a true glider...
It performs all the conventional aerobatics in a beautiful old fashion way and is very impressive by it presence in flight.
lands like a pattern flier as well:
Check my article in the next RCJI issue for a complete build report and more.