Jeremy

Sorry to hear of your difficulties.

When I got mine I had factory installed rams and doors. The airlines were very hard and the first thing I did was to replce the tubing with Robart tubing. At the same time I tested the various components and the all 3 and 4 way connectors one at a time outside the plane. I failed to get reliable operation of the rams and replaced them with UP rams which were the same length. The retracts all worked fine and are still working fine. When I replumbed the installation I routed all the pipes to the wing roots and joined them up under the first equipment plate, so I had nothing under the engine. I made a decision some time ago to use only electronic valves so did not use the ones supplied. I did take them apart to look at the O rings and as expecetd found that some of the O rings in the valves had nibbles out of them. They seeemed too soft and spongy. I added a centering spring to the nose leg.

The Jet A1 valves I bought worked well enough until the wires worked loose from the pcb. I have resoldered them and put wire restrainers on so all is now OK again. We have had absolutely no issues with the airframe paint or retracts and have had quite a few flights and have been very pleased with it.

I still think this represents great value, though the factory are selling at a higher price than when I bought but are adding more detail like cockpits and missiles. John, no need to be too gloomy! Just check all the Retract components one at a time in water for leaks before going ahead with the build.

John