I have the wm chippie with fixed gear, thinking about getting one with retracts. I know the stock gear is junk, what have you guys done to improve, different wires or replace with some other brand. I prefer mechanical but am open to your ideas..thanks

yeller I flew 2 of the retract version, I left it open, never failed on me. They are a little wobbly at times but if you land her decently it will be fine.

how is the stall characteristic of chipmunk?

yellerchamp, I have had decidedly different luck with my munk. I am a very proficient pilot and I can land a plane, but those retracts are NOT put in very well. At least if you fly off of a grass strip they are not. I would advise keeping your munk with the fixed gear, but that is just me. Oh, I did replace the retracts, but I do not remember what brand I replaced them with. They were just a set of inexpensive metal mechanical retracts though.

borna - I did not test the stall ... I came in like what I would say a sport plane that is on a slightly high idle. Its not hard to land at all.

I just maidened my electric conversion chipmonk this past Saturday, and am extremely pleased. Will keep an eye on the retracts, but as I fly off of a clay/sand runway, and she slows down real nice - I don't expect too many problems.

firebrad - what was your power set up? Mine was with an AXI 4130/16 on 6S. Ijust bought the Hyperion 70E one and it looks like the WM too but smaller. That should be ready next month.

I am using a dualsky 5050CA-8 on 5s with a 14x10 prop. Almost 1000 watts on a 5lb 10oz. model. Flys really well. Even though my X mount pattern matched the firewall blind nut location, I had to re-drill 3/8" higher to center the motor in the cowling.

in my long (some would say too long) experience, retracts and grass don't mix.
all the guys at my club with artf retract models have to re-bend the u/c after EVERY flight.

Firebrad - how did you get her that light? I was about 7.5 lbs for sure! Probaby 8 lbs. I had the batts in the RX compartment, for of the servo tray. Hence I had to extend the length of the motor to getthe CG spot on. I got a few DS motors too ... the big 6360, 6350, 5060 and 4260, will be testing them out soon! I got it direct from factory.

tIANci, I think the main savings was by using different servos. I used GWS Mighty Micro servos throughout. I got them from Sureflite. They are small, have 75 oz of torque at 4.8 volts (89 oz at 6.0 V) but most importantly, they are LIGHT. Half an ounce lighter than any other brands standard servo with 40-51 oz of torque. With 6 servos ( 5 of which are behind the CG ) that makes a large difference. I also re-cycled the gas tank into a battery holder that is light, easy to use, and puts the battery all the way forward in the fuselage. The back of the spinner was set at 125 MM from firewall as per the instructions. Balance was so close that all I had to do was move the reciever to get it dead on, Absolutely no lead was used. My only regret is that I let this baby sit on the shelf in the garage for over a year before I pulled it out last week and got started. It goes together quickly, & looks and flies GREAT!
Mine flies great on the 5050 on 5s. I could have gone to 6s with that motor, and took it to 1250 watts - but I already had a couple of Thunder Power extreme 4200s in 5s.
I have been flying the heck out of the dualsky motors. In everything from a slow stick to a 12 lb Texas Hurricane. They are a touch more innefficient than AXI and NEU Motors, but at 1/3 and 1/2 the price respectively.... I can live with it!

What he said... [8D]

I had the WM Superchipmonk for about six years and loved it. It's an aerodynamically clean design, so it floats and glides a LONG way. To land it, I had to learn to chop the throttle halfway through the downwind leg and let it idle all the way around the landing approach. Sometimes I would STILL overshoot and have to go around.

I powered mine with an O.S. FS-70. It provided plenty of power and got lots of comments about how fast it was, etc. More often than not, people would assume that it was at least a .90 engine, again probably because it's an unusally clean airframe.

It was typical WM quality (i.e. excellent) except for the retracts. I learned later that they were the same mechanical retracts that WM uses in its P-51 ARFs, which are almost two pounds lighter. I tried replacing the 5/32" wire with 3/16", which helped a little but they'd still bend on grass, even on the really good landings. I eventually replaced the retracts with fixed gear and never looked back.

I lost the plane to a radio failure after six seasons and many, MANY flights. Someday I might get another, although I'd go with fixed gear to save myself the grief.

Good luck, whatever you decide.

Regards,
-- Rod

Firebrad - I guess a bit here and there accounts for a lot. Yeah the DS motors are not as efficient but they are much much cheaper and will do the job for scale flying and not Extreme 3D for big planes.

I don't know, My Kangke Texas Hurricane has enough power to hover and pull out strongly on 10s. The weak link as far as hovering is turning out to be the Ailerons. they are too small! And I agree - for most of us, price is a major factor.

Firebrad - I bought some AXIs and also the Plettenberg ... I know they are great motors but for today's application of sport and mild 3D flying, motors like the DS work fine.

Here are a few pics!

I have the fixed-gear version. I bent my own landing gear from 3/16" music wire and flew it for 6 years with a YS 1.20. I never had to re-bend the gear yet.. even after a few not so gracefull landings.

Of the two Art Scholl Chipmunks, I liked the fixed gear version with the wheelpants the best.

I never really had any problems with the stock retracts on a hard surface. I took the time to make them work just right, and no problems except building up the backside of the mounts so they sat a bit forward. Flew it with a Super Tiger 90 and it was great. aerobatic like no tomorrow.