Guys I almost have my P-51 done but have a question. The retracts that came with the ARF (CMP) dont lock in place totally. The retracts seem to be a bit lose when extended and retracted. Its not by much maybe an inch or two. Is there anything I can do to remedy this or is this not a big deal? It seems like a big thing to me. They lock in place but there is a little freedom each way( closed and open). Please help!

Haveing a tiny bit of wobble is fine make sure they look in both postions and the servo is not forcing at all...

Steven

normally they dont put the best quality retracts in those kits.your control rods should have a little amount of free travel left when they go from lock to lock.like Flying freak said you dont want the servo to bind.i would try to adjust the locks more so in the down position than up.the further you adjust the slides just short of end of travel without binding the rod that will take some of the slop out of them.if they are just a cheap set you might not be able to at all.just mess with the rod adjustments and see what happens.

If they are not locking you may have to move the connectors farther out on the servo wheel.
Dumb question but I have to ask (this is a beginners forum). You are using a retract servo right?

Whatever you do, makesure when they're in extended posistion the wheels sits foward enough.
Meaning the center of the wheel should sit at least the same as the leading edge or more

It has to fully lock or you'll be fully out of luck.
You can install springs to keep the gears in extended posistion. if you wish to keep them extended.

makesure you have a little bit of toe in.

I hope you have invasion stripes and colored wing tips and rudder.
It's going to be a little big heaveir so you have to fly it faster.
That scale alunimummmm or silver looks purdy on the ground...but during a banking manuver..stay FOCUS.lol

If these are the same retracts that came on a nitromodels P-51, they are non-adjustable in regards to up and down locks. Travel is the only adjustment and even if it's perfect there is still to much slop in the mechanism.

The P-51 had over a inch and a half of side to side play when finished.

I did not want to fly with these and decided to remove them and put in a pair of cheap Hobbico retracts. I did'nt even have to change the rod as the travels were the same.

Thanks guys! Yeah I do have a retract servo its just it is a little bit of give when locked either way

if there anything like the Hangar-9 ones then there pretty loose as it is but a good way to check to make sure there fully extended and locked is extend the gear with the radio then loosen the push rod at the servo horn and see how much it moves out and if it locks the retract mech in the down position,if there is no more travel in the push rod then tighten it and check the other side.
then retract the gear, if they don't go fully into the wing recesses and are floppy,or hanging down then you need more travel at the servo horn and need to move the quick connects out just a little bit if your on the outer most hole then simply use a larger horn, you dont want the gear to be hanging out of the wing.

if they do retract into the wing but are a little loose at the wire strut then you should be fine its just the cheap ARF gear that comes with that plane,the most important thing is that the gear is solid for take off and landing,its important that the servo doesn't bind there is that happy medium where the travel is just enough.

for my H-9 mustang I had to use the 6 point Futaba horn to get enough travel for the gear to work properly, and retract fully in the wing, on my H-9 P-40 the standard size round servo horn provided enough travel for the gear to work, it usually takes some fiddling around to get them just right so the gear works at the full range,and the servo doesn't bind,its imperitive that no binding occure so you don't drain the battery down in flight but if you have ever bound a servo you know the tell tale buzzing sound just a little trial and error is all.