Just put together my Nexstar and I am having trouble getting the landing gear to lock in place. They seem to fit fine with no binding etc, but just don't seem to lock in. Any ideas?

Thanks,

I had to work with mine a little also. I had to push and move back and fourth a little and it fell into place. Good luck.

Under the servo mount you'll see the top side of the main landing gear box. On there you'll see the top side of the gear locks. If you push these down a bit with the gear removed you'll fine the gear should lock in when you reinsert them. I had to do this to my son's NextStar. You may have to remove the servos to do this, they are easy to remove and install.

Hogflyer

There can also be excessive paint in the hole the retainers drop into. Scrape a little paint out of the holes and also push on the retainer tabs if needed.

I read where someone had to use a rat tail file to enlarge the hole in one of the the gear "just a little bit!". Then they snapped in place fine. Try what the others suggested first though.

You may need to file a little bit off the end of the legs where they meet each other. Sometimes they will not go in far enough to lock. The landing gear is one of my pet peeves about the Nexstar. In addition to not locking and falling out, if you have a moderate crash where the gear is snagged, it basically destroys the fuselage.

On a friend's Nexstar, we made it a little more permanent by removing the plastic mechanism and making "pins" out of dowel rod and plywood to lock it in place.

Thanks for the info, will check it out. That is what it felt like, just not enogh tension on the retainers. Was unsure if you could get to it by taking the servos out.

Roger

Thanks, will check it out.

a little rat tail file work on the holes to clear them of exessive paint works well,I even had to open them up a bit to get them to lock properly there is a bit of paint build up around the holes to be cleared out, so the plastic knobs pop into place,its also good to make sure your putting the gear in the right side when installing them its easy to get them turned around,as well the paint can be exessive on the ends of the gear so one will lock but the other one won't.
I blew my gear out a few times the fix is pretty easy just part mof the hobby,little details.