picard1

My Feedback: (2)

ISTARTED TO EPOXY IN THE FUEL TANK/RETRACT SUPPORT AND DECIDED TO PLACE THE RETRACT IN TO SEE HOW IT FIT. WHEN RETRACTED THE STRUT WIRE WAS APROX 7/16" BELOW THE FUSELAGE. A QUICK CALCULATION INDICATES THAT ALMOST 1 1/2" OF THE FRONT TIRE WILL HANG BELOW THE FUSELAGE. IF I RAISE THE RETRACT SUPPORT THERE WOULD BE NO ROOM FOR A TANK. I WAS HOPING SOMEONE WITH THE SAME SETUP (SPRING AIR 305) COULD POST A PICTURE OF THERE SETUP OR GIVE ME SOME DIRECTION..


THANKS
MIKE

Rubbie

Picard 1, sorry I can't give you a picture of my set up but I can describe it. BTW this problem exists with the GP F-14 as well. I solved it differently both ways.

1. On the F-14 I just built up the area with scrap balsa and shaped and blended the area where the wheel goes into the fuse so it slighlty bulges down there but it totally looks natural.

or

2. On my patriot I have just bent the strut back so it looks like this ( or this ) so when it retracts it tucks nicely up in the fuse. I haven't had any ill effect from a ground handling or prop clearance point of view either.


I hope that helps

HavinFun

My Feedback: (4)

I used Robart mechancals on mine & found I had the same problem. I raised the mounting on the nose retract so it would retract entirely into the fuse, this left no room for the fuel tank. I wanted somthing bigger than an 8 oz tank & was able to use a Dubro 12 oz tank placed behind former F2 just under the cockpit. I'm using a YS45 so this presents no problems, not sure about fuel draw with muffler pressure though.

js3

My Feedback: (3)

In my opinion, this is the best setup. This is what I did on mine. I too had a YS .45 up front but I had two tanks installed over the wing--an 8 oz and a 12 oz. for a total of 20 oz of fuel. Both were the Sullivan slant-style tanks. This left plenty of room for the front retract unit and wheel. I used Hobbico mechanical retracts on mine. If I had it to do over, I would opt for pneumatics--probably Spring Air.

picard1

My Feedback: (2)

I THOUGHT ABOUT MOVING THE TANK BEHIND F-2 BUT WASN'T SURE IF I WOULD NEED A PERRY/CLINE PUMP? I'M RUNNING A JET 50 WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK?

MIKE

HavinFun

My Feedback: (4)

Thought I remember reading somewhere here on RCU that the Jett 50 has good fuel draw & was able to relocate the fuel tank 6 - 8 inches behind firewall. Higher muffler pressure than other engines maybe?

bob27s

My Feedback: (19)

You dont want a pump.

If you want a BIG tank, install one back over the wing just aft of F2, and use a 2oz header tank right up near the firewall.

If you want to relocate a single tank aft..... you are best advised to use a bubble-free tank......either a bubble-jett tank or a tetra tank. You can draw fuel from there much more consistantly with the bubble-free system. Dub makes an 8oz and 12oz tank that might fit well. Keep in mind, the 8oz bubble tank will equate to a 10oz conventional tank for flight times.

But in short....... its not really worth the hassle. Ive gotten pretty good flight times on the SJ-50 even with just a 6 oz tank. The 8oz bubble tank provides fairly decent flight times even flying at full throttle the entire flight. you can also squish-it if needed ( a heatgun helps at times) to fit it where you have room. From what I have been told, the 8oz tank fits very well in the stock location.

If you desire to fly for 12 minutes at a clip...then you will need more fuel

I'm not exactly sure why there was a retract issue. A number of folks have these flying, and I do not recall anyone mentioning a problem getting the gear up in the nose. My ARF seemed to fit together fairly well. That had an old set of springair gear in it. (I foget which model number). The nose wheel may have been outside of OML maybe .25" when retracted... if at all.