bluebikerblan

Sometime back, before a household move interrupted my build of the 1/5 the Sig Cub, I had located a source of an excellent looking articulated landing gear by a Wm. Wallace in Idaho. I book marked the e-mail address "J 3 Gear.com" and was hopeful of ordering same.
The site appears closed now.

My question is two fold: "Does anyone know if this gear is still available and how?" "How about some feedback on other sources? Robart?"

Thanks, Blue

kbkranz

Blue:
I too haven't had any luck locating the Wallace gear. However I think towerhobbies.com list a Robart set that they are very proud of. Let me know if you have any luck finding the Wallace gear I read somewhere it was more reasonably priced.

Thanks Kev

khodges

My Feedback: (1)

I have a set of both, so I can give you a side by side comparison. The Wallace gear looks really good, and when compared to pictures of a full-size J-3 gear, is very scale in all dimensions and even to the way the pivot points fit. I have been using the Wallace gear since early summer, and they work very well, takes some playing to get the number of rubber bands and how tight they are just right, so they are stiff enough but still give when needed. I haven't been all that happy with how they are holding up, the pivots are the screws that hold everything together, and they are harder than the metal of the gear, and the holes are wallowing out a bit, causes the gear to rattle now. It still works well, though. The Robart gear hasn't been installed, but it is more robustly made than the Wallace gear, at the expense of some parts being slightly out of scale for the sake of strength. The axle is a separate pin that inserts into a fitting and tightens with a set screw, the advantage is that it has a head that prevents the wheel from coming off, so it doesn't need a wheel collar; but it doesn't look exactly like the full size. Instead of rubber bands, the Robart gear has 4 large neoprene o-rings that will stretch-- they should not be affected by glow fuel like rubber bands, but the Robart gear does not include covers for the bungees, and the Wallace gear does. Bottom line, though, I think the Robart gear will outlast the Wallace gear and is only about $5-10 more, I'd go with the Robart for no more difference than there is in price or departure from scale. Saw a post recently that said Wallace does his part of the year only and is gone til spring. Sort of narrows the choices. Ken

khodges

My Feedback: (1)

There's more--(had to leave and take my older daughter to a Christmas dance)--How the gear attaches is a bit different. The "hard points" of the Wallace gear are connected by straps that go from one side to the other, and 4 screws fasten the whole thing to the fuselage. The "hard points" of the Robart gear are separate, and each takes 2 screws. Makes locating them properly a little more critical for everything to match up, these are one of the parts that are slightly out of scale, but they are a heavier gauge of steel than the Wallace gear, and instead of having screws to carry the main gear struts, they use pins about 1/8 in. dia. with e-clip keepers. The whole plane would collapse before these things would give. The bungee strut bracket is smaller diameter than the area it fits in (Robart), and it needs a shim or sleeve to keep it from moving back and forth about 3/16 in, but no shim or sleeve is included with the Robart set, and this is puzzling, as well built and designed as it is otherwise, but I made some for mine using some thick aluminum tubing about 3/16 diameter. Durability is what will sell the Robart, in my opinion, especially if you occasionally land as hard as I have, but if you can grease that Cub in without bouncing, the Wallace gear is okayand might give adequate service. I'm going to leave the Wallace gear on my L-4 until it's ready to fail, figure I'll get another 100 landings if I'm careful. I'd guess I've got at least that many on them now.

bluebikerblan

Thanks so much for the comparative information on Robart vs Wallace. Since it seems the Wallace gear is no longer available ???????the Robart gear is our best option (as it may well have been in the first place) as I know of several guys very happy with the Robart set up on their Sig 1/5th Cubs. Really appreciate the detail Kev. Best, Blue