I am building a Skymaster F18F. When fitting the main oleo legs to the Robart 635 retracts, they would not tighten. The oleo leg diameter is to small. I tried to tighten the trunion up, but as the lugs squeezed in, they broke.
I returned the oleos, explained the problem & Skymaster sent new oleos & another trunion.
Unfortunately the new oleos are just as slack in the trunions.
I think they have an engineering problem.
I cannot believe I am the only one to have this problem.
Anyone had this, & how did you overcome it.
Any assistance would be welcome.

Regards

Jim

I am building a f-18e artf for a friend and have the same problem, the only thing that i can think of is to wrap the oleo stubs with thin shim steel or to drill through the retracts and oleos and put a bolt through, this is just one of many problems that i have come across so far with this model

Jim,
I have explained this problem several times to Airpac/Skymaster and they never fixed the problem so... I came up with a fairly simple solution.

Drill a hole in the side of the trunion so that the hole enters the strut cavity centered. Tap the hole for a 4/40 set screw. With the clamp bolt loose, slide the stut into the trunion. Insert the 4/40 setscrew and butt it up to the strut, does not need to be cranked tight. Rotate the strut for correct wheel alignment and tighten the clamp bolt down. The set screw works like a shim and will lock the strut in place.
The other option.... I sell HD truinions from Sierra which are drilled a few thousands undersize. These trunions lock down on the SM struts without issue...
Todd

Many thanks Todd.

sent you a PM.

Regards

Jim

Jim,
I'll get to your PM little later this eve. Trying to get the website back up and running. Here is a pic I had of the trunion mod however... If you look closely you can see the set screw in the side of the trunion...
Todd

Would you care to elaborate on what other problems you ran into? I have an "E" sitting on the bench, ready to start.

Thx,
Spar

Yes, it would be nice to hear about any other issues, I'm not overly impressed with the finishing I received on my Skymaster F18E, I was under the impression I bought a clearout "now on sale", not a second, their reply back was:

We do understand that the paint job on this plane is not perfect, and also we do understand about the glue in the airplane not being perfect but that is why the plane is on sale the regular price for the F-18E phototype is $2190.00.

P.S. this is not intended to be a skymaster bashing session, I just have the same quaulity issues as the above guys, before I start buying all there accessories, by the way "how hard is it to have the same color white throughout"


Goose is out

Thanks Todd,

I spoke to Ali just after I started this thread. He supplied the jet. He told me of the 30 or so that he sold, he had never heard of any problems & could offer no solution.

It was amusing to see that just after I spoke to him, he started a thread complaining about the undercarriage problems he was having with Michael Binder.

No dig Ali, I just found it so funny at the time.


Goose,

Skymaster in their advert stated that the jets offered at clearance prices were perfect, not seconds & were only offered cheaper in order to clear out the old technology stock.
I would make them live up to there promise or offer a further discount.

I paid the higher price for mine & the paintwork & glue were perfect.

Regards

Jim

Hi Jim,
Once again I am really sorry for the problems you are having with your gear. If at anytime you are not 100% happy witht he product please rest assured I would be happy to refund you for any faulty or sub standard equipment.
I just checked back through my records and I have sold 26 of these models plus I have had two of them for myself as demo models. To this date yours is the first set that I have had to replace the oleos on.
Now I am not saying in anyway it is anything you have done. I am thinking more along the lines of it being that a batch (or batches) of the oleo legs have been machined undersized. I know this doesn't help you and you ar estill stuck with oleos that you have to modify to make work. I am simply trying to re assure you that this is not a know problem to me.
I did (on our last telephone conversation) offer the same solution as on this thread ( suggesting that it may be possible to shim the oleo leg) As I have had the same problem on one of my other jets and this was cured by a shim, so to suggest that I offered no solution is a little unfair. Now I know about Todd's experiences and solution I will also have this to hand if (and when) I have this problem arise again.
The Michel binder thread was not regarding a faulty undercarriage. it is in fact a means to try and get delivery of a 1600.00 euro set of undercarriage that was paid for well over 1 year ago that I am still waiting for today. Again I don't think it is fair to try and connect that thread with your undercarriage issue.
I understand fully that you are not having a dig, and this post is just a means for me to try and protect my companies image, and retain a very good customer.
I really hope you understand that I would not knowingly sell equipment that does not work or is not fit for the purpose intended. The recent influx almost ready to fly jets has thrown up a whole new host of issues regarding acceptable quality, and what is required for completion. it seems what some people will accept as being required modeling others wont. I understand both stand-points fully, my job is trying to get each customer happy with whatever they have purchased from us.
Hope we can keep this thread happy and get a solution for Jim so he can go fly his new F-18
Regards Al

Hi Ali, When I said no solution, I meant not a makeshift one. I was just annoyed that Todd has told Skymaster many times about this problem, but they do not correct it. I am going to go with Todds Sierra precision heavy duty trunions.

When Skymaster were asked to send me a new set of oleos,& trunion & knowing there was an underlying problem, you would think they would have the brains to at least try the oleos in the trunion to see if they fitted.
While they supply good jets, they spoil it with niggling problems not being sorted & terrible assembly instructions.

I am in no way upset at you. You have always given me the best of service.

I would hope Michael Binder will do the honourable thing & either supply your undercarraige or refund your money.

Best regards

Jim

Thanks for your understanding Jim. The feed back from Distributor to manufacturer is often overlooked, which is a ral shame when there are people like Todd who are always working to make our toys better
As for Binder... I don't think i would use his name and the word Honor in the same sentence[:@]
Regards Al

Thanks Jim, I sent an email to Skymaster with pictures from their website address and no reply, I did get the above reply from Airpac models, I copied Great northern (Canadian Supplier) and no response. I've just put the jet back in the box for now, I does look awesome from a distance but those little imperfections will always be in my mind. I still can't understand why the wings and servo covers are of slight white diffrence than the body.

There quaility control needs to be tweaked a bit.

Goose

Hi Goose, I see the president of Skymaster is online this forum (Pilot TW).
No sign of any input from him!!!
I dare say he is keeping his head down.

Regards

Jim

Hmmmm.....

Goose

Instructions??? I would call it ......... pictures with little text, not instructions!. I wish we could have instructions like the ones provided by TAM!

Sent an email to Skymaster 3 weeks ago and still waiting for the reply.......

At leats we got airpac that can help! THX for the help guys.

Got a nice plane tough .....

cheers,

Phil

This concerns me quite a bit. I have been saving my coin up for one of the new SKYMASTER ARF PLUS F-18F. I sure hope this is not a common issue. I do remember a time when SKYMASTER was here to defend any and everything said about there jets. I even recall skymaster offering replacement or discount for a guys f-18 whos wing blew up in midflight.

SKYMASTER/AIRPAC I would like to hear your response to these quality control issues. I would also like to know why when someone reputable as todd mentions undersize oleos or oversized trunions... whichever the case may be... there has been no effort to resolve the issues. Issue like these are very minor and can be fixed. If the issue is that there is a batch of 50+ that are under/over cut.. then make a sleeve.... or collar.. or something... and let the users know.

thanks
Sean

Well said Sean....I'll second that....Skymaster are you out there?

Goose

The boss of skymaster was on this forum today, but did a runner without so much as a word.

Regards

Jim

I have the same problem on my F5

I should of bought a Tam f-18.

He anwsered my questions in a 12 hours time frames..... Seems thats there is something going on with Skymasters??? I still love the jet but for the price we pay we should have at least dome kind of support...

Phil

Hey Goose, I see Skymaster can comment in some threads (Skymaster Hawk centreline tank).

I wonder why he is avoiding customers having problems with his products.
I will think twice before buying another jet from them.

However, a nice big box arrived the other day from China with a lovely T45 Hawk inside only 9 days after ordering. The retracts & undercarriage quality is the best I have seen. The oleos even fit the retracts.
It is also very light. A 14lb turbine should fly it well.

The F18 has been put away for now.

Best regards

Jim

Jim

I am not sure your problems with Skymaster factory. However, I as distributor in North American, I only be able answer questions about my customers. I understand you are not happy about Skymaster at this time, but this is nothing to do to bashing all of people try to service customer.

Also, just curious, do you see any BVM issue threads answer direct by BVM company in RCU? I believe that no one doubt BVM have good quality of service.

For people worry the problem with Skymaster F18 oleos to fit Robrt 635 series (included 635 or 635 low profit), I will have detail answer after I talk to Robart later today. These are some short summaries:

1. The problem of Skymaster oleos with Robart 635 do existing in some of case, but is not happen to everyone.

2. This issue is only exist on some of 635 (for F-18) or 635 Low Profit (F-5), not for other planes with 630 series or 550 series.

3. As Skymaster distributor, we try to do out best with customer service. We do forward customer's questions/problem to factory. However, some time the issue can be solve quick, but something take longer then people expect. Especially, if this relate to our outsource suppliers or involve products with other companies.

4. This issue is nothing to do with quality control. We did check the Robart 635 be able to fit Skymaster F-18 when it develop. In fact, since 2004 we know near 500 of Skymaster F-18 fly with Robart retract now.

5. I will explain how this fitting issue happen and some solution options later today. Basically, this have some commutation issue between Skymaster and Robart, it's not defect products.

Eric, All I know is, I have a set of Robart 635 retracts & a set of Oleos both supplied by Skymaster that do not fit together. They even sent me a replacement set of oleos that still did not fit. How you can say this is not a quality control issue beats me.

If my problems are not with the Skymaster factory, please tell me who they are with!!!
I have bashed no one other than Skymaster.
Regards

Jim

Its not always in the companies best interest to come on the forums and problem solve things or support people, usualy its best to stay out of these forums because in some cases you will be wrong no matter what and it serves no one any good!

People forget these are Toy's that are made in mass production, not all the time will you get perfection, close but not always. Being in the hobby as customer support for some time now I see all sorts of problems arise and peoples attitudes flair up on the internet, they feel left out in the dark by the company and come here to Bash, instead of dealing directly with the company that sold them the part.

Its obvious to me that the majority of these Oleo Struts are good and functional, otherwise we would be hearing way more people complaining here.

Darcy Wingo