stevedoo

I just bought a GWS A10 w/300's and a steerable nose gear. And from what I have read, the nose gear steering is pretty much a useless feature. So my intent is to put light weight retracts on it instead of the goofy fixed gear it has on it now. Any way, i wanted to know if anyone could give me any advice on rather or not I could use the servo for the steering nose gear as a retract serv or if I'd need a different servo? ( i've never had retracts before) Also, is there a way to use a 4 channel radio for retracts or would it just be smarter to go up to a 5-6 channel radio?

prodigyflyer

My Feedback: (5)

On every radio that I have seen before, the wheel that does the steering, is also the same channel that controls the rudder. So I do not forsee you being able to have retracts with a 4channel radio. In the long run, I would keep the plane as is, simply because it requires much more work than you may think to convert a plane to retracts unless it is already setup for them, and simply has a fixed gear.

However, if the plane does have recessed wings to accomodate retracts, I would just get a 5channel radio.


JMO< take it as you will.

stevedoo

Thanks for the reply. The A10 has a little area to stash a gear in the wing and plenty in the nose. Also, it doesn't have a rudder control. My main concern is the functionality of the radio and servos. Like i said, I've never put retracts on before and am not real sure how the servos work. As in, are they powered and pulling on the gear all the time, or do they only activate when the switch is thrown in either direction. What I thought about doing was using the nose servo as the retract and simply throwing the trim slider all the way 1 direction to up them up, and reverse for down. So i guess my main question is do you know if retract servos are active all the time or just when needed?
thanks again for the help.

rccrazedman

My Feedback: (10)

retract servos retract fully one way or the other then lock in place they are said not to constantly keep pulling power. but they cannont be set up in the way your talking because I don't believe the trim is going to be enought to keep the power signal from the reciever all the way in one direction or the other . you must have at least a 5 channel radio for this because retracts are set up on a switch.

stevedoo

Thats the answer i was looking for, I appreciate it. Now I can move forward with this without alot of un-necessary expensive mistakes.

tclaridge

I fly the A10, and would like to have the wheels retract, but I just left them hangin'. Its fun to bring it in and taxi back. I latter replaced the wire ones with some scale looking foams. They look great.

sfsjkid

stevedoo, you might do a little more research on the retracts in the electric plane forum. The retract servo that was mentioned here is a full-sized one, which probably weighs more than your current flight pack combined. Carl Goldberg once had a retract system that operated off of the throttle servo, full up trim/throttle retracted up, full down trim/throttle retracted down. Neat idea, but not practical with today's systems, nor your electric with an ESC.

Good luck!