Whats the differences between panumatic and mecanical retracs does one perform better than the other?

Mechanical require the use of a retract servo. The other type use's air to make the gears go up and down and are activated by the use of a standard servo moving an arm on an air valve. Mechanical take more effort to get set up as they need to have pushrods fitted to them and it can be alot of work to get them correct. Good Luck, Dave

are panumatics better?

I've heard people say that they don't like the way mechanical retracts look when they go up and down -- not very scale. I don't think they are very common on larger (or more serious) scale models and are used more frequently on Sunday Flyer type sport scale ARF's and kits and by some pattern flyers who don't care about scale operation.

Pneumanits are better when you get into the larger, heavier wheels. Mechanical retracts have trouble lifting the weight unless you use something like a sail winch servo. Ultimately for Scale applications Pneumatics are the much prefered choice.

High quality mechanicals like the ones from Frank Tiano Enterprises or Robart coupled with a JR 791 retract servo 260 oz.in. torque are very strong. The 791 retract servo moves very slowly.... It's still too fast for scale competition but it's better than most retract servos are.

Pneumatics are more durable and can be adjusted for very scale retract actuation speeds. The pneumatics are more expensive but they are worth the difference for .60 and up size airplanes. IMHO

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