rcjets_63

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Jolly,

Well I thought I'd be descriptive as there seems to be a fair amount of interest (dlan, yiotiscy, and who knows who else) are both interested in putting retracts in this plane. As for the location of the wheel, let's hope that turns out OK. Mind you, it wasn't like I had a lot of choice as to where to mount the retract; the unit is only about 1/16" narrower than the gap between the ribs.

I got the paypal message and look forward to receiving the canopy eject lines. That will really spruce up the model. If I'm not careful, mine might look almost as good as your model.

BTW, is the secret out so you can post the photo of the what is connected to the second wing servo?

dlan

You know, the wing mods look relatively easy compared to the nose. I'm real
curious to see what you do Rcjets!!

And btw, what is the other servo for Jolly?[sm=50_50.gif] Curious minds want to know (nuj nuj)!

All in all I think it's great how people from all over have shown intrest in this plane and are
sharing info. Keep it guys!!

~Dlan

rcjets_63

My Feedback: (5)

dlan,

The wing mods really weren't hard and surprisingly enough the nose gear was pretty simple as well. By far, the toughest part is figuring out at what height and angle the nose gear mounting rails need to be. It does look pretty tough in the photos from Jolly but I think that is just because his photos are of the completed installation so things look a bit cramped.

I will be changing the nose gear mount from the rails to the 1/4" plywood. This is because former #2 is simply too weak to take the loads so I need to install the plywood to carry the load out to the fuselage sides.

With some luck, I can get the second main retract installed and the nose finished up by the weekend. I'd like to get the plane back into the air by Sunday.

As for Jolly's second servo (refer to photos/post on page 4 of this thread), Jolly said Jolly told me in a PM what the servo was for but I'm sworn to secrecy! We'll have to wait for him to reveal the secret.

I too think it is great about the interest in this kit. Retracts are being put in by myself (US), Jolly (UK), Gregor32 (Australia), yiotiscy (Cyprus), and who knows what other folks are just watching this thread.

When are you going to put in the retracts?

dlan

Ok, I can wait for Jolly to unviel the secret but the suspense is killing me...

I believe I will fly te plane prior to the install, much like you did rcjets! I really want to
feel how the plane reacts before I put the time and effort in. Softball with the kids
dominates most my time currently. Weekends and some week nights I have been
working on the Tucano. I have decided to go with the FS70 for power, not the Mag 53.
That will be installed this weekend.

As always, thanks for all the great info. It will be used in the future!!

dlan

rcjets_63

My Feedback: (5)

Well, I furthered the cause tonight and got a bit more work done. All three of the retracts are now installed. It took about 1-1/2 hours to get the second main retract unit mounted but now the bird sits on all three gear. This enabled me to check check/adjust the length of the struts to have the plane sit level on the ground. Here's the strut data:

Nose gear - distance from ground to underside of fuselage skin (at strut):
Jolly - 120mm = 4-3/4"
Jim - 115mm = 4-1/2"

Main gear - distance from ground to underside of wing (at strut):
Jolly - 132mm = 5-3/16"
Jim - 153mm = 6"

My main gear struts are quite a bit longer than Jolly's since I wanted the plane to sit such that the wing had 0 degrees incidence when the plane was on the ground. As Jolly predicted, this is going to cause a bit of a problem as the main wheel wells will interfere with a wing rib. To avoid the interference, the main gear struts have to be about 13/16" shorter (and match Jolly's) but then the plane will have too much positive incidence so I'd have to shorten the nose strut too. We'll check that out tomorrow night to see if shortening the nose strut (but still have the nose wheel completely retract into the fuselage).

In the meantime, here are a couple of more photos.

rcjets_63

My Feedback: (5)

Well, Jolly hit the nail on the head with his main gear. I shortenend the main structs to 5-3/16" (132mm) to have the wheels fit between the wing ribs and shortened the nose gear strut to match (now 3-13/16" from underside of nose to the ground). The nosewheel (2-1/4" now sits over the tank when retracted but looks like it will still be enclosed.

I got the main gear wheel wells framed tonight and the main gear retract servo and pushrods installed. It was a lot of fun to put the wings on, flip the switch, and have all three gear retract.

Tomorrow night, I'll make the final mounting plate (1/4" ply) for the nose gear, and sheet the lower nose. I have some sheeting work to do on the bottom of the wing (I decided to replace the fairing as it didn't fit very well and the holes in the fairing for the wing bolts didn't align with the holes in the wing). After that, just replacing the covering film is all that's left before I can fly it. I'm still hopeful for Sunday.

Jolly and dlan, what are you guys up to?

dlan

Hey guys, the FS70 is nearly a in. Flight pack coming soon. For me hopefully, will be flying in ~1 month...
Oh I hate waiting...

till then my Dragon Lady 40 will be abused!!!

rcjets_63

My Feedback: (5)

DONE! The gear is in, the covering film is on, it's all charged up, and we're ready to go. I can't wait for tomorrow morning. How's it look to you?

rcjets_63

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We had fantastic weather in Albuquerque today. The regular Spring winds of 15+ mph just didn't appear; we had clear sunny skies all day with winds in the light and variable category.

The flight tests today went very well. The Tucano looked awesome on low passes with the gear up. Top speed increased by about 10mph. I received lots of compliments on the plane. Some of the guys had seen the plane qith fixed gear in past weeks and noticed the retracts favorably. Others wondered where I got such a good looking 40 sized plane with retracts. The comment that made my day was an experienced IMAA pilot who said my Tucano "looks like a whole handful of fun!" All I can say is that he is right!!!!!!!!

A couple of notes from the tests:
- I had shortened the nosegear too much and you have to give a fair amount of up elevator to get the plane to rotate. (Additionally, the main gear struts are shorter than the fixed struts so these two factors combine to make tail scraps likely. Good thing I installed a tail skid just in front of the rudder.) Zero degrees incidence at the wing root is too little incidence. However, I was expecting this and left a bit or excess strut available. I'll desolder the axle and increase the length of the strut 1/2"-3/4". The good news is that upon landingwith 0 degrees incidence, the plane certainly sticks to the ground. At 1-1/2 degrees incidence and the kit main wheels, the plane is still a bit bouncy. I'll set it up at 1 degree for the next flight test.
- The nosegear setup is a bit mushy. I might replace the strut with one having fewer coils. Also, the old Dubro low-bounce tire likely needs to be replaced with something slightly stiffer (or newer)
- Don't use 12 year old Monokote to recover the wings. It's now brittle and pieces of it may fly off the plane with that extra 10mph you have. Fortunately clear Scotch packing tape makes for an excellent field repair.
- Don't forget your camera at home.
- Futaba retract servos are very strong. If you happen to accidentally leave the Rx switch on and go fly another plane using the same transmitter, selecting gear up will work on both the airplane you are flying and the Tucano on the ground behind you.

All in all, it was a really great day. Attached are some very fuzzy photos taken by a chap at the field who was nice enough to email them to me. I'll try to get some better photos the next time.

dlan

Hey Rcjets!

The plane looks awesome!! And what a field!!! Wow it looked like a fantastic day!!

Winchweight

I am watching this thread with fascination. I have the Pheonix Tucano with an Irvine 53 up front and it is awesome. I want to fit retracts to it too, so keep the info coming guys.

Kostas1

Awsome pics winchweight.....Very nice?

Video?

Winchweight

Video? Non yet. Perhaps when I get the retracts done.

rcjets_63

My Feedback: (5)

Here's a link for the in-flight video taken from the cockpit of my Tucano.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNFhUd-li2E

It's a great bird and I'm having a lot of fun with it. The retracts really add to the charm.

Winchweight,

In case you didn't see them, earlier in this thread I posted a lot of photos with descriptions on how to install the retracts. That should be all the info you need but if I missed anything, feel free to send me a PM and I'll try to answer any questions you may have.

Regards,

Jim

Kostas1

Very nice.....What else can i say?????

Cheers,

Kostas

mR JoLLy

I finally get round to show the function of the extra servo I have mounted in my wing.

Sorry for the delay showing revealing the details but I just never seemed to get round to it. Seeing rcjets_63 video has spurred me on so here it is.

It is basically designed to drop a Union Jack below the wing. The flap nicely covers the wing mounting screws

The colour scheme is made to look like the RAF Linton-on-Ouse Tucano Display team, and they drop a flag at the end of their displays from this position.

I have to say it also adds a flap function to the model, much more that I would have credited it with. When flying I have pre-mixed an amount of down elevator to compensate which is equivalent to several clicks on the trim!

Sorry I am going to have to ask. What equipment did you use for the video as it is very good quality indeed?

JoLLy

Winchweight

Cheers Jim I saw that. There's also an excellent thread on RCMF here in the UK, which gives a step by step guide as well.

I have a FlyCamOne as well and will try it in my Tucano.

Nice job Jolly!

rcjets_63

My Feedback: (5)

Hi Jolly,

Thanks for revealing the secret! I hope it impresses the crowd and your flying buddy.

The video was done using a flycamone2 (see www.flycamone2.com). It's available for $95 here in the US (probably cheaper elsewhere since our dollar is in a slump). Go ahead and pick one up; they are alot of fun.

You also may need video editing software. Window Move Maker (that comes with XP) can do a lot of stuff and can certainly produce a video but I wanted something fancy and bought a video editing application (though I probably could have not bothered).

I've attached the camera to the Tucano and to the planes of a couple of friends. Lots of fun. Next is putting it on my Bandit which took to the air last weekend after seven years on the shelf. It's great to have access to Kirtland AFB here in Albuquerque as the "model field" features two runways (N-S and E-W) that are 1200 ft long and, from the photo, it isn't like there are any trees or other obstacles.

The video is a bit blurry, since the camera is mounted inside the cockpit and the canopy isn't exactly optical quality. Also, it may have lost a bit of sharpness on converting the file for use with the editing software and again for YouTube. I look forward to seeing the results with it mounted externally on the underside of my Bandit. Here's an example of a flycamone2 mounted under a jet. (Gotta love that sound).

http://www.hawkturbine.com/res/Movie..._camera_sm.wmv

Regards,

Jim

Qld Flyer

rcjets,

what pushrod did you use for the nose wheel steering? I just crashed my Tucano after a deadstick and ripped the nose off. Thought it would be a good time to put retracts in while I'm rebuilding it. Your photos and explanations will certainly make my job much easier.

cheers

rcjets_63

My Feedback: (5)

Old Flyer,

I used the stock music wire pushrod with the stock outer plastic tube. I soldered a clevis to the pushrod. See attached photo. Please note that the photo shows the retract mounted on rails. This was a temporary installation to figure out the geometry. I later replaced the rails with a 1/4" ply plate (at about a 10 degree angle) that ran the full width of the fuselage and was reinforced with triangle stock at the glue joints at the front and sides.

Note: The EZ/Hobbico nose gear retract steering arm has a lot of flex and makes the plane a bit squirrely on takeoff. I substituted a Spring Air nose gear arm which is much stiffer. The Spring Air fits very well, but it needs a minor modification. It uses a 6-32 short cap screw to lock in place but the screw is located at the side of the steering arm it it will interfere with the side frame of the retract. You need to push out the wheel collar and drill a new hole in the plastic arm at the front then reinstall the collar with the cap screw in the new hole (facing forward). The ground handling of the airplane improved dramatically so it is definitely worth the 5 minutes (and few $) to do this mod.

Sorry to hear about your plane, but look on the bright side, your Tucano will be awesome with the retracts.

Regards,

Jim

Qld Flyer

Jim,

Thanks for that. How are the Hobbico retracts holding up. I was worried that they would be a bit weak so I was going to order a Robart set.

Shane

dlan

Hey guys,

I know I have been quiet for some time some but my interest in has not waned! My bird is almost flight ready
but softball is dominating my life now as my oldest made the all-stars team. The 70 FS has been mounted as much
of the gear. I need to install a fueling port and I pretty much ready to go. The 70 fit ok but it did require minor mods.
Once I fly the bird a few times then I will embark on retracts. I feel it will make the plane that much more flight worthy.
I would like to thank Jolly and RcJets for taking the time to document the work they have performed in accomplishing
this efforts as it has benefitted many of us viewing this thread!

rcjets_63

My Feedback: (5)

Make no mistake, the Hobbico retracts are weak; they are also $20 so you can't have everything. I have a long history with them and had about 3-4 complete sets laying around. I decided to drill them out for 3/16" struts (since I had some of those on hand and I remember the old EZ stock 5/32 struts as being weak).

The problem with drilling them out is that they are weak enough already and you get a bit dangerously close to the edge of the plastic. I did finally snap the plastic around one on a particularly punishing landing when a stray gust of wind (yeah, that's my story) got me during flare. I just popped in a new one and was good to go in a few minutes.

In hindsight, I might actually try the 5/32 struts again to see if the metal is any better these days. My sets are all about 10 years old.

Dlan, glad to hear that you are making some progress on building (if not flying). Look on the bright side, there are usually more cute women at the softball field than at the flying field.

These days I'm on vacation and I had great fun today flying the Tucano and the Bandit. Unfortunately, I discovered that I forgot to charge the FlyCamOne so no inflight video. It's charging now and will be strapped to the Bandit tomorrow morning for some (hopefully) awesome inflight video. I'm visiting a friend and the local club doesn't allow passes over the runway (you have to be off the far side) but I found an abandoned WW2 training field that some of the local jet guys use so I'll give that a shot tomorrow. I'll try to keep the passes at least a couple of feet above the runway. The last time I got into a low pass contest, I ground 1/4" off the lowest point of the airplane (the flaperon control horns) during a 180mph pass with my Viper. Fortunately, the clevises were attached about 3/8" from the end of the horns. I might also finally get a half decent photo of the Tucano on a fly-by.

Incidentally, I didn't win the low pass contest. That honor went to an F-16 driver who ground at least 3/4" off it's ventral fins when he touched it down and held it there for about 100 yards. That is a LOW pass.

Regards,

Jim

dlan

I've got to get back into my planes! I am a speed fread, and I figure if I can let it out in the sky then
I'm better off in the street on my bike! Man I can't wait to get back to the field....! Reports to follow......


BTW Rcets- amen to the cute women, thank God for young mothers (oh, I should not have said that LOL)...


Dlan,,,,

rcjets_63

My Feedback: (5)

Hi Guys,

Well, no Tucano flying today so this may be a bit off topic. I went out to the WW2 field and had a blast burning off all the kerosene I brought with me (2 gallons). It was enought for four flights of the Bandit. Next time, I'll bring the 5 gallon can. Here's the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4I5gVuR_Ow

I'll try for some Tucano pics next weekend.

Regards,

Jim