Hangar 9 60cc Corsair Build

[camss69]

Second 1268 servo came in yesterday and I installed it tonight. No surprises except the two sides lined up exactly. The servo arms match so I didn't have to put in any subtrim, the throws match with no endpoint adjust.. That's nice! Pics look just like the pics I posted above of the other guy's.

Next up is retracts...

 

[camss69]

So Hangar 9 teamed up with Robart to build drop in retracts for this plane. I REALLY wanted to do the electric Robart gear. Unfortunately the electric components of the Robart gear are REALLY bad. You can find horror story after horror story about them online. I decided to call Darrel at Sierra. He said he didn't have any gear specific for the plane but was thinking about building some since he was getting some interest. Long story but after a couple months of waiting the gear showed up. The workmanship and quality are pretty amazing. I also ordered his wheels which are nice too and his accessory kit. It looks like the gear a slightly narrower than the Robart gear are. I will probably have to modify the rails slightly... Hopefully I'll be able to get started on them this weekend.

 

[camss69]

Forgot to mention... The Sierra gear are obviously pneumatic... Can't have everything I guess. I could convert them to electric but it would be an extra couple Benjamin's, (4) I'll just go with the air..

 

[ghoffman]

Nice looking Corsair!

 

[camss69]

Thanks! I'll be running the Evolution 77cc 7cyl radial.

 

[camss69]

Going to be a kids soccer weekend this weekend... But I took a look at how the retracts are going to fit. There isn't much room for error, the wheel just fits through the opening even though it looks plenty wide enough. I'm not sure just yet if the rails are going to need to be modified... I'm thinking I'll use machine screws and blind nuts? I think the manual calls for wood screws.. The Robart retracts I think take up the majority of the rail length wise. The Sierra gear only go half way.

 

[camss69]

I had a little time available this weekend to work on the Corsair. I decided to use blind nuts and socket head machine screws to mount the retracts. Since the mounting holes were so close to the edge of the rails I cut some 1/8" ply plates to mount on the bottom of the rail to make sure the entire blind nut had something to butt up against. I epoxied them in place, drilled the holes and got the first retract mounted. When retracted the strut just barely clears the doors by about 1/16". "Tomorrow" (code for sometime this week hopefully before next weekend) I'll do the other side. The wheel is sooo close to the edge of the wheel bay when going up and down.. I hope it will clear the doors and hinges when they are open.

 

[camss69]

With soccer season winding down for the next couple months I have some time to get going on this project again. Started working on gear doors yesterday. Slow going!

 

[camss69]

Got the forward doors just about completed today. The instructions tell you to drill holes in certain locations for the mounting screws, only in the front, there's nothing there! So I had to add some wood blocks to have something for the screws to screw into. It looks like I will have to shim the gear in the front to clear the gear doors down by the tires. Lots of trial and fit and adjust and fit again.

 

[camss69]

Made a couple of gear door servo mounts today. Following the instructions, they give you some ideas but leave it mainly up to the modeler. I've really been debating here.... The two options are separate the gear doors, hinge them, and install servos to actuate them. Or leave the doors together and just cut a hole through the middle for the wheel to go through. It would save a ton of time, programming, servo extensions and servos to just cut the hole... But it's kind of a challenge (for me anyway) to get the doors working... I have all the parts to do it. I have metal gear MKS HV servos. I thought I'd start by making the mounts and seeing how it goes and then decide.