What did you fly today?

[davegee]

You did a great job on that P-51.

Thanks, Coconut!

Cheers

Davegee

[davegee]

[/QUOTE]

[davegee]

"post mortem" on right main gear failure on E Flite P-51D 1500 mm aircraft yesterday.

I mentioned in previous post of flying one of my P-47s and the E Flite P-51D LOU IV yesterday. Just to recap, I had 6 flights on the P-51 yesterday, one takeoff and landing per flight. On the final flight (6th) yesterday, I brought it in for a normal 2 point, tail low landing, and during the rollout, the right gear folded and the plane came to a stop. I don't think there were any undo sideloads or stresses on the gear, and I probably have at least 60-70 flights on this original gear for the past two years that I have had it.

Damage was minor, just the usual scrapes and cuts on the underneath of the wing that are easily repaired and repainted. The flaps were full down, and I noticed that the right flap where the gear failed stripped its servo gears so I ordered a new one of those, too.

I took the gear retract apart this morning. In almost all cases in the past for me, when I get a gear fail on landing, it has almost always been a cracked black plastic housing for the retract that was overstressed and broke. Easy enough, I just replace that retract with a new one, and off I go again to fly. However, in this case, when I pulled that gear out of the wing and ran it on a servo tester, I found to my surprise that there was not crack in the housing, and the servo drives perfectly when cycled. There is no problem with the retract itself. What WAS the culprit was the metal trunnion (I "think" that's what they call it) that has four little arms that fit into the metal shuttle piece on the threaded drive rod that moves the gear up and down. Two of these were broken off at the base. I am including a photo with a paint brush handle pointing at the two flanges that are now missing.

As I said, I was really surprised that these broke off during the landing, that wasn't all that bad, probably in the normal category of what I would call a safe landing. I don't think they sell just replacement trunnions to change out on this otherwise normal, working retract unit, so I have already ordered a replacement retract for the gear and that flap that I mentioned earlier.

I'd be interested in any thoughts on this, if you have found this trunnion fails regularly, or rarely in your experience. It could be just crappy Chinese pot metal, or maybe all these flights I've had on it finally weakened it to failure. At any rate, this plane will be ready to fly again once I get the new servos.

Cheers

Davegee

[Elbee]

davegee, happy to read you found the problem.

Your comment about 'cheap' would be my thought and/or under-designed for the material.

In any case, you've solved it, Mr. Holmes and that is all the matters.

Respectfully, Dr W.

[davegee]

Thank you, “Dr. Watson.” I’m pretty sure that trunnion was defective, as I can’t remember the last time I had a failure of one of these on gas, glo, or electric planes since I got into this “addiction” in 2000. I’ve had my share of cracked plastic casings, usually after I overstressed the gear on a landing, but usually that was pretty self evident to me.

Happy Landings!

cheers,

Holmes

[f4u ausie]

Hello daveegee.. as u may remember, i have about 90 flights on mine now..it and my corsair were my mainstay goto.. (only 2) but last year was lucky enuf to get 4 more.. planes ,, liken the f4 phantom ,,so can rotate a bit more....... anyway ive replaced the p51 retracts couple times now.. the same prob az yours this time,,, splt cases ..etc etc had spares from old retracts for a while..likely have that part, in my box of tricks.. let me no.. if u have not orderd the new ones... i land maybe faster than some,, and thep51 tracks hard left or right,, wind dependant.. on landing.. corsair does not do that,,, but u can see the retracts bending over,, .. i no they coul be made stronger,, but the mount r only glued in,, place,, my spits first landing in heavier grass pulled out the mount and damaged the foam... anyway i no u will as always have it repaired in the air soon enuf,, flying again.. with that nice mountain back drop.. have fun b safe

[davegee]

Hi f4u Aussie: thanks for that info. I don’t know if it is worth the time and money, but if you have one of the silver metal Trunnions for the standard E-Flite P-51 in your extra parts box, I would be interested in buying it and paying shipping to get it to the USA. Maybe that would cost more than it’s worth, but that is the only part I need to make this retract unit fully operational again.

If you’re of a mind to do so, PM me on Hobbysquawk and what it would cost to get it to me, including shipping. I can give you my mailing address via PM and we’d need to figure out how to pay you for the part. I have a few retract units in my parts box, but not one compatible with the EFlite P-51.

Very much appreciate your offer!

Cheers

dsvegee

[Elbee]

f4u ausie davegee

Gentlemen,

Do y'all think the plastic cases could be 3D printed?

Well of course these can BE printed, but I was thinking about strength, as in printed with PETG or ASA (ABS), not PLA.

If one of you believes any of this is worth the effort, would risk rebuilding with 3D parts, and would take the time to measure one out in millimeters; I would give it go and send along the STL file to whomever needed/wanted those.

Just a thought.

Best, Steve

[f4u ausie]

Will have look in that box and pm u.

[f4u ausie]

Lb I think Ur a clever di?? All that printer stuff u do I had the mig 17. With the awsome billet gear
.. but if I had crappy landing it would rip the gear out with the mount in the end.destroying the wings.. so for me e week spot in gear is bettet thannew wings. As I get more into this a printer could b on my radar. But happy flying and thinking bout my next hanger clutterer thanxlb b safe

[Elbee]

Thanks Craig. It is what it is, all the 3DP things. Design is the devil incarnate sometimes. Printing a finished design is the icing on the cake. LOL, Best, Steve

[Evan D]

My MiG is still going strong, flew it and my B-2 Tuesday.

[f4u ausie]

Like that mig. Ye early in the piece. Was flying off dirt with little stones and the odd pot hole.. that's my excuse anyway.. again that mig is really nice

[f4u ausie]

Davegee i may have sent 2 pm let me no im crapp at teck

[kamillenielsen]

I flew one of my pby catalina today, Flying a PBY Catalina offers a unique opportunity to experience the grace and presence of this iconic seaplane in the skies.

[davegee]

I flew one of my pby catalina today, Flying a PBY Catalina offers a unique opportunity to experience the grace and presence of this iconic seaplane in the skies.

Beautiful classic airplane! My late step-dad flew those in the Pacific during WWII for the US Navy. He really liked it, for what its mission was.

Cheers

Davegee

[davegee]

Got 'em, f4u aussie! Much obliged!👍👍👍

Cheers, mate!

Davegee

[davegee]

I took two airplanes out to the field this morning. I've had both for a few years, one is an F-4N Phantom II in VF-84 paint scheme, and my A-4E, in the colors of a Viet Nam era VA-152 squadron. Hadn't flown either of these for a few months. The first flight with the A-4 with both the drop tanks and the missiles on the wings went fine, although I was a bit rusty, as can be expected.

I took off the big drop tanks and kept the missiles on for the second flight. Not long after takeoff when I was climbing out and turning for a left-hand pattern, I started having severe directional control problems. I couldn't really see what the issue was, but it was barely controllable. I tried to see what the issue was like asymmetrical flaps, a gear stuck down or something, but that wasn't it. While trying to bring it back for an emergency landing, I lost control of it and it crashed into the weeds short of the runway. When I picked up the pieces one of the missiles couldn't be found, so my guess is that one of them departed the airplane early on, causing the directional control problems.

It is definitely repairable, and all the internal things like the 6S battery, electronics, receiver, motor, ESC, etc., weren't damaged. I could replace the fuse, and I think could put it back together, but I think I might just harvest the pieces from it and call it good. I've had a lot of fun with it, but I think I'll move on from the A-4. Possibly might look into the new F-14A that just came out.

My other plane, the F-4N Jolly Rogers scheme, by comparison is a joy to fly. I have the afterburners and wheel brakes, and it drives like a fast, solid, sled. One of my favorite EDFs to fly. I took a few pics of them, plus an older one of the A-4 since it crashed before I could take a photo of it at the field.

A friend of mine once said about RC airplanes: "Sooner or later, they all come back in a body bag!" I look forward to replacing this A-4 with another fun airplane.

Cheers

Davegee

[f4u ausie]

Love the look of the f4 swoopy 3 minuts not long enuf .. looking into the smc hv packs soon.. i think its danny at smc

[Elbee]

davegee I presume your Phabulous Phantom is of FreeWing origin.

If that is correct, whose 'wheel brakes' did you install?

I fly off pavement and had thought to upgrade the EDF and add a reverse thrust ESC, but she flies good as is.

However, adding wheel brakes could solve the inadvertent run-off problem I suffer with continued frequency.

Brakes might be less expensive than the aforementioned upgrades.

Best, LB

[davegee]

davegee I presume your Phabulous Phantom is of FreeWing origin.

If that is correct, whose 'wheel brakes' did you install?

I fly off pavement and had thought to upgrade the EDF and add a reverse thrust ESC, but she flies good as is.

However, adding wheel brakes could solve the inadvertent run-off problem I suffer with continued frequency.

Brakes might be less expensive than the aforementioned upgrades.

Best, LB

Hi Steve: I bought the JP Hobby electric brakes for the F-4. They really work great and I used them today on the two flights I had with the F-4. Yes, it is a Freewing F-4, converted to an N model per some history books. It is based on a scheme of an actual airplane used about 1975 or so.

I haven't put the wheel brakes on any other plane so far, but have certainly considered it for some planes that seem to want to roll forever on my less than ideal runway surface that I operate out of.

If you need any other details on the JP brakes, I am more than happy to assist.

Cheers

Dave