Official FlightLine F4U-1A Corsair 1600mm (63") Wingspan

[davegee]

Thank You guys all for the kind words,
I can't take credit for the weathering on the tires, Our strip is just naturally dirty from all the wind I guess. lol
Yes Dave , that's a good call on the LG inspection, as soon as the glory of success wears off , and I take a nap from all the "Maiden Trauma" I'll get right to it.😬😴

good deal! The tires look great, even if nature is doing the slight weathering for you!😁
Hopefully the retract housings are intact when you inspect them, but I've been there enough myself to know when you get this distinct shaking and laboring of the wheels to come up and down, chances are something is going on with the retract. I'll keep my fingers crossed that they are still sound and will provide good service for many flights to come.

cheers

davegee

[Pappy 883]

Your suspicions were correct Dave, The housing was ok but the jackscrew was bent a little on both retracts. I tore into the right one and was able to straighten it pretty good so I tested it out .
Well it was ok not great but good enough to avoid replacement, until the carriage that rides on the jackscrew caught on one of the micro switches and broke it. The tiny switch has REAL tiny springs inside, at that point I knew , game over. When I ordered the plane I got spare gear just incase . Just didn't count on replacing so soon ,......... poop

Back to it, joe h.

[Pappy 883]

good deal! The tires look great, even if nature is doing the slight weathering for you!😁
Hopefully the retract housings are intact when you inspect them, but I've been there enough myself to know when you get this distinct shaking and laboring of the wheels to come up and down, chances are something is going on with the retract. I'll keep my fingers crossed that they are still sound and will provide good service for many flights to come.

cheers

davegee

[davegee]

Your suspicions were correct Dave, The housing was ok but the jackscrew was bent a little on both retracts. I tore into the right one and was able to straighten it pretty good so I tested it out .
Well it was ok not great but good enough to avoid replacement, until the carriage that rides on the jackscrew caught on one of the micro switches and broke it. The tiny switch has REAL tiny springs inside, at that point I knew , game over. When I ordered the plane I got spare gear just incase . Just didn't count on replacing so soon ,......... poop

Back to it, joe h.

Sorry you had those problems with the retract, Joe. But I guess on the positive side, had you not inspected the landing gear, it might have worked a time or two, and then failed in the worst possible way during takeoff or landing and really damaged your beautiful plane! I get aggravated at especially the cheap plastic housing of the retracts, which is where I find most of my problems lie, even if the landing wasn't that bad (but the retract thinks it was!). So, like everyone else, I just have to suck it up and get a new retract and hope it lasts for a long time.

But through the school of hard knocks, I have found if you have a hard landing or one that put a lot of stress on the gear, afterwards when you test it by running it up and down, if you have that shaking or straining of the gear when you exercise it, chances are pretty good that it is damaged in some way, and might need replacement. I love these realistic Corsair retracts, but they can be irksome sometimes.

Cheers

davegee

[Pappy 883]

Sorry you had those problems with the retract, Joe. But I guess on the positive side, had you not inspected the landing gear, it might have worked a time or two, and then failed in the worst possible way during takeoff or landing and really damaged your beautiful plane! I get aggravated at especially the cheap plastic housing of the retracts, which is where I find most of my problems lie, even if the landing wasn't that bad (but the retract thinks it was!). So, like everyone else, I just have to suck it up and get a new retract and hope it lasts for a long time.

But through the school of hard knocks, I have found if you have a hard landing or one that put a lot of stress on the gear, afterwards when you test it by running it up and down, if you have that shaking or straining of the gear when you exercise it, chances are pretty good that it is damaged in some way, and might need replacement. I love these realistic Corsair retracts, but they can be irksome sometimes.

Cheers

davegee

Dave
, Got it all back together with the new units ,working great but what about next time ?
Tried to order another spare set, MRC out of stock .
This is a great plane I just love it , what I don't like is not being able to get parts . I even bought a spare FL Corsair because I like it so much.
I live on a small pension and tapped my savings to get what I have to enjoy what's left of life. You know how the latest greatest products sell like hotcakes for a while and then when they are no longer turning a profit POOF they are gone never to return. My beloved F2G Super Corsair from ROC Hobby comes to mind. Once the sales start to drop and no longer turn a profit BOOM they disappear . I still have it hanging in the living room ,never to fly cause I KNEW it would not be replaceable.


Guess I'll have to go old school , get some 3/16 wire make my own fixed gear. At least get some flight hours.

[davegee]

Dave
, Got it all back together with the new units ,working great but what about next time ?
Tried to order another spare set, MRC out of stock .
This is a great plane I just love it , what I don't like is not being able to get parts . I even bought a spare FL Corsair because I like it so much.
I live on a small pension and tapped my savings to get what I have to enjoy what's left of life. You know how the latest greatest products sell like hotcakes for a while and then when they are no longer turning a profit POOF they are gone never to return. My beloved F2G Super Corsair from ROC Hobby comes to mind. Once the sales start to drop and no longer turn a profit BOOM they disappear . I still have it hanging in the living room ,never to fly cause I KNEW it would not be replaceable.


Guess I'll have to go old school , get some 3/16 wire make my own fixed gear. At least get some flight hours.

Wow! I didn't even know anyone made a Super Corsair kit! That's really cool! There is a beautiful restoration of one at the Seattle Museum of Flight. Perhaps you've seen it there in the past? I love that monstrous 28 cylinder Wasp Major engine. I used to fly for the airlines, and one of the old guys who back in the day was a professional flight engineer on the civilian version of the C-97, the Stratocruiser, used those engines. He often had to spend layovers out at the field working on the engines while the rest of the crew went into town to party! He said those engines were job security to an engineer, as there was always something to fix or do on them.

Glad you still have your Super Corsair. I wouldn't fly it, either. I have several large gas WWII fighters that I built and flew in competition, but then retired them to museums before they came back in a body bag!

Cheers

Davegee

[Pappy 883]

Yep ,
Out of 18 ever built there are only 2 left in existence now. The one in Seattle is the only one in the world to have survived all original pretty much stock. Extremely rare F2G Corsair.
Before It used to be in a museum in Arizona. In the late 40s it was containerized by the Navy for preservation testing . Forgotten until the 60s it was re-discovered . Thank goodness it survived the air race years.
Bob Odegaard , restored the other 2 F2G s that were wasting away in scrapyards to Beautiful flying condition. He and the second restored F2G were both lost tragically. Leaving only two left .

[davegee]

Yep ,
Out of 18 ever built there are only 2 left in existence now. The one in Seattle is the only one in the world to have survived all original pretty much stock. Extremely rare F2G Corsair.
Before It used to be in a museum in Arizona. In the late 40s it was containerized by the Navy for preservation testing . Forgotten until the 60s it was re-discovered . Thank goodness it survived the air race years.
Bob Odegaard , restored the other 2 F2G s that were wasting away in scrapyards to Beautiful flying condition. He and the second restored F2G were both lost tragically. Leaving only two left .

cool story backgrounds and photos. Thanks!

davegee

[Pappy 883]

I should say the only FLYING , F2G Corsair also restored by Bob Odegaard is owned by the grandson of the Wal-Mart empire ( last known), the red and white racer #57 F2G.
This is the one RocHobby produced for a few years.

[davegee]

I should say the only FLYING , F2G Corsair also restored by Bob Odegaard is owned by the grandson of the Wal-Mart empire ( last known), the red and white racer #57 F2G.
This is the one RocHobby produced for a few years.

Outside of the one in Seattle, I don't think I've ever seen one in person, or seen one actually fly.

davegee

[nuts-n-volts]

I watched 57 make her entrance at Reno by sneaking into the pattern with the rest of the bronze racers after they just finished a heat race. We were like... wait a minute! This wasn't just up there! Holy s@#$! It's the old Cleveland racer! We were blown away. We knew she was finished with the restoration, but we didn't expect her to show up like that! Hell we had no clue she was flying. That was 2006, exactly 57 years since it last raced at Cleveland. Then Bob raced it... and won his first heat. Glorious would be a good word.

[Pappy 883]

Glorious indeed Sir ,
The history of those beasts is just incredible. And for you to witness that is truly a honor I'm sure.
I just saw a video on Youtube with the present owner of #57 down in Arkansas dated three months ago, still running strong.
I forget the exact year ,1947, 48 or 49 they won or placed all three years,,, 1st 2nd and 3rd , clean sweep at Cleveland Nationals was like the Super Bowl in the day.

[nuts-n-volts]

Clean sweep. I don't think back in those years that anything could touch it. The guys with the current Reno mods are certainly faster, but not then. Cook Cleland had it all wrapped up when he bought as many as he could. I was also lucky enough to see #74 on its first and only Reno outing before it and Bob left us. So much joy, then so much devastation. That brings to mind seeing 3 Tigercats racing together. Sheer thunder! And of course the Galloping Ghost tragedy. But, now I'm wayyy off topic.

I love the corsairs. Flightline has certainly made a beauty right here. I'd love to see them do a pure scale landing gear that arcs outward as it rotates in. Wouldn't be that hard and the effect is quite noticeable when done right. It's just linkage and doing the pivot point scale. Eflight made the jump with their new F-16. The retracts move the linkage, not the struts.

[Pappy 883]

Clean sweep. I don't think back in those years that anything could touch it. The guys with the current Reno mods are certainly faster, but not then. Cook Cleland had it all wrapped up when he bought as many as he could. I was also lucky enough to see #74 on its first and only Reno outing before it and Bob left us. So much joy, then so much devastation. That brings to mind seeing 3 Tigercats racing together. Sheer thunder! And of course the Galloping Ghost tragedy. But, now I'm wayyy off topic.

I love the corsairs. Flightline has certainly made a beauty right here. I'd love to see them do a pure scale landing gear that arcs outward as it rotates in. Wouldn't be that hard and the effect is quite noticeable when done right. It's just linkage and doing the pivot point scale. Eflight made the jump with their new F-16. The retracts move the linkage, not the struts.

Yes , Flightline has certainly made the finest Corsair, thats why I bought two of them. The second one I'll kit bash into a F2G , gonna be tricky but ......

Your right about the gear , we need to think outside the box . The way the F-16s and F-18s landing gear have come along was never thought possible.
This whole unit is too fragile , the impact of a 10lbs. object has to withstand 5 times the forces. More important have a weak link in the unit that can be repaired easily , NOT destroyed.
joe h.

[Aros]

I just have to interrupt for a slight moment and say as a fellow Corsair-a-phile, I am truly enjoying the discourse between you gentlemen. And I have seen and touched that beauty at the Seattle Museum of Flight many times. She's gorgeous!

[Pappy 883]

I just have to interrupt for a slight moment and say as a fellow Corsair-a-phile, I am truly enjoying the discourse between you gentlemen. And I have seen and touched that beauty at the Seattle Museum of Flight many times. She's gorgeous!

You lucky guy !
Its #1 on my bucket list, but I'll probably never get to see it. I have tons of pictures of it, ..... just the not the same.

The F2Gs have such an interesting story, I guess that's how I became hooked on them especially # 88454 , joe h.

[Pappy 883]

Corsair a-phile , thats what is wrong with me. Two years just to make it work.

[Elmo Te]

The fragile gear case would be OK as the frangible link if it was available as a cheap replacement. $5 per case, $9 for a matched set. I have 4 perfectly operational gear sets looking for new
houses! Instead I have to spend $50 bucks for a set when 98% of what I am buying, I already have in spades!

Elmo Te

(1st post on the Squawk)😶

[paladin]

welcome elmo!

here is what you do. go to the hot link below:

FMS F4U Corsair V3 1400 Rotating Electric Retract Aluminum Upgrade (smallpartscnc.com)

and call them. ask them if they will make a set for the flite line corsair. they are going to say we need 25 (some number willing to buy them) before we cut chips. ask them if they can put up a page for these and have people leave their e-mails and the number they will buy. i know they have sent several away to get the 25 on their own, but they(small parts CnC) are the hub where everyone will go to so they need to do the counting. i'm sure if they did they would reach 25 pretty quickly.

good luck

Joe

[f4u ausie]

Can i say about the retracts from an awsome airframe flyer.. i had big mig gear in mine for while,,, they were glued in .. bit ugly... point being a bad landing is main culprit... they cracked case ,, just same.....that backwards movement on the wormdrive ,,, that translates to mount ,,of wormdrive is the culprit... the spitfire gear. Etc on landing translates to sideways impact,,... no impact on the jackscew,,,,... i guess point being ,, in a model it may b hard to do,, without exotic overly expensive retracts... just sayin