Seagull Sea Fury retracts replacement

[stuey]

Hi chaps. I had the maiden flight of my Seagull Sea Fury on Saturday, powered by a SC 1.08. The flight went well, only needing a couple of clicks of trim. Flies very smoothly, and appears to slow down well before the stall. My club patch is fairly small, and the farmer has just ploughed around the edge (grrrr). Anyway, I touched down fine but just ran off the edge of the patch. This has damaged the retracts unfortunately. On one side the trunion has a crack, the other the same plus the bearing and piviot pin are damaged. I think you can get the blocks seperately, but not the bearings or pin.

So now to decide what to do. I think the same as replacements are about £25, but they did not fill me with confidence at the start! There are the E-Flite 60-120 retracts which are in the weight range, but have read a few stories of problems and they are £120. Other mechanicals, maybe Unitracts but I believe the guy has scaled back somewhat. Robarts I dont think are quite big enough. Any other options? Not had air retracts before, but more kit needed to run those.

Thanks for looking

[Tim Campling]

The elite retracts in my 109 seem ok. However the best units I have are by Lado in France. They are not cheap at £200 a pair, plus legs but they are ace. All electric, very strong and great service from Christophe.

[Danny Fenton]

Glad the maiden went well Stuey, I have managed to keep my retracts intact, though like you I thought they wouldn't last five minutes! They do slop around a bit but amazingly still work! Chris Bott has fitted the Eflites and loves them, but to me the model was £99 spending £150+ on more retracts seems to change a cheap and cheerful model into something more expensive. Are there not some cheap eflite clone units available? Otherwise I would go with Tony at Unitracts, I used his mechanical units in my TN Spitfire and they were really nice.

Let us know what you go with?

Cheers

Danny

[Attilio Rausse]

ok did almost the same thing.
I replaced mine with these

**LINK**

you will need to swap struts and drill out the retracts

then found these

**LINK**

and these

**LINK**

[Danny Fenton]

Those look interesting, are they proving strong enough? My Fury is around the 10lb mark if I remember rightly
cheers
Danny

[Attilio Rausse]

They are much stronger than the originals without any slop, but you need to make the recesses deeper because if they come to a stop before fully retracting they cut off (electrically) and will not work again until the mountings are slackened (allowing them to fully retract).

Til

[Chris Bott - Moderator]

Posted by Danny Fenton on 09/09/2013 18:15:36:

Glad the maiden went well Stuey, I have managed to keep my retracts intact, though like you I thought they wouldn't last five minutes! They do slop around a bit but amazingly still work! Chris Bott has fitted the Eflites and loves them, but to me the model was £99 spending £150+ on more retracts seems to change a cheap and cheerful model into something more expensive. Are there not some cheap eflite clone units available? Otherwise I would go with Tony at Unitracts, I used his mechanical units in my TN Spitfire and they were really nice.

Let us know what you go with?

Cheers

Danny

Not sure how £120 is £150 plus Danny? But you're right, it has increased the cost of the model. However, having had one of the supplied retracts split on landing, I didn't fancy that every time I flew a really lovely model, I'd be a little concerned about what would happen on landing.

What price is the confidence that you have something really tough and reliable? The saving when we got our Furys for £99 has offset the cost somewhat, and now I have an absolute cracker and have full confidence in every part of it.

Stuey the E-flites are made and machined very well indeed. I understand that some have struggled to move a bit, which is a quality control issue I think. As long as you're not very unlucky and get a duff set, I don't think you'll look back.

If you do, they drop straight in. I added some extra glue around the bearers, because although the retract units are nice and strong, the next weak link could be where they mount to the wings.

[Danny Fenton]

You are right Chris I looked up the trike set ?154 the one you have is ?120. If you value the model that highly then go for it.

[stuey]

Thanks for your replies guys. I went with your suggested CG of 105mm Danny, a good starting point thanks again. I may well try contacting Unitracts but I thought I read that the chap had wound it down a bit nowadays?

The Lado's are a bit out of my league Tim but thanks for the suggestion.

The HK mechanicals Til has linked to appear to be identical to the kit ones I have, dimensions are the same as well as colour etc. They do appear to have the adjusters to reduce wobble when down that mine sadly do not have. If they are classed for 40-60 size, might explain why they seem a bit feeble for the task in hand!

So Chris as far as you are concerned they are a solid bit of kit? I am edging that way, and as I paid £160 for the airframe at Xmas at least the Eflites are cheaper! You are also right if they are top notch I dont want a model I'm worried about flying in case the landing is not 100% every time, which is hard at my patch!! On my model the mounting rails are angled so the wheels sit nearer the leading edge than some pics I have seen of older versions.

[Chris Bott - Moderator]

Well I have only had experience of the one set of E-flite retracts Stuey.

My guess is that only the odd modeller that has had problems, has posted on forums, while the many who haven't er.. haven't.

If you have any doubts, maybe buy them at a LMS, where you could take them straight back if there is any problem on testing?

Mine do seem to have taken away the worry that I did have when flying the Fury. Not sure if that's real or in the mind, but it's working for me.

Edited By Chris Bott - Moderator on 09/09/2013 21:38:36

[Danny Fenton]

I guess you can only decide for yourself if the model is worth the expense. I have 27 flights on my Sea Fury, not many considering its age, but they have never hung up (tempting fate now) and if they failed I would probably replace like with like.

It is a nice model though and does fly very well.

Cheers

Danny

[Attilio Rausse]

Hi Stuey

Did you only look at the first link? the other 2 links point to electric retracts and oleo's which are very much stronger than the originals, maybe not as good as the eflite ones but easily strong enough for the sea fury.

Til

[stuey]

Thanks for the info Chris, I know there are no guarantees on how it might work out and I appreciate your input.

Hi Danny, I dont mind paying out for the right bits within reason, I just want to buy once! If I get the same again I might be wasting money that could go towards a better solution. If only the patch was a bit bigger!!

Hi Til, I did look at the links. The electric ones would be right on the weight limit if not just over, plus if I have problems the returns process does not fill me with confidence. The oleos may well be useful though. Thanks for the links.

[stuey]

In the end, I decided to go for the E-Flite retracts. There is a new version out that can take either the 5mm wire leg, or a 10mm strut. The trunion block is wider to accept this, meaning the gap between the bearers needs to be bigger than the old ones. Luckily they fitted spot on! A bit of minor surgery has them fitted, and working ok. They are a great deal sturdier than the kit ones (hopefully!) so now waiting for the right day to try them out.

[stuey]

Been trying to add pics of the retracts, but the link box is not playing ball. There are a couple in my album for anyone wanting to see them.

[Chris Bott - Moderator]

We had a site software change a few weeks agou Stuey that caused a few problems like this, but they should have cleared by now. Most folk sorted them out by clearing the browser cache.

I assume you're using the button with the camera shaped Icon?

[Danny Fenton]

Looks good Stuey, I noticed that your U/C seats are tilted to allow the leg to angle forward slightly is this your mod, or Seagull's?

I was flying mine yesterday, it really is nice to fly

Cheers

Danny

[stuey]

Chris, I am clicking on the camera icon but the grey box is empty.

Danny, the retract mounts are as kit and must have been changed from your model. They do look quite a bit further forward than yours. Also, the servos mount vertically in the wing rather than on plates like yours so they stick out and look poo. Once I have it all sorted with a few flights under her belt, I am planning some more scale like features. Not to the level of your work though! Looking good btw

Edited By stuey on 23/09/2013 15:20:29

[stuey]

Here are the pics in post.

[Mr.B.]

Hi Stuey. (in yet another attempt to resurrect an old thread) I'm thinking about getting one of these babies. I see you fitted a SC 1.08. Do you think a SC 90 would be enough in the go go department? Thanks. Mr B

[stuey]

Hi Mr.B
My model is not terribly fast with the SC 1.08, it is fairly new though and I havent tried to ring its neck which I doubt would help. My club patch is fairly small and I would not want any less power personally. I have been thinking of trying a 15x8 rather than the 14x8 for a little extra pull. It has a thick wing and is never likely to be a speed demon. I believe others have flown it with a 90 so it should be fine.
As far as the retracts go, they have caused me some bother when they were powered by a seperate 4.8v pack. One side seemed to get stuck after a few cycles, despite my care with the mounting. Whilst at the field I decided to connect them up via the 6v RX supply, and the sticking wheel came straight down. Touch wood since then they have been fine. I think the 4.8v AA pack struggled once the initial peak from charging had gone. I have read a number of people saying they work much more reliably on 6+ volts.

Edited By stuey on 08/10/2014 09:34:58

Edited By stuey on 08/10/2014 09:36:37

[Mr.B.]

Thanks Stuey. very helpful. I had eflite retracts in my mustang powered off a lipo via a BEC (separate to the Rx supply). I agree they worked more reliably when set to 6V instead of 5V.