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Warbird Replicas Ju88 Night Fighter build


Ady Hayward

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  • 4 weeks later...

Just a little update here chaps . We have pretty much made the Undercarriages for those that want them .

The Kit cutter is ready to cut the kits pending delivery of Veneer . This has been a strange business even before Covid , because the demand for veneer has been declining for years in the Uk . Consequently , the number of whole salers has diminished to pretty much one big one near Tottenham .

Patience is once again required . It does , however , drive everyone nuts .

They are sending a sample of an alternative to Birch (we have used poplar and other wood succesfully before )

Hopefully we can ok that .

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Bring back the Birch , very good ,that's clever that is cheeky

Re price of the retracts , I am aiming at £149 per set . That will include sprung oleos and a 4" wheel . You simply bolt the whole unit in to the model with four bolts then plug it in . The electronic unit will be replaceable for around £15 if you bust it . The rest of the unit ( I hope ) will turn out to be grenade proof .

I need to square the price with the machine shop though but hopefully ok .

If you look at eflite stuff with piano wire legs and no way of repairing them , these will be excellent value as they should out live the models and be transferable . I do think that larger model retracts that are actually suitable for daily use have been a bit thin on the ground and some stuff seems to be made of pot metal with fragile electronics .

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Posted by RICHARD WILLS on 27/01/2021 14:15:47:

Just a little update here chaps . We have pretty much made the Undercarriages for those that want them .

The Kit cutter is ready to cut the kits pending delivery of Veneer . This has been a strange business even before Covid , because the demand for veneer has been declining for years in the Uk . Consequently , the number of whole salers has diminished to pretty much one big one near Tottenham .

Patience is once again required . It does , however , drive everyone nuts .

They are sending a sample of an alternative to Birch (we have used poplar and other wood succesfully before )

Hopefully we can ok that .

 

Hi Richard,

Count me in please. Bomber version. Regards.

Edited By Murat Kece 1 on 28/01/2021 20:52:42

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  • 3 weeks later...

Ok Chaps , se here are some pictures of the new Heavy Duty Retracts . I made my Ju88 a few years back and wrongly assumed that all metal ,highly geared "heavy duty " retracts would work fine on a 10-11lb model .  I got through three sets before I bit the bullet and designed a new version . 

The problems encountered are basically this : If you use a retract design that was originally intended to work span wise (Mustang style) , then the pivot and bearings will take most of the hit on landing . By turning them "for and aft " in a twin , the impact is now taken by the trunion .  The Chinese trunions are made of soft "pot " metal . 

The other thing that happens is that the little electronic board will overload and burn out . There is no way of fixing it so it is time to buy another unit . I got round it for a year or so by adding coil springs in 5mm wire to the top of the oleos . This softens the kick on landing to the point where the units can just about take it . But only if you can land "on the money" every time.

The problem is further accentuated by the fact that almost all conventional retracts will not travel through more than 90 degrees . For a twin , quite often, a little forward rake is required but also we want the leg to be pushed high up into the wing on retraction.

This is impossible on a "Mustang style" derived mechanism , not least because the leg would need to sweep right through the actuator and beyond . Even at 90 degrees , you cannot fit the normal "blow softening coil " as it clumps the screw jack . 

So the way forward was to consider the merits of Twin installation not try to fit conventional fighter gear.

Knowing all of the above , we do have the advantage of space . Most nacelles are mini fuselages with ply sides about 2-3" apart . 

This allowed me to step the locking mechanism to the side of the actuator . With a bullet proof down lock in high grade alloy , and a standard  replaceable electronic actuator I have designed 50mm square bolt in box that will retract through over 100 degrees . 

Plus it will incorporate a 5mm rearward  coil that will be hidden inside the nacelle. The whole box simply attaches to any twin with 4 simple 4mm bolts . The next version will have twin oleos for the likes of the Brain Taylor Mosquito . 

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